From The Source

From beeswax to baobab, clary sage to shea butter, we’ve made it our mission to source our ingredients responsibly. Our passion for quality leads us all over the world—and no matter where we go, we respect the communities, individuals, and environments from which we source.

Community Sourced

In 2012 we launched Community Sourced, an initiative focused on identifying ingredients fundamental to many of our formulas, selecting key regions where those ingredients are produced, and forming strong, mutually beneficial partnerships with communities in these regions.

Our first project focuses on beeswax from Uyowa, Tanzania. Using a combination of new and traditional methods, Uyowa’s beekeepers are able to supply half of the wax used in our lip balms and other products. Our hope, and our goal is to source all of our beeswax from community sources and expand the program to include other natural oils, waxes and butters that we use in so many of our products. We also hope to reinvest in 10 such global supplier communities by 2020.

How We Source

Since hundreds of natural ingredients are in our products, it’s no small task vetting them all—but we’re on our way. In 2010, we took a big step by hiring an Associate Director of Responsible Sourcing, who has helped guide our journey to greater transparency and traceability across our supply chain. We ask tough questions and mentor our suppliers on sustainability improvements; and we do so in order to offer products that truly exemplify The Greater Good®.

Our approach includes:

Business Partner Code of Conduct
Supplier Self-Assessments & Site Visits
Supplier Sustainability Plans
Third-party Audits
Ingredient Certification

We’re proud members of several global responsible sourcing organizations, including Sedex, AIM-Progress, Global Shea Alliance, and the Natural Resources Stewardship Circle.

Ingredient Evaluations

We evaluate materials based on 5 key factors:

	Location We investigate how far away the ingredient is, impacts to supplier community, and the nature of the local political climate.
	Quality We consider the quality of the ingredient and of our relationship with the supplier.
	Availabilty We factor in ingredient scarcity, grower capacity, whether we’re single-sourced, etc.
	Environment We evaluate potential environmental impacts including honeybee health.
	Social We engage with individuals and surrounding communities in our supply chain to understand potential social impacts.