Brands
The Body Shop becomes the first global beauty brand with 100% Vegan Society-certified formulations
Mumbai: The Body Shop, the pioneering British-born ethical beauty brand announces a significant milestone: it has become the world’s first global beauty brand* to achieve 100 per cent vegan product formulations across all ranges including skincare, body care, haircare, makeup and fragrance. The entire product formulations portfolio has been certified by the Vegan Society**. The trailblazing beauty retailer has achieved the ambitious target it set itself in 2021, when 60 per cent of its products already carried the Vegan Society trademark.
Globally, the vegan cosmetics industry is predicted to grow with 6.31 per cent compound annual growth rate between 2023-28 and reach $24 billion by 20281. In nations like India, there is a growing demand for vegan cosmetics as a result of increased awareness of animal abuse. The Vegan Society represents the global gold standard in vegan certification across multiple industries, providing a trusted trademark for The Body Shop products. The certification process is extremely thorough, with a meticulous assessment of every supplier and manufacturer of raw materials within the product catalogue. For The Body Shop, this meant over 4000 ingredients had to be validated for over 1000 products to carry the stamp.
The Body Shop VP of marketing e-commerce & product, Asia South Harmeet Singh commented: “Achieving 100 per cent of our products formulations being vegan has been a massive project for The Body Shop. This commitment reflects our deep understanding of the growing importance of vegan beauty for our customers, especially in India. Now, more than ever, shopping at The Body Shop means being part of a movement towards a more sustainable vision of beauty.”
The Body Shop was also the first beauty retailer to campaign against animal testing in cosmetics in 1989, with a fundamental belief that animals should not be harmed in the pursuit of beauty. While the fight continues for a worldwide ban on animal testing in cosmetics, for The Body Shop, a fully vegan product range is the next milestone in cruelty-free beauty.
* As of December 2023, The Vegan Society has named The Body Shop as the first global beauty brand to achieve 100 per cent vegan product formulations, certified by The Vegan Society.
**As of December 2023, all of The Body Shop’s current product formulas have been certified by The Vegan Society. It is possible that old, discontinued formulations which have not been certified by The Vegan Society are still present in the market, as they are being sold through.
Research and Markets, Global Vegan Cosmetics Market Outlook, 2028, (May 2023).
Brands
Godrej clarifies ‘GI’ identifier after logo similarity debate
Says GI is not a logo, will not replace Godrej signature across products.
MUMBAI: In a branding storm where shapes did the talking, Godrej is now spelling things out. Godrej Industries Group (GIG) has issued a clarification on its newly introduced ‘GI’ identifier, addressing questions around its purpose and design following a wave of online criticism. At the centre of the debate were two concerns: whether the new mark replaces the long-standing Godrej logo, and whether its geometric design mirrors other corporate identities.
The company has drawn a clear line. The Godrej signature logo, it said, remains unchanged and continues to be the sole logo across all consumer-facing products and services. The ‘GI’ mark, by contrast, is not a logo but a corporate group identifier intended for use alongside the Godrej signature or company name, and aimed at stakeholders such as investors, media and talent rather than consumers.
The need for such a distinction stems from the 2024 restructuring of the broader Godrej Group into two separate business entities. With both continuing to operate under the same Godrej name and signature, the identifier is positioned as a way to differentiate the Godrej Industries Group at a corporate level.
The rollout, however, triggered a broader conversation on design originality. Critics pointed to similarities between the GI mark’s geometric composition and logos used by companies globally, raising questions about distinctiveness.
Responding to this, GIG said its intellectual property and legal review found that such overlaps are common in minimalist, geometry-led design systems. Basic forms such as circles and rectangles appear across dozens of brand identities worldwide, the company noted.
It added that the identifier emerged from an extensive design process and was chosen for its simplicity, allowing it to sit alongside the Godrej signature without competing visually. While acknowledging that elemental shapes may appear less distinctive in isolation, the group emphasised that the mark is part of a broader identity system that includes a custom typeface, sonic branding and other proprietary elements.
Following legal and ethical assessments, the company said it found no impediment to using the identifier, reiterating that the GI mark is a corporate tool not a consumer-facing symbol.
In short, the logo isn’t changing but the conversation around it certainly has.
