We have been getting some questions and enquiries recently regarding whether our products are organic and whether our products are ‘cruelty-free’.  Both terms are complex – and potentially misleading – so we thought it worth a few words here to clarify our approach.

Since we began, we have focused on creating products that are as natural (which for us means avoiding synthetic or animal sourced ingredients) and beautiful (quality ingredients) as possible.  Achieving certification from an independent body was never a priority – we felt it was an unnecessary cost for a small business.  We hoped that over time people would trust us as a brand to do the right thing by consumers – not rely on a third party organisation for endorsement.

There are a number of reasons why we chose not to go down this ‘third party endorsement’ path.  For organic, we had come across a number of products WITH organic certification or organic labelling that contained ingredients we are choosing not to use (coco-betaine for example). If you look at the back label of ‘organic’ products you’ll see that often they contain only a few actual organic ingredients.  Many of the natural ingredients we source simply do not come in ‘organic’ alternatives.  We felt the term was misleading.

As for animal testing – it simply never occurred to us to test our products on animals during development (and we didn’t – except for our dog range of course which was tested on dogs with sensitive skin).  The reason animal testing is an issue is that China insist every cosmetic product imported into their country is tested on animals – which means placing it in the eyes of rabbits. It is cruel – and a trade barrier to protect their local industry.  None of our cosmetic products are imported into China for this reason.  We have recently become aware of certifying bodies that charge a fee for you to appear on their website.  You answer a questionnaire and pay the fee to appear – it’s that simple.  We notice they then list companies who ‘decline’ to pay their fee – or don’t respond to their emails – implying they are not ‘cruelty-free’.  We feel this in itself is deceptive.  Many of these ‘declined’ companies do not test on animals – they just decline to engage with this certifying body.

We will continue to design and create products with integrity – that we hope you love regardless of logos or endorsement from third parties.