Sustainable Beauty
The beauty industry is becoming increasingly influenced by consumer demand for eco-conscious, ethical, and sustainable products. Many beauty brands are responding by adopting sustainable practices, ensuring that their products not only enhance personal beauty but also promote environmental and social responsibility. Sustainable beauty brands, such as Milk Makeup, Honest Beauty, LUSH, Ogee, and Ilia, are emerging as leaders in sustainable beauty, touting clean ingredients, recyclable packaging, and responsible sourcing. These brands strive to align with values of sustainability and ethical production, creating products that consumers can feel good about using.
FTC Green Guides
However, as sustainability becomes more prominent in beauty marketing, it is critical to ensure authenticity and avoid "greenwashing." The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Green Guides provide essential guidelines to help companies avoid misleading environmental claims, urging companies to be more specific and transparent in their marketing. These guidelines require transparency in claims such as “biodegradable” or “recyclable,” verifying that consumers can trust eco-friendly labels and that brands maintain compliance with regulatory standards (FTC Green Guides, 2024). By following the FTC Green Guides, beauty brands can help build trust with consumers seeking these sustainable products.
The FTC Green Guides emphasize the importance of substantiating environmental claims to prevent consumer deception (FTC-Environmental Marketing, 2024). For beauty brands, this means avoiding vague or unqualified statements like “eco-friendly” and instead providing detailed evidence of sustainability efforts (Third Partners, 2024).
By adhering to these guidelines, brands like Milk Makeup, LUSH, and Honest Beauty can build consumer trust, and not violate laws that prohibit misleading advertisements and statements (FTC Green Guides, 2024).
Sustainable Brands
Milk Makeup
Milk Makeup emphasizes vegan, cruelty-free products with recyclable packaging and a low environmental footprint. They must adhere to FTC Green Guides by ensuring its eco-friendly claims are specific and substantiated. For instance, “to prevent deceptive claims, qualifications and disclosures should be clear, prominent, and understandable” (FTC Green Guides §260.3, 2024). Milk Makeup’s use of refillable products and recyclable packaging aligns with §260.14, which specifies that refillable claims must include “the means for refilling the package. They must either provide a system for the collection and refill of the package, or offer for sale a product that consumers can purchase to refill the original package” (FTC Green Guides §260.14, 2024). Milk Makeup’s sustainability page outlines their commitments to PCR (post-consumer recycled) materials and the elimination of excess packaging waste. Milk Makeup claims to focus on eco-friendly packaging and shipping practices. They redesigned their e-commerce system, claiming to use recyclable shipping materials and transitioned to outer packaging made from 100% post-consumer waste fibers with vegetable oil inks. Their transition to post-consumer waste fibers in packaging can help them comply with §260.13, which mandates substantiation for recycled content claims. Their efforts to reduce plastic usage including introducing refillable products like the Sunshine Skin Tint SPF 30 and incorporating post-consumer resin into new packaging, such as the Electric Glossy Lip Plumper. These efforts demonstrate Milk Makeup’s commitment to reducing environmental impact while maintaining transparency with their customers (Milk Makeup, 2024).
Honest Beauty
Honest Beauty claims to integrate sustainability into its business model, using reduced plastic packaging and biodegradable materials aligning with §260.8 of the FTC Green Guides, which requires “guidance for degradable claims and clear disclosure of conditions under which products degrade.” The brand must follow the FTC Green Guides' recommendation to clearly distinguish between biodegradable claims for products versus packaging. Honest Beauty further claims to use tree-free paper and eco-friendly ink in its packaging. As stated in §260.6, “marketers should use clear and prominent qualifying language that clearly conveys that the certification or seal refers only to specific and limited benefits.” They emphasize sustainability, safety, and eco-consciousness across its products and operations, and recyclable and refillable packaging, incorporating post-consumer recycled materials to reduce plastic use. The brand’s "Reduce, Reuse, Reimagine" appears to be focused on compliance with §260.17, as “marketers should clearly and prominently qualify source reduction claims to the extent necessary to avoid deception about the amount of the source reduction and the basis for any comparison” (FTC Green Guides, 2024). To stay in line with safety standards and ethical practices, The Honest Company must continue to provide sustainable products while keeping customers informed through detailed certifications and available resources (Honest Beauty, 2024).
LUSH
Lush touts its dedication to sustainability, ethical practices, and innovative cosmetics. Their products emphasize minimal packaging, and they claim about half are sold "naked" to avoid waste, and the rest using 89% recycled materials, including 100% post-consumer recycled plastic for pots and bottles. "Naked packaging" aligns with §260.12 of the FTC Green Guides on recyclable claims; the need for “clear and prominent recyclable claims to avoid deception about the availability of recycling programs and collection sites to consumers.” Initiatives like the "Bring It Back" scheme encourage customers to recycle, offering rewards for returned packaging. According to the FTC Green Guides, “a marketer should not make an unqualified refillable claim unless the marketer provides the means for refilling the package” ( FTC Green Guides §260.14). Lush claims to prioritize sustainable raw materials, avoid harmful ingredients like palm oil, and promote solid products such as shampoo bars to reduce water usage. Their avoidance of palm oil reflects adherence to §260.9, which addresses “free-of claims” by ensuring they are not “misleading” or “overstate” environmental benefits. Lush touts its commiment to reducing their carbon footprint by integrating eco-friendly practices across energy, waste, and water management all while campaigning for environmental and social causes (LUSH, 2024).
OGEE
Ogee is a certified organic beauty brand that markets its commitment to sustainability and eco-conscious practices. They claim their products are made with ingredients sourced from organic farms, packaged in recyclable and refillable materials, and certified by the NSF Organic Certification for eco-friendly production. Ogee’s use of NSF Organic Certification seems to comply with §260.6, mandating that “marketers should use clear and prominent qualifying language that clearly conveys that the certification or seal refers only to specific and limited benefits.” Ogee supports environmental efforts through partnerships like donating to the Organic Farming Research Foundation and by using FSC-certified recyclable paperboard and upcycled glass bottles. Ogee’s claimed use of FSC-certified paperboard aligns with §260.13, which governs recycled content claims and mandates substantiation for “pre-consumer and post-consumer recycled materials.” Their efforts are to reduce their carbon footprint and encourage customers to repurpose packaging, to protect the planet and promote sustainable beauty. (Ogee, 2024).
ILIA Beauty
ILIA Beauty markets itself as a clean, skin-focused beauty brand dedicated to creating products that protect and revive skin through safe, potent formulas. Their skincare makeup is said to combine active skincare ingredients with multi-use cosmetics, prioritizing SPF to enhance effectiveness. ILIA claims to use recycled aluminum, glass, and responsibly sourced paper in packaging while striving for eco-conscious end-of-life solutions. Founded by Sasha Plavsic, inspired by her family's holistic health journey, ILIA claims to carefully blend selected natural and synthetic ingredients for a balanced approach to clean beauty (ILIA, 2024). “It is deceptive to misrepresent, directly or by implication, that a product, package, or service offers a general environmental benefit,” including the ingredient formulation of ILIA products (FTC Green Guides §260.4, 2024). ILIA’s consumer education on product disposal aligns with §260.12, emphasizing that “a product or package should not be marketed as recyclable unless it can be collected, separated, or otherwise recovered from the waste stream through an established recycling program for reuse or use in manufacturing or assembling another item” (FTC Green Guides §260.12, 2024).
Fair Trade in Beauty
Fair Trade certification further reinforces ethical responsibility by guaranteeing fair wages, safe working conditions, and sustainable farming methods for producers of ingredients (Fairtrade Foundation, 2024). By prioritizing Fair Trade, brands not only reduce their environmental footprint but also support economic growth in developing communities. Together, sustainability and Fair Trade are reshaping the beauty industry by prioritizing both environmental integrity and social equity.
Fair Trade certification ensures that beauty products reduce environmental impact and also support equitable labor practices. Ingredients like shea butter and argan oil, often sourced from developing regions, benefit local communities through fair wages and safe working environments (Fairtrade Foundation-Beauty and wellness, 2024). For example, Fair Trade argan oil cooperatives in Morocco empower women by creating economic opportunities while adhering to sustainable farming practices (Forbes, 2024).
Brands like The Body Shop have long partnered with Fair Trade suppliers who ensure ingredient traceability and economic upliftment for producers. Through its program, the company has sourced sustainable ingredients like sesame oil, Brazilian nut oil, and recycled paper packaging. This significantly impacts the lives of vulnerable communities by providing fair prices and supporting education, healthcare, and environmental initiatives. (The Body Shop, 2024).
Similarly, e.l.f. Beauty has made history as the first beauty brand to source from a Fair Trade Certified factory, collaborating with Fair Trade USA “to create a new framework for the beauty industry.” This certification reflects e.l.f.’s commitment to “ethical and sustainable sourcing practices. Fair Trade USA’s ability to marry a rigorous, impactful standard with established consumer recognition and preference for the Fair Trade Certified label in the market also signaled to e.l.f that certification was well worth the investment.” By prioritizing fair trade practices, e.l.f. sets a new standard for the beauty industry and future products. (e.l.f. Beauty and Fair Trade USA Case Study, 2024).
References
About Ilia: Sustainable skincare-powered makeup. ILIA Beauty. (n.d.). https://iliabeauty.com/pages/about
Beauty and wellness. Fairtrade. (2024a, May 10). https://www.fairtrade.org.uk/buying-fairtrade/beauty-products/
Beauty Recycling 101. Sustainability. (n.d.). https://www.honest.com/sustainability
Competition, B. of, & Staff in the Office of Technology and the Division of Privacy and Identity Protection. (2024, November 12). Environmental marketing. Federal Trade Commission. https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/advertising-marketing/environmental-marketing
E.l.f. Beauty and Fair Trade USATM Case Study. Fair Trade Certified. (2024, June 13). https://www.fairtradecertified.org/blog/elf-beauty-and-fair-trade-usa-case-study/
Freedgood, A. (2024, August 19). 4 ways climate change is affecting businesses now. Third Partners. https://thirdpartners.com/blog/what-brands-need-to-know-about-the-ftcs-2024-green-guides-update/
Guardian News and Media. (2024, February 18). The Body Shop’s fair trade suppliers left with “more than $1m” of ingredients. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/feb/18/the-body-shops-fair-trade-suppliers-left-with-more-than-1m-of-ingredients
Guides for the use of environmental marketing claims. GREEN GUIDES. (n.d.). https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/attachments/press-releases/ftc-issues-revised-green-guides/greenguides.pdf
Lehnis, M. (2024, June 26). Beauty is not just skin deep, its kind to the planet. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/mariannelehnis/2024/06/24/beauty-is-not-just-skin-deep-its-kind-to-the-planet/
Our environmental policy. Lush. (n.d.). https://www.lush.com/us/en_us/a/our-environmental-policy
Our Sustainability Commitment. Ogee. (n.d.). https://ogee.com/blogs/the-daily-good/sustainability
Social Responsibility & Sustainability policy. Milk Makeup. (n.d.). https://milkmakeup.com/pages/sustainability
What We Do. Fairtrade. (2024b, October 17). https://www.fairtrade.org.uk/