Fair Trade Makes Beauty More Than Skin Deep
[Photo by Ian Kiragu]
The rise in good-for-you beauty products that brighten, tighten, lift, thicken, smooth, conceal, and illuminate can be seen as a testament to our times, especially considering the rising shift toward transparency in sustainability efforts and ingredient formulations. Consumers are more informed than ever and challenging brands to provide them with hard facts about how powerful and “toxic-free” their retinol-alternative face serums and dry shampoo powders truly are.
However, in the midst of all the clinical data presented, certification seals emboldened on labels, and trees planted per purchase, the transparency on how the people responsible for bringing many of these products to market are treated is still murky.
Since the beauty industry is my playing field, I wanted to shed light on the role fair trade plays in this industry. World Fair Trade Day (May 13) is tomorrow, and invested global communities will celebrate by promoting its importance as an equitable trading partnership based on transparency, ethical practices, and social justice.
Meet Beautyologie, The First Online Fair Trade Beauty Marketplace for Ethically-Conscious Consumers
The issue here is this: Have you ever actually thought about who processed the natural ingredients in your products? Or where they live and how they live? Just like the food we eat and the clothes we covet, beauty products have an origin story, but they don’t receive much of a spotlight. Usually, their marketing pitches focus on a blend of cutting-edge science and nature, but the nature part is often left by the wayside.
To be honest, until I began working with beauty companies as a publicist in the beauty industry, I didn’t either. It never occurred to me to question where the argan, mica, or shea butter in my body cream or makeup came from. Or even what the working conditions were like for the factory workers responsible for putting the finished products together.
Thanks to efforts within the fair trade movement, this fog encompassing the beauty industry is beginning to clear. I went to the person considered the vanguard in the fair trade movement to find out how they’re doing it: Paul Rice, Founder and CEO at Fair Trade USA.
“At Fair Trade USA, we partner with brands and retailers in many industries, including the beauty industry, to evaluate their supply chains and identify opportunities to improve worker livelihoods,” says Rice. “In beauty, our focus is on the workers and factories themselves to ensure that workers earn better pay, work in safe conditions, and are able to invest in social and environmental projects in their communities. Products that we use and consume every day are made possible by the farm and factory workers who grow and make those products. Beauty products containing Fair Trade Certified cocoa butter, coconut oil, and shea butter, for example, help farmers earn more money.”
Fair trade, the movement that promotes ethical trading practices and improves working conditions and livelihoods for smale-scale farmers and workers in developing countries, isn’t anything new when it comes to food, fashion, and decor. Coffee and chocolate have obviously been having a fair share of the attention for years.
In the garment world, the Fashion Revolution, which was born out of the collapse of Bangladesh’s Rana Plaza in 2013, catapulted the “Who Made My Clothes” campaign, putting fast fashion on activist hit lists around the world.
It’s also more common these days to see Fair Trade produce and garments in places like Walmart, Target and Costco. Patagonia, Athleta, J. Crew, and Pottery Barn have all joined the Fair Trade movement.
What Does All This Fair Trade Talk Really Mean?
To be fair, fair trade isn’t exactly the easiest concept to wrap your head around as a consumer. Maybe that’s why it’s taken a while for the beauty industry to bring it to the forefront. Basically, when you purchase beauty products that are Fair Trade Certified (meaning thay’re manufactured in a certified factory) or the brand follows fair trade practices and formulas with Fair Trade ingredients, you can be assured of the following:
Worker compensation is fair, consistent, and respectful
Working terms between farmers and buyers are fair and just
Communication in the supply chain and management is transparent and accountable
There is no child labor or forced labor
Gender discrimination is not tolerated
Workers have good working conditions and acceptable working hours
Businesses reinvest in their communities to further empower and benefit their workers
Protecting the environment is paramount
Thanks to the continuing efforts of Fair Trade certifiers and activists around the world, shopping your values doesn’t stop in the produce department. They’re now at a beauty aisle (online cart) near you. Here are some brands doing good work:
Tierra & Lava
Tierra & Lava is a Fair Trade Certified skincare brand in Antigua, Guatemala making a difference for their community. Brand founder Lucy Ashman is committed to helping empower the local Mayan farmers who grow and produce the ingredients like cacao and vanilla for her botanical beauty products.
“Don Eduardo [our artisan beekeeper] wanted to study medicine, but his family could not afford his education” says Ashman. “He left our village for city jobs, but returned to care for his aging parents. One daughter is a social worker, the other a law student; beekeeping paid for their education.”
LUXE Botanics
LUXE Botanics, a beauty brand steeped in activism, is also a working to create equity for all. “By working in partnership with our harvesters (predominantly women with previously no independent source of income), we provide work that generates a fair living, making enough to support their families with the basics of feeding, clothing and educating their children,” says and Chief of Relationships, Rachel Chan. “What is even more incredible is, once equipped with the confidence and skills, many have gone on to start their own small enterprises, creating sustainable income sources and employment opportunities for others that produces a ripple effect throughout the community.”
According to Chan, fair trade practices have allowed their Marula oil harvesters to build a local school and a clinic in Kenya. Women are now being respected in their communities, and it has increased gender equality where girls are now allowed to stay in school past 13, whereas previously one in five girls would make it past their eighth year in school.
Yara Shea Beauty
Yara Shea Beauty is on a mission is to empower young women in West Africa through the advancement of Fair Trade, education, sustainable living and gender equality.
“Our shea butter is sourced directly from women-run cooperatives in West Africa and our ultimate goal is to use this precious ingredient known as 'women gold' to solve issues affecting women in Africa,” says founder Nguzo Ogbodo, who simultaneously runs a nonprofit to benefit girls in Nigeria. “Extreme poverty, inadequate infrastructure and a lack of access to education on reproductive menstrual hygiene health are primary drivers, but our targeted empowerment programs saves not only mothers but also their daughters; therefore reducing their ability to not drop out of school and helping them to rise out of poverty.”
By choosing brands like LUXE Botanics, Tierra & Lava, and Yara Shea Beauty, customers truly can change the lives of rural communities who are the most affected by climate change while conserving the natural environment.
The Future of Fair Trade Beauty
In 2022, Fair Trade Certified announced a groundbreaking partnership with e.l.f. Cosmetics. Beauty products made in Fair Trade Certified factories now means that factory workers, too, can be stewards of their communities and the environment.
“We’ve seen growth within beauty as a signal of the success of our factory program,” says Rice. “Prior to our partnership with e.l.f. Cosmetics, beauty products that were Fair Trade Certified contained ingredients like the cocoa and shea butter and coconut oil mentioned earlier. Our factory program was primarily focused on apparel and home goods factories. When e.l.f. expressed interest in certifying their factory production, we saw an incredible opportunity to innovate. Having beauty products manufactured in Fair Trade Certified factories opens the door to many more cosmetics brands to source Fair Trade, so we are excited about the future in this sector.”
Robin Tolkan-Doyle is the founder of Beautyologie, the first online fair trade beauty marketplace for ethically-conscious consumers. For more information about Beautyologie, visit their website and follow on Instagram: @beautyologie
[Photos courtesy of Beautyologie]
A native Angeleno and face mask fanatic, Robin Tolkan-Doyle has worked in the beauty industry for more than 25 years writing beauty articles for magazines, launching a hair accessories company, running @CharmedPR, a PR & marketing agency focusing on all things beauty; and the founder of Beautyologie, an online fair trade beauty marketplace.