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Is this truly cruelty-free?

Drum roll please… the results are in!

 

You may remember that last October we joined with like-minded brands to discover what our fabulous customers were really looking for from us. We wanted to see what you felt was important in an eco-brand, what you thought about small business versus multinationals and what steps you were ready to take on your journey towards sustainability.

 

You answered in your thousands so thank you!

 

Aside from 83% of you feeling like the large multinationals were not doing enough to care for the environment; something that shone through was your very strong commitment to finding brands that were genuinely cruelty-free. In fact, 56% of you stated that ensuring a product was cruelty-free was one of your top 3 reasons for using a brand.

 

But aren’t most household cleaning items in the UK cruelty free? Didn’t the UK introduce a ban on the testing of home products on animals in 2015? Surely the large multinationals no longer test on animals??

 

Well yes and no…

 

The 2015 ban actually only applies to the testing of finished household products on animals. Any individual ingredients that make up those products can still be legally tested.

 

In reality this means that your household cleaning items carry a very real risk of using ingredients that are tested on animals in the UK. In 2020 alone, there were still nearly 70 experiments carried out on animals in the UK to test out ingredients for household cleaning products. That’s one experiment every 5 days. These ingredients are then used by multiple cleaning products in many different items.

 

In addition, certain brands that are cruelty-free have left shoppers feeling disappointed. Both Ecover and Method were bought by huge multinational business SC Johnson, a company that openly admits to animal testing with brands like Duck, Glade, Pledge and Mr Muscle. Many online influencers, organisations and bloggers called for the boycotting of their products until such a time as SC Johnson can be genuinely classed as cruelty-free.

 

We hear you.

 

82% of you trust small business over big business and we aim to only treasure and foster that trust here at smol.

 

We’ve worked hard to ensure all our products are not only vegan but genuinely cruelty-free. It’s why we’re so proud of our Leaping Bunny accreditation from Cruelty Free International. This is the gold standard award in cruelty-free certification because it demands an entire supply chain check for animal testing right down to the making of individual ingredients. It’s also regularly and independently verified ongoing. Always look for the logo – it’s one way to know you aren’t supporting the testing of animals.

 

We’re proud to supply our customers with this choice and as we always say, smol things make a big difference.

Click here for a full look at the report.
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