“The Rise of Vegan Beauty: Meeting Ethical and Environmental Demands in the Cosmetics Industry”
Simply said, cruelty-free beauty refers to a product that isn’t tested on animals, whereas vegan beauty refers to the lack of animal substances. To put it another way, a vegan product could have been tested on an animal, and a cruelty-free product could still have animal ingredients.
The absence of Food and Drug Administration regulations just adds to the confusion. A few groups have developed logos to indicate whether a product is cruelty-free or vegan, with the Leaping Bunny Program being the most notable. This programme awards certification to manufacturers of personal care and household goods who guarantee that no animal testing is done at any point during the production process.
According to Dennis Gross, a dermatologist and dermatologic surgeon whose skin-care business has received Leaping Bunny Program certification, “a finished product may claim it’s cruelty-free, but that’s not good enough.” “Since the majority of animal testing takes place at the component level, the Leaping Bunny Program gives you complete assurance that no animal testing ever takes place in the lab.”
How Vegan Beauty Transitioned from a Niche to a Mainstream
The Economist, however, declared 2019 to be “the year of the vegan,” partly attributing this to the growing knowledge and enthusiasm among millennials and members of Generation Z. “A fifth of 25 to 34-year-old Americans say they are vegans or vegetarians,” the journal claims. And those Americans were shopping for goods that suited their lifestyle, not simply food items but also cosmetics and clothing. The UK reported that 20% of Gen Z had become vegan as of 2021. Through 2022, this tendency will persist because to numerous marketing initiatives that emphasize diets high in whole foods and plant-based proteins.
Beauty firms are stepping up to meet the growing demand for vegan goods, including vegan cosmetics. The number of vegan beauty products introduced to the market between 2014 and 2019 increased by 175 percent, according to a Marketing Week survey from May 2019. Sales of vegan cosmetics increased by 38% alone in the U.K. in 2018. Additionally, Grand View Research anticipated that the global market for vegan beauty products would be worth USD 15.17 billion in 2021. From 2022 to 2030, that market is projected to expand by 6.3%, reaching an estimated 26.16 billion.
Advantages of Vegan Beauty
- Benefits for your skin – Vegan cosmetics are frequently friendlier to your skin and hair. They are more likely to employ components that won’t agitate the skin and aren’t irritants. Contrarily, non-vegan products are frequently harsh on the skin and might contain unpleasant substances and animal byproducts like uric acid (derived from cows).
- Favorable to your health – Artificial additives and synthetic chemicals that enter deeply into the pores can be found in non-vegan cosmetic products. These have been demonstrated to cause rashes and may possibly contribute to the development of skin cancer. These chemicals and additives are frequently absent from vegan beauty products, making them better for your skin.
- Benefiting your wallet – You won’t lose any money if you switch to using vegan beauty products because many of them are priced similarly to non-vegan alternatives.
Exhibit 1 – Vegan Beauty Market Overview
The Drivers
- Ethical Consumerism: The fastest-growing consumer sectors are drawn to more “conscious choices.” Most consumers are increasingly considering animal rights and the safety of ingredients before making a purchase. Millennials and Gen Zs question accountability and do not hesitate to challenge sectors and brands on ethics. Often, animal cruelty is sufficient justification for not purchasing a product. Most consumers who choose natural products over those with unidentifiable contents view artificial alternatives as harmful or even toxic. The sad truth that animal testing used to be a common practice in the beauty industry makes up the second side of this equation.
- Technological Innovations: The cosmetics market is quite competitive, necessitating constant innovation and improvement, particularly in vegan cosmetics. Growing environmental awareness has inspired many major players to abandon the use of raw materials obtained from animals in favour of producing natural substances that are functionally equivalent. Global demand for vegan beauty products will increase with increased research and development.
- Banning Plastics: As retailers and beauty companies work to address the pervasive plastic issue in the sector, producers are looking towards materials made from plant-based alternatives.
- The Vegan Media: The number of Americans who identify as vegan “rose by 600% between 2014 and 2017,” a trend that is pervasive throughout the world. Consumers who want to live a vegan lifestyle are encouraged to do so by the rise of ethical and plant-based commerce as well as by a wide variety of internet forums. The media in a variety of sectors, including food, fashion, and beauty, represent the cruelty-free lifestyle, which is linked to better and more caring decisions for both the individual and the environment.
The Certifications
Companies who guarantee that no animal experimentation is done at any point during the production process are certified by Leaping Bunny to sell personal care and household products.
Every registered business that is either cruelty-free or both vegan and cruelty-free is listed in PETA’s Beauty Without Bunnies Program.
The oldest vegan organization in the world, The Vegan Society, has registered thousands of products that are both vegan and cruelty-free in the UK.
Vegan.org, one of the first and most popular vegan websites in the world that was founded in 1995, launched the certification known as Certified Vegan.
Influential figures in vegan beauty:
Kiera Rose
Rhian HY
Mirror and Haze
Tashina Combs
Hannah Hagler
Cruelty-Free Becky
Taking Care of a Growing Demand
There will always be a need for ethical, environmentally friendly, and vegan cosmetics. It is expanding. The demand for components that are derived ethically and naturally is growing among consumers. The landscape of the beauty industry is drastically changing because of a wider movement, and even major brands are taking notice.
Unilever declared its support for a global ban on animal testing in the cosmetics sector in 2018. Along with this, Unilever declared its intention to stop using animals in testing for all its product lines, including well-known brands like Dove, Dermalogica, and Axe.
Additionally, reputable cosmetic firms have made a commitment to provide vegan, sustainable, and animal-free goods. For many years, KEVIN.MURPHY has been committed to assisting customers in making smarter, more knowledgeable purchasing decisions. The brand’s goal is to make products of professional quality that are useful and environmentally friendly. The firm has made significant efforts to decrease single-use plastics through partnerships with ECOHEADS and Green Circle Salons.
Whom does the importance of vegan cosmetics lie with?
Pure vegans presently make up 1% of the world’s population, but if the movement continues to expand at its current rate, that number is predicted to increase to 10% by 2030. (Sustainable Fashion Magazine).
However, most people who purchase vegan goods do not self-identify as such, which demonstrates awareness of and interest in the moral and ethical implications of using vegan cosmetics.
Superstars like Selena Gomez (Rare Beauty) and Millie Bobby Brown (Florence by Mills) have joined the ranks of celebrities who have launched their vegan cosmetics products, which are mostly aimed at millennials and Gen Z.
The latter group pays special attention to a company’s sincere and sincere commitment to the environment and society, and they don’t hesitate to express their interest on social media, as evidenced by #Vegan’s 82.3 million+ Instagram posts in 2019 (Briones Eric, André Nicolas (2020), Le Choc Z, Dunod, for example).
Market for Vegan Beauty Products: A Competitive Analysis
- In 2018, L’Oréal S.A., a significant player in the vegan beauty goods market, announced the signing of a binding contract to acquire Logocos Naturkosmetik AG, a renowned German producer of vegan cosmetics. According to L’Oréal, Logocos has two well-known and genuine vegan brands under its ownership in addition to its unique expertise in the organic beauty industry, all of which will be very advantageous to L’Oréal’s expansion strategy. This acquisition strengthens L’Oréal’s position among the top personal care firms that provide genuine, certified vegan beauty products.
- The first firm in Asia to receive a “Vegan” label from the Expertise Vegan Europe (EVE) for its exclusive unit producing cruelty-free cosmetic products is Cosmax Inc., a leading cosmetics producer with headquarters in South Korea. This designation is expected to open up new avenues for business expansion for the brand in the market for vegan cosmetics.
- With the opening of its second retail location in Dubai in 2018, O Boticário, a major leader in the vegan beauty products market, expanded its operations in the United Arab Emirates. The official opening of this retail location was bound to open up a wealth of opportunity for the firm to further establish its footprint in the Middle East and reach out to new client groups with its selection of cruelty-free cosmetics.
Conclusion
A significant movement has emerged within the beauty industry to promote ethics and accountability, and it appears to be here to stay. One component of a societal change toward consumer decisions that are in line with higher personal standards and beliefs is the production of cosmetics that are ethically and sustainably made.
The vegan beauty market is anticipated to expand exponentially, and more brands are likely to notice this and take notice—not only as a way to stay competitive in a rapidly evolving industry, but also in response to a demand for a more thoughtful approach to how our shared practices affect our world.