*This feature is not sponsored or paid for in any way by BYBI or any other invested party
BYBI, which stands for By Beauty Insiders, is a London-based skincare brand that offers “high performance beauty that is 100% natural, vegan, and cruelty free.” They are a values-driven brand that believes that “great skincare should not come at a cost to our planet” and it is clear from all of their marketing that sustainability is at the heart of this business. From the ingredients to the supply chain, BYBI delivers sound sustainability credentials. We were curious as to how BYBI is doing this so reached out to a representative to learn more about the brand.
OWNERSHIP
The BYBI brand is owned by parent company Clean Beauty Co., founded by Dominika Minarovic and Elsie Rutterford who also run Clean Beauty Insiders. They also have a book called Clean Beauty: Recipes to Manage Your Beauty Routine, Naturally.
The About Us section on their website says they are “beauty bloggers, trained formulators and skincare experts who create products based on what we want and what we know doesn’t yet exist.” The company is based in the UK.
INGREDIENTS & RAW MATERIALS
One of BYBI’s standout features is how transparent they are with what’s in their products. All the information regarding each product's formulation and ingredients are on each product page on their website. They are also Leaping Bunny certified cruelty-free (and not sold in mainland China), and certified vegan by The Vegan Society. BYBI also occasionally use organic ingredients in their products, however, the brand itself is not certified organic.
When asked about whether their raw material/ingredient suppliers are certified cruelty-free, we were told that they would need to triple check with their formulation team before giving us a definitive answer as they work with several different ones. We will be updating this post when we get an answer.
SOURCING & MANUFACTURING
According to BYBI, taking care to make sure they put only the best ingredients in their products must not come at a cost to the planet - including the animals and people who live in it. To help with this they use an internal auditing system called their Susty Score. This internal auditing system uses the following factors to determine what impact using it in a BYBI product will have on the environment:
the harvesting process: how carbon sensitive a supplier's harvesting model is
source location and transport: BYBI prefers ingredients that they can obtain with either reduced travel or can be transported via low carbon transport options
upcycling from another supply chain: if a byproduct from another supply chain can be used to for Bybi products, all the better (Fun fact: BYBI uses upcycled ingredients in over 50% of their range)
BYBI also requires a modern slavery policy from each of its suppliers and prefers to work with those who offer support to the ingredient producers they work with. Learn more about BYBI's ingredients and sourcing here.
All BYBI products are manufactured in the UK. Everything is formulated in their in-house lab in London which also produces small batches of products. This lab runs entirely on green energy and has manual machinery that does not require energy. For large batches, they rely on trusted manufacturing partners who are also graded via the company’s Susty Score on the following factors:
Energy: their partners all commit to fully switch to green energy by 2021
Waste management: BYBI asks for proof of their partners’ waste management policies to make sure that as little waste as possible is sent to landfills
Transport: BYBI opts for their products to be delivered to their final destinations via electric vehicles
PACKAGING & RECYCLING OPTIONS
BYBI’s packaging is also audited by their Susty Score which grades the materials they use based on the carbon footprint associated with its production, as well as the end of the material’s life. Their packaging is made of the following materials:
Sugarcane Polyethylene: an upcycled material from the sugar industry, this is a durable bioplastic that can be produced via a carbon-neutral process and is recyclable
Glass: infinitely recyclable, and not fossil fuse based; BYBI is also switching to recycled glass and prints directly unto glass with plant-based inks so as not to interfere with the recycling process
Grasspaper: made from grass pulp and is produced using 80% less energy than pulp paper; also recyclable
BYBI also has a recycling program called ReBYBI which is only currently available in the UK. It allows customers to return their used BYBI glass bottles so they can be sterilised and reused like for like - meaning it doesn’t need to be processed through industrial level recycling.
GIVING BACK & ADVOCACY
BYBI supports the Black Lives Matter movement and makes monthly donations to the organization.
DIVERSITY & INCLUSIVITY
Their HQ team in the UK is currently a 100% female workforce with the following demographics: 82% white, 9% black, 9% mixed race
BYBI does more than what we covered in this post to make sure they’re doing the best they can to tread lightly and kindly on the planet while still giving their customers the high-quality products they expect. You can learn about their fight against carbon here. You can also get more information and a more detailed look at their impact across different parts of their production here.
They are a brand that has clean beauty at the center of the business model. And when they say clean, they don’t just mean their product, they mean the packaging, the ingredient sourcing, the supply chain - everything. So if you’re after skincare that means clean when they say clean, especially if you’re local to their HQ in the UK, why not give BYBI a try?
BYBI ships internationally through their website. However, international orders may incur additional fees for shipping costs customs.