The Body Shop becomes “first” global beauty brand to be completely vegan-certified

03 Jan 2024 --- The Body Shop says it is the “world’s first” global beauty brand to achieve 100% vegan product formulations across all ranges, including skin care, body care, hair care, makeup and fragrance. 

The entire product range’s formulations portfolio was certified by the Vegan Society as of December 2023. The beauty retailer achieved the target it set for itself in 2021 when 60% of its products carried the Vegan Society trademark. 

The Body Shop also calls itself “the first” beauty retailer to campaign against animal testing in cosmetics in 1989, believing that animals should not be harmed in pursuing beauty.

Bruno de Oliveira, global research and innovation expert at The Body Shop, tells Personal Care Insights: “This is a huge milestone not just for us as a business but for the wider beauty industry as it shows that cruelty-free, vegan formulations can be achieved at scale without compromising on the quality of products.”

“We want a future where consumers shouldn’t ever need to worry about whether their cosmetics are cruelty-free, vegan, and ethically sourced. While this isn’t the reality yet, we’re hoping more retailers will follow suit and join us in our fully vegan certification.”

Vegan trend for consumers
The skin care company sees the vegan cosmetics industry growing with a 6.31% CAGR between 2023 and 2028 and reach US$24 billion by 2028.

A UK survey shows younger consumers look for vegan skin care products.Innova Market Insights data suggests that animal-friendly claims, including no animal testing and vegan claims, are enjoying strong growth.

According to data based on a UK nationally representative sample of 18 to 24-year-olds, over one in ten respondents said that “vegan” is an essential factor in their health and beauty purchase decisions.

Additionally, 11% selected “suitable for vegans” as an essential factor when choosing a makeup or personal care brand. The Body Shop says its certification responds to growing customer demands.

“We know that vegan beauty matters to millions of people worldwide, and we’ve worked tirelessly to achieve this huge milestone,” says Ian Bickley, CEO of The Body Shop.

“We were the first major global beauty brand to use cruelty-free musk in our fragrances. We have now achieved another global first.”

Vegan certified
The Vegan Society certification process assesses every supplier and manufacturer of raw materials within the product catalog. For The Body Shop, over 4,000 ingredients had to be validated for over 1,000 products to carry the stamp.

Director of business development at The Vegan Society, Chantelle Adkins, adds: “Today we are extending a massive congratulations to The Body Shop for achieving 100% of their product formulations being vegan and certified with The Vegan Society’s Vegan Trademark.”The Body Shop's entire range becomes vegan certified.

“This has been a massive project for them, showcasing their commitment and dedication to vegan beauty. We hope that this significant step sets a global standard for other beauty brands to follow and inspires further change to reduce animal use and exploitation across the industry.”

As part of its marketing campaign, the brand is leaning into the most common reaction when anyone mentions the word “vegan,” which they describe as an eye roll. The campaign also taps into the Renaissance social media trend, which takes inspiration from Renaissance art.

“Veganism is one of the fastest growing lifestyle movements worldwide, and ‘vegan beauty’ is on the rise. We know that 95% of vegans and vegetarians look for vegan/vegetarian certification logos when they are buying into a brand for the first time,” asserts de Oliveira.

The Body Shop says old, discontinued formulations not certified by The Vegan Society may still be present in the market as they are being sold.

De Oliveira tells us that there is still more work to be done in the vegan beauty market.

“The fight continues for a worldwide ban on animal testing in cosmetics to make true cruelty-free beauty a reality for everyone,” he concludes.

By Sabine Waldeck