The Body Shop Will Be Entirely Vegan By 2023

Sustainable cosmetics company The Body Shop (TBS) has announced that all of its products will be entirely vegan by the end of 2023.

All the products will be certified by The Vegan Society which means they will no longer contain any animal ingredients including beeswax and honey. Currently 60% of The Body Shop products are vegan.

The brand has also announced plans to launch its refill stations across 500 stores in 2021 and a further 300 in 2022 and pledged to extend its recycling scheme to 800 stores in 14 markets worldwide by the end of the year.

The ethical beauty brand is a global pioneer in the cosmetics industry. The company has been been campaigning against animal testing in cosmetics for over 30 years. All the ingredients it uses are vegetarian meaning there is no animal-derived ingredients in their products obtained as a result of intended death to animals and none of the products were tested on animals. 

In partnership with Cruelty Free International, TBS helped contribute to a European Union ban on animal testing in cosmetics, and in 2018 its Forever Against Animal Testing petition collected 8 million signatures.

Lionel Thoreau, Global Brand Director, The Body Shop commented on the decision: “Our decision to go 100 percent vegan is a natural next step for The Body Shop. Thanks to our founder Anita Roddick, we were the first beauty company to fight against animal testing in cosmetics, and the first major global beauty brand to use cruelty-free musk in our fragrances. Vegan beauty is a critical next step in our sustainability and environmental endeavors. This, along with our global refill and in-store recycling programmes makes The Body Shop a destination for ethically-minded customers."

Commenting on the refill initiative, Thoreau added, "We want refills to become mainstream - easy and accessible to everyone. This is just our first step in a 5-year plan to roll out refill stations across the globe".