The tattoo market - Italy

1.1 Definition and presentation

A tattoo is a permanent design on the skin and which can have symbolic, religious or decorative meanings.

We can distinguish two types of tattoos:

-temporary tattooing: in this case the inks used fall into the category of cosmetic products;

-permanent tattooing: done by professional tattoo artists using sharp objects or needles that introduce indelible dyes under the skin. In this case, the inks used are subject to specific regulations.

The present study will focus on permanent tattoos.

In 2019, the global tattoo market had a value of more than $100 million and is expected to grow with a growth rate of 4.18 percent thus reaching a value of $145 million by 2027. This growth can be explained by virtue of the growing interest of the world population in this practice, which is increasingly conceived as a real fashion. In addition, the use of increasingly sophisticated inks, which are also removable, has allowed the growth of this phenomenon particularly among the younger population.

The Italian tattoo market is booming both from a consumer perspective (especially women) and from the perspective of businesses operating within the sector. In fact, a modest percentage of the Italian population now has at least one tattoo, and the number of tattoo parlors continues to increase unabated. In terms of geographic distribution, the regions with a greater presence of tattoo parlors are Lazio (with a particular concentration in the city of Rome), and the three northern regions, Lombardy, Piedmont, and Emilia-Romagna.

The growth of this market within the Italian territory can be explained by a greater acceptance towards this practice and greater safety in the practices for its realization.

The tattoo market is also characterized by a high level of innovation: trends of particular relevance within the market appear to be sound wave tattoos, which allow the reproduction of a particular sound when scanned, and those that act as medical devices capable of tracking biological data such as heart rate.