For those ready to step up their greener lifestyle and ready to go the extra mile further to a healthier and earth-friendlier life, this list of cruelty-free and vegan brands will help you choose products to buy. Whether you are looking for sustainable clothing, vegan beauty and health items, or even bathroom products – this article is for you.
Now, even though veganism and a zero-waste lifestyle have been popularised in the last decade, most products that are vegan, recycled, or organic can still be a challenge to find. Not to mention they are often pricier too.
I hope that in the near future, ingredients and materials in creating high-quality eco-friendly daily items will be much more affordable and easier to find so more people feel less intimidated into leading a greener life.
How to tell if the brand is vegan
Since the “idea” of an organic lifestyle is somewhat trendy nowadays, marketing and advertising companies and many companies have found this concept as a way to falsely market their products. It’s an awful thing to do but it’s happening.
Hence, it’s vital that you take an extra step in checking if the brand or product is indeed vegan before spending your money and using them. Here are some tips on how to check if the product or brand is vegan and cruelty-free.
Look for the labeling
Depending on where you are located, some products have a note on the box or the body of the item. The words to look for are:
- vegan
- suitable for vegans
- cruelty-free
- 100% plant-based
Scan the ingredients
The best to check if the product is vegan is to read the label. However, this will only work if one has a wide understanding of ingredients that are vegan. For example, at the beginning of my research about vegan, I understand dairy products are a no-go, but, I didn’t think the same for honey, beer, wine, and candy, to name a few.
You might make mistakes a few times but that’s okay, in every mistake, you learn something.
Look for the cruelty-free bunny logo and vegan logo
Cruelty-free bunny is not specifically vegan, however, if the product has this logo plus a note that says “cruelty-free”, it means this product was not tested on animals. Which is one of the most popular reasons why many people decided to be vegan. But then, look for this logo and read the ingredients too. You can read about the leaping bunny program here.
The vegan logo on food products often simply says just “vegan”, others have some kind of leaf drawing and the word vegan alongside.
Read about the company/product
And one last thing, all companies have websites, the easiest way to tell if this is a vegan brand is to check their about page. One other thing you can do is to take a moment and read reviews about these products and companies.
Knowing which are vegan brands instead of looking at which are vegan products is a much better strategy. For example, if a company sells makeup and skincare, if you already did your research and found out they are vegan and cruelty-free, then you don’t need to spend more time researching each and every product of them before buying.
Cruelty-free and vegan brands
Now to the best part, I compiled my personal favorite vegan brands and cruelty-free brands below and categorized them between clothing, food, health, and beauty (which cover skincare, makeup, and toiletries), outdoor (for working out and gym), and shoes.
Vegan and Sustainable clothing brands
Well, there aren’t many options with vegan clothing, however, I highly recommend you look into sustainable, recycled, and ethical clothing brands. Sustainable and ethical clothing brands are made from high-quality and/or recycled materials.
While with ethical clothing brands, you should look into their labor policies and salary to make sure they are treating their workers fair. Plus they should also work on better and eco-friendlier packaging like paper or cloth.
- Conscious Step – socks
- Luna + Sun – women’s underwear
- Pact – women’s underwear, camisoles, tanktops, baby bodysuits
- Toad & Co – casual wear for all genders
Vegan food brands
Veganism is very popular now, there is a myriad of vegan and plant-based recipes to cook out there, and finding brands that fit your requirement is also becoming easier. For example, one of the biggest food items that some vegans find hard to keep balance in their protein intake. Sure, you can take vitamins and protein powder, but they have to be vegan.
Fortunately, there are more options nowadays and solutions. For example, when you make a smoothie, you can use substitutes for protein powder in a smoothie or use soy meat when making bolognese pasta for dinner. There’s now vegan butter and vegan milk made of soy, almond, and even other nuts or seeds.
If you need to freeze specific vegan food, make sure to store your vegan foods in sustainable freezers and pantry containers if you have them.
- Aduna – superfood powders such as cacao, hibiscus, baobab
- Daiya – from salad dressing to pasta sauces
- Beyond Meat – vegan burger and sausages
- Califia Farms – plant-based milk, creamer, coffee, lemonade
- Earth Balance – snacks such as cheddar puffs, biscuits to peanut butter and coconut spread
- Gardein -beef jerky, canned soup, to plant-based burger
- Good Catch – plant-based fish in water, oil, and herb
- Massel – plant-based stock powder and cubes (chicken, beef, vegetable, pho)
- Orgain – vegan protein powder, shakes, bars, oil, and pancake for all ages
- Quorn – meatless burger, chicken nuggets, cheese cutlets,
- Ripple – vegan milk, shakes, drinks, ice cream, yogurt
- So Delicious – coconut milk, almond milk
Vegan makeup brands + health & beauty
Next to food, makeup, health, and beauty brands are the ones most responsible for animal cruelty. It’s common for these companies to test their products on rabbits, rats, and other animals to see if they are safe for humans.
Makeup, skincare, and toiletries items you should know about:
- Bambaw – razors, make-up pads, cotton buds, toothbrush
- Coconut Matter – deodorant, lip balm, hand moisturizer
- Cover FX – vegan foundation, setting powder, setting spray, blush, primer
- e.l.f – eyes, lips, face, brushes, cruelty-free moisturizers, serums, cleansers, face mask
- Ethnique – natural bar shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, body wash
- Milani – vegan and cruelty-free eye makeup, face, lips, brushes, and skincare
- NCLA – nail polish, nail care, lip balm
- Pacifica – face wash, body lotion, serum, perfume, sunscreen, eye makeup, and face makeup
- Seraphine Botanicals – face, eye, lip, creams
- Sweat Cosmetics/Active Beauty – skincare, foundation, bronzer
- The Body Shop – face wash, serum, oils, body lotion, body butter,
- ZuZu Luxe – lips, eyes, face makeup
Vegan outdoor brands
Just like clothing, most outdoor products which you can use at the gym or any form of sport don’t have much room for making them more vegan. However, I want to highlight these outdoor brands for your vegan and ethical working out products.
- Green Guru Gear – vegan and recycled materials for bags, bike panniers, climbing ropes, ankle straps,
- LaBante London – vegan leather bags, wallets, purses,
- Tree Tribe – leggings, leaf leather wallets, water bottle, bamboo sunnies, travel cup
Vegan footwear brands
Last but not the least, shoes, especially leather are one of the main things vegans avoid. Thanks to these shoe brands, you can now enjoy vegan brands of shoes from casual sandals to boots, and even dress shoes.
- BC Footwear – women’s boots, sandals, flats, pumps, sneakers, slippers
- Bourgeois Boheme – formal/dress shoes for all genders
- Indosole – vegan flipflops
- Native Shoes – casual shoes for all ages and genders
- Neuaura – women’s boots, sandals, flats,
Final thoughts
The number of vegan brands is growing bigger every day, hopefully, not too long from now, we will have more options for vegan products. Especially when it comes to food, I’m sure having an accessible, affordable, and massive selection of food, clothing, health, and beauty will make the vegan and minimalist lifestyle much easier.
If you have favorite brands that are vegan and cruelty-free which we forgot to list in this best vegan brands article, you can let us know via email, so we can add them.
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