A vegan certificate for a product signals health, vitality and an animal-free product. Most people associate a vegan lifestyle with a diet free of animal products. But we can also apply this attitude to other areas of our lives. Our bathroom, for example. More and more consumers are looking for vegan certification when buying cosmetics. For "real" vegans, this is a matter of course. This group is growing all the time. According to the Allensbacher Market and Advertising Analysis, 1.13 million people will identify as vegan in 2020. This is an increase of 180,000 compared to 2019. These "real" vegans, who live without animal products out of deep conviction and not because of a passing fad, also make a strict distinction between vegan cosmetics, natural cosmetics and cosmetics not tested on animals. These three groups of products must not be mixed.
Definition: Vegan cosmetics
Vegan cosmetics are free of ingredients made from or by animals. They do not contain honey, animal collagen or milk protein. However, vegan does not automatically mean free from animal testing. Legislation has not yet clearly defined the term and it is not protected.
Definition: Natural cosmetics
The term natural cosmetics is also unprotected and can be used almost freely. However, products with a label must comply with all the guidelines of that label. As there are many labels with different guidelines, natural cosmetics are defined in slightly different ways. In principle, they can contain animal ingredients as well as plant raw materials.
Definition: Cosmetics not tested on animals
In Germany and the EU, animal testing for cosmetics has been banned since 2013. However, there are loopholes. For example, the ban only applies to substances used exclusively in cosmetics. Substances used in other product groups can still be tested on animals. Cosmetics that are completely free of animal testing can only be identified by seals such as the internationally recognised "Leaping Bunny". This does not mean that such products are vegan, as they may contain honey or beeswax.
How does vegan certification work?
The vegan lifestyle can be polarising. However, veganism is clearly here to stay and so are vegan cosmetics. It is becoming an increasingly important feature for many brands, although it comes with a problem: the certification of vegan cosmetics, i.e. vegan certification. Similar to the natural cosmetics segment, many certifiers have developed different criteria. In most cases, the criteria for vegan certification are not scientifically based, but simply "made up". This leads to a lot of confusion and a lack of transparency. In addition, the many different vegan certifications are really time-consuming. For example, we have to contact the raw material suppliers to request the relevant questionnaires from the raw material certifiers for our customers. This is a tedious process that takes many weeks and sometimes months to complete. You would think that the vegan certifiers would have built up comprehensive databases of all raw materials over time, but this is not the case. The process has to start all over again, mainly for financial reasons.
Raw material suppliers feel stressed
Of course, it is perfectly understandable that most raw material suppliers are on the verge of losing control and even refusing to fill in the many forms for vegan certification. In many cases they publish their own vegan statements, but these are not accepted by vegan certification suppliers.
The result is a vicious circle that is frustrating for everyone involved. It is particularly annoying for us: Our customers inevitably think that we are incapable of vegan certification ourselves.
The solution for you: Cosmacon offers its own vegan certificate.
In view of this, we have decided to introduce our own vegan certification.
Our vegan certificate is not based on self-created criteria, but on scientific facts.
This means that our vegan certification reflects the latest sustainable sourcing and manufacturing methods.
We have copyrighted two vegan labels. Our customers can use these vegan certifications by booking the "Vegan Package" for 250.00 Euro per product.
Scientific and transparent: Vegan certification by Cosmacon
Here you can find an example of what our vegan certificates look like:
Vegan Certificate Hyaluron Gel