All of the products sold by The Body Shop have officially been certified as having 100% vegan formulations by The Vegan Society. This marks a major milestone for the socially conscious beauty retailer, which was founded in 1989 with the goal of making cruelty-free beauty more common and accessible.
In 2021, The Body Shop set a goal of making all of its products 100% vegan; at the time, 60% of its products already carried The Vegan Society certification. Certification requires a full assessment of every supplier and manufacturer of raw materials within a product catalog; for The Body Shop, this meant a review of more than 4,000 ingredients used across its 1,000-product lineup.
All products on The Body Shop’s website are now 100% vegan, although customers may see some old product formulations in stores while remaining stock is sold through. The company estimates that by this fall, all products in stores will be certified by The Vegan Society.
“This accomplishment is an expression of our changemaking ethos and goes back to our roots of championing animal welfare,” said Hilary Lloyd, VP of Brand and Activism for The Body Shop North America in a statement. “Offering a 100% vegan certified product portfolio is an achievement we have been working toward for years and is not one we take lightly. Our hope is that more global beauty brands follow suit and realize the ways in which natural-origin, vegan, cruelty-free beauty can benefit our people and our planet without compromising product efficacy.”
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Since its founding, The Body Shop has been a vocal opponent of animal testing in beauty products, and that ethos has expanded to other ESG-inspired principles. The retailer became a certified B Corp. in 2019 and also has initiated efforts to reduce plastic waste, with a product refill program that expanded to U.S. stores in April 2022 and now includes makeup products. In November 2023, The Body Shop was sold by its previous owner Natura &Co to investment group Aurelius, which had been looking to expand ESG aspects in its portfolio. Aurelius said at the time of the acquisition that it was committed to maintaining The Body Shop’s “distinctive values.”
