By Hajaratu Kamara
Over the years we have seen a shift in the beauty industry, with businesses focusing a lot more on not only how well their products work but on how their products are made.
The production of beauty products has always been under scrutiny. In the early 2000s we saw consumers boycott brands that would partake in animal testing. With more and more consumers calling for clean products, we have seen brands take things one step further, starting to produce products that are completely vegan.
But are companies making genuine changes – or just making claims of sustainability in order to bring in new customers? With this new wave of clean beauty, it can often be confusing as to what is truly sustainable.
B-corp is a title given to companies that have the “highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose.” In the UK only 10 beauty brands have been able to acquire that title, which leads to the question of whether not brands are as sustainable as they claim to be.
“I have been with The Body Shop a long time and when we were owned by L’Oréal we had our fair trade partnerships but we weren’t a B-Corp, we didn’t earn that status until we were bought by Natura,” said Abigail Goodwin-Smith, 27, The Body Shop global flagship store manager on Oxford Street.
“Natura are an ethical based group who really drove sustainability back into the brand. Since being purchased by Natura, they have really driven sustainability and have The Body Shop back to its roots.
“They have re-launched our refill system, they also brought in a new community fair trade partner called Plastic For Change so now all our packaging is made from recycled plastic. And even our new workshop store are made from sustainable materials such as recycled wood,” she added.
In 2022 a survey carried out by City To Sea stated that over 90% of consumers wanted retailers to provide refill options. In 2022 there was a0 direct increase in refills available in the beauty industry, with brands such as Fenty Beauty and Charlotte Tilbury providing their customers with refill inserts of their products.
But even with companies providing consumers with ‘sustainable options’, it doesn’t necessarily given companies an edge over their competitors.
“If I was given a list of products and told between a product that worked very well but wasn’t made in the most ethical way and a product that was made ethically but wasn’t the best product, I would unfortunately have to product that worked well,” said Brooklyn West, 23, a video editor.
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