At The Ethical Shopper, we’ve been telling you for a while that we only sell products that are 100% vegan and cruelty-free—and that those products come from companies that are 100% vegan and cruelty-free, too.
But you may be wondering: How do we actually make sure that’s true?
We believe in complete transparency, so we thought it was important to take you behind the scenes and explain exactly how we vet the companies whose products are sold on The Ethical Shopper website.
So, here we go!
Step 1: Finding Companies That Meet Our Standards
Our process starts with identifying companies and products that we believe may meet our vegan and cruelty-free requirements.
Sometimes, we discover a company accidentally—for example, by seeing an advertisement for a product that catches our attention. Other times, we deliberately search for companies offering vegan and cruelty-free beauty, personal care, and home care products.
Once we find a product that interests us, the research begins.
Step 2: Researching the Company
We start by researching the company that owns the product to determine whether it appears to meet our vegan and cruelty-free standards.
If our initial research indicates that the company is vegan and cruelty-free, we take the next step: finding out who owns the company.
This is an important part of our process because a company’s ownership matters to us. If the company is owned by another company, we research the parent company as well as its other brands to determine whether they meet our vegan and cruelty-free standards.
We don't simply stop at the company whose product caught our attention. We look at the bigger picture.
Step 3: Confirming Our Research Directly With the Company
If our research indicates that the company—and any company that owns it—is vegan and cruelty-free, we contact the company directly.
We ask them to confirm several things, including:
- Whether all of their products are 100% vegan and cruelty-free
- Whether they are owned by another company
- If they are owned by another company, whether all of that company's products are also vegan and cruelty-free
We want to hear this directly from the company rather than relying solely on information we find online.
If the company confirms that all of its products are 100% vegan and cruelty-free and that it is either independently owned or owned by a company whose products are also all vegan and cruelty-free, we move on to the next stage.
Step 4: Inviting the Company to Partner With Us
Once a company has passed our initial research and confirmed that it meets our standards, we ask whether it would like to partner with The Ethical Shopper.
If they are interested in selling their products through our website, we send them our company intake form.
And this is where our vetting process gets even more thorough.
Step 5: The Intake Form
Our intake form requires companies to confirm in writing that they—and any company that owns them—meet our definition of vegan and cruelty-free.
We also ask them to provide information about the certifications they hold by selecting the applicable certifications from a list we provide.
Finally, we ask them to review the 20+ ingredients included in our ingredient filter and identify whether any of those ingredients are found in their products. If they do use any of those ingredients, they must identify which products contain them.
This information helps us provide greater transparency to our shoppers and allows customers to make purchasing decisions that align with their own values and preferences.
Why We Go Through All of This
We know this is a lot of work—and that's exactly the point.
At The Ethical Shopper, our mission is to make it easier for consumers to shop according to their values. We don't want you to have to wonder whether a company is truly vegan and cruelty-free or spend hours researching corporate ownership, product ingredients, and certifications yourself.
That's why we take the time to do the research, ask the questions, and get confirmation directly from the companies we work with.
While no vetting process can guarantee perfection, we go through this thorough process to ensure, to the best of our ability, that we remain true to our commitment to offering products from companies that are 100% vegan and cruelty-free.
Transparency and trust are incredibly important to us. We want you to know not only what we sell, but why we believe the companies behind those products meet our standards.
Because when you shop with The Ethical Shopper, we want you to shop with confidence.
