Unicharm’s corporate history records 1978 as the year Silcot was launched as a high-quality makeup cotton-puff brand.

Silcot emerged from Unicharm’s expertise in nonwoven materials, absorbent materials, and feminine-care products. Unicharm itself began in 1961 as Taisei Kako and entered the feminine-care business in 1963. The company subsequently developed expertise in materials and products designed for direct contact with the body.

In 1978, Unicharm launched Silcot specifically as a high-quality cosmetic cotton-puff brand. This makes Silcot one of Unicharm’s long-established consumer brands rather than a recent skincare startup.

Over the following decades, Silcot developed from a conventional makeup-removal cotton product into a broader skincare-accessory brand, with different cotton structures designed for different purposes—removing makeup, applying lotion, patting skincare products into the skin, and minimizing lint or cotton residue. Unicharm says Silcot Cotton has been a long-running brand used for almost 30 years, while its corporate materials describe the Velvet Touch line as a long-standing staple of the brand.

Timeline

• 1961 — Unicharm’s predecessor, Taisei Kako, is established.
• 1963 — Unicharm enters feminine care.
• 1974 — The company becomes Unicharm Corporation.
• 1978 — Silcot launches as a high-quality cosmetic cotton-puff brand.
• 1980s–2000s — Silcot develops into a long-running Japanese cosmetic-cotton brand.
• 2010s onward — The brand expands its product concepts and international presence.
• 2020s — Silcot continues to develop specialized cotton products, including Velvet Touch and Soft and Rich/Soft Touch products.

Although consumers often call Silcot a “cotton pad” or “makeup-removal cotton” brand, its concept is broader.

The core product is a cosmetic cotton puff designed to interact with skincare products and the skin. Depending on the particular product, the cotton can be used for:

1. Makeup removal
2. Cleansing
3. Applying toner/lotion
4. Patting or pressing skincare products onto the skin
5. Using with facial beauty devices
6. Removing nail polish
7. Lotion/toner masking or “cotton pack” techniques

The Japanese product lineup explicitly presents different cotton constructions for different skincare applications rather than treating all cotton pads as interchangeable. 2

One of Silcot’s main points of differentiation is that it does not simply sell loose cotton cut into squares.

Its products use specific fiber selections, surface materials and constructions intended to control:

• softness against the skin;
• absorption;
• distribution of lotion or cleansing liquid;
• lint/fuzz;
• durability;
• how much skincare liquid is retained by the pad;
• how the pad behaves when pressed or wiped across the skin.

For example, Silcot’s Velvet Touch Cotton is designed to minimize fuzz and fiber residue, while its newer Soft and Rich Touch Cotton uses natural cotton and is designed around a softer, moist texture.

Silcot also says it does not use fluorescent brightening agents in its cotton products.

The “pouch” concept

A particularly recognizable feature of some Silcot pads is their construction as a cotton pouch/pad rather than a loose mass of cotton. This construction is intended to help the pad retain its shape, reduce fuzz, and make efficient use of skincare liquids.

That matters because Silcot’s proposition is essentially:

The cotton pad is part of the skincare process, not merely a disposable tool for removing makeup.

This is one of the fundamental ideas behind the brand.

Silcot Velvet Touch Cotton

This is arguably the most recognizable Silcot product family.

The Japanese product information describes it as a long-running product designed for minimal fuzz and fiber residue. The surface uses cotton and the product is positioned for cosmetic/skincare use.

It is particularly associated with the classic Silcot cotton-pad experience: compact, soft, relatively low-lint and designed to be used with toner/lotion or cleansing products.

Silcot Soft and Rich Touch Cotton

This is a more premium-oriented cotton product.

Unicharm describes it as using 100% natural cotton on the surface, with a fluffy, light and moist feel. The design incorporates moisturizing ingredients into the cotton material to create its characteristic texture.

It is intended for several applications, including:

• pressing/patting lotion;
• wiping with cleansing lotion;
• applying skincare;
• use with facial devices;
• nail-polish removal.

The rounded design is also intended to make the pad glide smoothly over the skin.

Cleansing / Makeup-Removal Cotton

Silcot also has cotton products optimized for cleansing. The Japanese range describes products intended to remove makeup and old keratin while using very fine fibers for a softer feel.

The important distinction is that Silcot’s products are application-specific: some are optimized for cleansing, while others prioritize skincare-liquid application.

Wet Wipes

Silcot isn’t limited to dry cosmetic cotton.

Unicharm describes Silcot Wet Wipes as another part of the brand, with different formats and formulations depending on the market and use case.

This means Silcot can be understood as sitting within Unicharm’s broader cleaning, skincare and personal-care portfolio rather than being exclusively a cotton-pad manufacturer.

Japan

Japan is the brand’s home market and remains particularly important to its positioning.

Silcot has traditionally been strongly associated with Japanese skincare culture, where cotton pads are frequently used not only to remove makeup but also to apply toner/lotion and perform more deliberate skincare techniques.

Unicharm’s current Japanese product information states that Silcot has held the largest share of the Japanese cosmetic-cotton market based on Intage SRI+ data, with the cited measurement covering June 2023–January 2025.

This is a useful distinction from older marketing claims such as “No. 1 for 10 consecutive years”: the exact claim depends on the market-research period and methodology being cited.

Vietnam

Silcot has a particularly visible presence in Vietnam.

According to Diana Unicharm / Unicharm Vietnam, Silcot cotton pads sold in Vietnam are imported directly from Japan and distributed by Diana Unicharm Vietnam. The Vietnamese Unicharm brand page describes Silcot as having been a No. 1-selling product in Japan for more than 10 consecutive years according to Intage research, referring to the historical period covered by that claim.

The Vietnamese lineup listed by Unicharm includes:

• Silcot Cotton — 82 pieces
• Silcot Premium — 66 pieces
• Silcot Double/Lotion-Pack Cotton — 40 pieces

The Vietnam operation is part of Unicharm’s broader local business. Diana Unicharm says its Vietnamese portfolio includes Diana, Bobby, MamyPoko, Moony, Caryn, Fressi, 3D Mask and Silcot.

Silcot’s philosophy is unusually focused on the relationship between the cotton pad and skincare.

The brand’s official Japanese messaging centers on the idea:

“Confidence comes from healthy skin.”

Its stated objective is to make everyday skincare easier and more effective while being sufficiently gentle for something that comes into direct contact with the skin.

This leads to several recurring principles:

Gentleness

Silcot emphasizes softness and comfortable contact with skin.

Material Selection

The company pays considerable attention to the quality and characteristics of its cotton fibers. For premium products, Unicharm describes selecting long, clean cotton fibers according to strict standards.

Low Lint

Reducing loose fibers is a major product-design objective, particularly for products such as Velvet Touch Cotton.

Efficient Skincare

Silcot’s products are designed not simply to absorb liquid but to deliver or distribute skincare products effectively.

Specialized Formats

Rather than having one universal cotton pad, Silcot creates different constructions for cleansing, lotion application and other skincare techniques.

The cotton-pad category can look extremely simple: cotton + liquid + skin.

Silcot’s strategy was to make the cotton pad itself a piece of beauty technology.

Instead of competing solely on:

“Our cotton is softer.”

Silcot competes on a combination of:

fiber technology + pad construction + low lint + liquid distribution + skincare technique + Japanese quality positioning.

That makes the brand relatively unusual in the otherwise commoditized cotton-pad market.

Silcot belongs to Unicharm Corporation, a major Japanese consumer-products company.

Unicharm began in 1961 and subsequently developed businesses in feminine care, baby care, healthcare, cleaning/personal care and pet care. Its historical development of nonwoven and absorbent-material technology is particularly relevant to Silcot because those material technologies underpin many of its consumer products.

Silcot therefore benefits from being part of a company whose core expertise is not simply cosmetics, but materials engineering for products that interact with the human body.

Silcot can broadly be positioned as a mass-premium / premium Japanese skincare accessory brand.

Its competitive advantages are less about luxury branding and more about:

• Japanese origin;
• long history;
• Unicharm’s manufacturing expertise;
• specialized cotton construction;
• low-lint performance;
• skincare-oriented design;
• multiple product variants;
• strong recognition among Asian beauty consumers.

In other words, Silcot is not a skincare brand in the same sense as Shiseido, SK-II or Hada Labo. It is better understood as a beauty-tool/personal-care brand whose principal product is the cosmetic cotton pad.

Silcot’s reputation is supported by both its longevity and market-share claims.

However, “No. 1 in Japan” should always be read together with the research source and time period. Unicharm’s current Japanese site cites Intage SRI+ data showing Silcot’s largest share in the cosmetic-cotton market for the period June 2023 through January 2025.

The Vietnam Unicharm site, meanwhile, uses the longer-standing formulation that Silcot was the No. 1-selling product in Japan for more than 10 consecutive years, also citing Intage. 3

So the safest characterization is:

Silcot is one of Japan’s leading and longest-established cosmetic-cotton brands, with Unicharm citing leading market-share positions in Japanese cosmetic cotton.

If you strip Silcot down to its essence, the brand is about turning an ordinary cotton pad into a specialized skincare instrument.

Its history goes back to 1978, it is owned by Unicharm, and its core expertise revolves around cotton/fiber selection and pad construction. Its flagship products include Velvet Touch Cotton and premium natural-cotton variants, while the broader Silcot brand also encompasses wet wipes in selected markets.

In Vietnam, Silcot has become particularly recognizable as a Japanese-imported cotton-pad brand, distributed by Diana Unicharm, with products such as the 82-piece standard cotton, 66-piece Premium cotton and 40-piece double/lotion-pack format. 4

The simplest way to think about Silcot:
Japanese skincare culture + Unicharm material technology + specialized cotton-pad design.

1. Silcot wishes…-Unicharm
2. Silcot product line-up-Unicharm
3. Silcot Review & Win (Mar-20
4. シルコット うるうるコットン ムーミンデザインプレゼントキャンペーン