The Body Shop has been promoting its ethical, cruelty-free stance for decades, alongside its work to embrace environmentally-friendly practices.
Now, the iconic global skin, body and beauty giant is adding a new status to the list: All of its formulations are now 100% vegan.
The entire product formulations portfolio, including skincare, body care, haircare, makeup and fragrance, has been independently certified by The Vegan Society. This means each item does not contain any animal products or by-products and has not been tested on animals.
According to the respected vegan organisation, The Body Shop is the first global beauty brand to achieve 100% vegan product formulations, certified by The Vegan Society. The retailer set the target back in 2021, when 60 percent of its products were certified vegan. Just over two years later, the company has achieved the ambitious goal to evolve all its products to fit the target.
The Body Shop, which is based in London, has over 900 stores in 20 countries with 1,600 franchised stores in a further 69 geographies.
Vegan beauty growing in popularity
The new milestone comes as interest in vegan beauty products is at a high, and expected to grow to reach $24 billion by 2028*. A number of all-vegan beauty brands are gaining popularity as online shopping searchers and social media conten focuses on the attribute.
Consumer demand is top of mind for many brands with a YouGov sample in the UK, revealing over one in ten 18–24-year-olds say ‘vegan’ is an important factor in their health and beauty purchase decisions. While product labelling to denote a vegan formulation is increasing, oftentimes it can be hard for consumers to understand if a product fits the bill. Evolving a line-up to include every item makes that job easier for shoppers.
Providing further certainty, the Vegan Society certification is a rigorous process with a meticulous assessment of every supplier and manufacturer of raw materials within the product catalogue. For The Body Shop, this meant over 4000 ingredients had to be validated for over 1000 products to carry the stamp.
Since founder Anita Roddick established a the brand with a little green shop in Brighton, England in 1976, the brand’s focus has remained on changing the industry for the better. Customers originally encouraged to recycle bottles and Roddick retained emphasis on natural ingredients that were ethically sourced and cruelty-free.
The Body Shop was also the first beauty retailer to campaign against animal testing in cosmetics in 1989, sharing its strongly-held belief that animals should not be harmed in the pursuit of beauty. The new all-vegan status furthers that commitment.
“We know that vegan beauty matters to millions of people around the world and we’ve worked tirelessly to achieve this huge milestone,” Ian Bickley, Chief Executive Officer of The Body Shop said in a statement.
“We were the first beauty company to fight against animal testing in cosmetics. We were the first major global beauty brand to use cruelty-free musk in our fragrances. We have now achieved another global first.”
The Body Shop was recently sold by parent company Natura & Co, being picked up by European private equity business Aurelius.
*Research and Markets, Global Vegan Cosmetics Market Outlook, 2028, (May 2023).
