An Introduction to The Credo Clean Standard by Mia Davis, Credo's Director of Mission
Credo’s mission has always been to be a leader in the clean beauty movement and to change the way people think about beauty products and ingredients.
To do this, Credo, and our 110+ brand partners, have to speak the same “clean beauty” language. This means aligning our definitions for commonly used terms like “organic,” “natural,” “plant-derived” and “synthetic” ingredients, for starters.
These words can mean very different things to different people and in an under-regulated space, they might not mean much at all. We want to give these words meaning, backed by research and rationale.
When a brand says they are “free of” certain ingredients, are they counting similar ingredients with different names? What if the chemical on a banned list is used only in trace levels? Does that count? What if one company uses the official way to list cosmetics ingredients (INCI) while another company is more casual... or even “interpretative?” There are so many what-ifs.
We learned early on that the beauty industry is complex, and while there is more transparency here than in other consumer products (like furniture, electronics, or household cleaners, where consumers are largely in the dark about what materials are used), there are still a lot of roadblocks, disclosure loopholes, no standardized definitions, and a lot of stakeholders lobbying for their interests.
If consumers are going to be able to make confident, informed decisions about a product, “clean” needs clearly defined and backed by examination and documentation.
So…we created retail’s strongest, cleanest standard.
Presenting The Credo Clean Standard – the roadmap, if you will, of restricted substances (see The Dirty List™), best practices for ingredient sourcing and manufacturing, and definitions of commonly used industry terms.
We started with three all-important pillars: Always Clean, Product Integrity and Cruelty-Free. Together, these are the backbone of our clean beauty mission. These pillars manifest as cleaner products, and a better beauty movement that is pro-small business, pro-health *and* pro-environment.
We started Credo to create these standards, and now, with 110+ brands partnering with us, we’re incredibly proud to be operationalizing them, and strengthening our entire industry in the process.
We presented The Credo Clean Standard to our partners in April, and are passionately working with them to fully roll it out by October 2019. We will be sharing more information about it in store and with our online community on a continual basis.
We look forward to adding to The Credo Clean Standard as the industry evolves, and as new sourcing and safety practices come to light. Credo will continue to lead the charge and give real, insightful and clear meaning to “clean beauty.” Join us for the journey.
Be well,
Mia
Questions? Thoughts? Write to us at cleanbeautycouncil@credobeauty.com
