KATHARINE S. GRANT
The Vegan Society, Birmingham, United Kingdom

Abstract

Veganism is on the rise across the globe – and no industry is growing faster within the vegan market than cosmetics. Labelling in the cosmetics industry can be confusing with varying terms not always being fully understood by consumers and businesses alike. The Vegan Society’s Vegan Trademark was created in 1990 to help make veganism more accessible and has set the standard for what makes a vegan product.

THE RISE IN VEGAN BEAUTY
Veganism has been gaining popularity worldwide, as research is limited we can only look at specific regions individually to see how it is growing across the world but the data suggests that the trends are repeating in a similar pattern across the globe; the number of vegans in the UK quadrupled between 2014 – 2019 (1), vegans made up 13% of consumers across Asia in 2021 (2), and 2022 brought another record-breaking number of participants for Veganuary with the most sign-ups coming from the US (3).

The use of animals in the beauty industry has been prominent in the public consciousness for decades. Most notably the use of animals in the testing of products, but as veganism has increased in popularity this has come to encompass all types of animal use within product development and on ingredients lists.

Vegan beauty companies are taking notice of the consumer demand for more ethical products. Between 2014 and 2019 there was a 175% increase in vegan cosmetic launches globally (4) and it is estimated that the global vegan cosmetics market will reach $21.4 billion by 2017 (5).

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