Top 5 ethical companies by sector

Image: Fairtrade Know the Origin — Know the Origin

Tim Hunt

Friday 27th of July 2018

We list the highest scoring ethical company in each of five different sectors; fashion, health & beauty, food & drink, money, and technology.

The companies are:

Know the Origin
Odylique
Plamil
Fairphone
Triodos

Fashion

Know the Origin

Ethical product rating: 15

Why buy from Know the Origin:

Independent British brand, Know the Origin sit at the top of our ratings in our guide to alternative clothing brands One of the reasons they score so well is because all its products are made from 100% organic cotton, some of which is Fairtrade certified. This cotton is fully traceable back to two farmer-run cooperatives in India.

They stand out because of their commitment to transparency. On the Know the Origin website you can follow the journey of production from ‘seed to garment’ explaining each process, where it is made and even invites people to visit its factories.

Health and Beauty

Odylique

Ethical product rating: 17.5 (lipstick)

Why buy Odylique:

Odylique are a vegetarian friendly cosmetics company based in the UK. They sit top of our make up rankings table scoring with some of the highest possible ethical standards. For example their lipstick is both organic and fairtrade certified.

The company also has a positive animal testing policy. They never use ingredients tested on animals and have a fixed cut off date for ingredients that may have been tested on animals in the past. The brand is owned by Essential Care Organics.

Food and Drink

Plamil

Ethical Product rating: 18/20 (vegan chocolate)

Why buy from Plamil?

Plamil is a vegan company with a long history of producing sustainable foods.

For example its palm oil is sourced from organic sources, the company only uses renewable energy and much of its chocolate is both Fairtrade and organic as well as suitable for vegans.

Money

Triodos

Ethical rating: 15.5 (current accounts)

Why buy from Triodos?

Triodos sits at the top or near the top of a number of our product guide tables, including current accounts, saving accounts and cash ISAs. Triodos Bank only lends to organisations which create real social, environmental and cultural value such charities, social businesses, community projects and environmental initiatives.

The bank is also fully transparent about who it lends to, this is very rare in a sector where ethical standards tend to be very low.

Technology

Fairphone

Ethical rating: 15 (smart phones)

Why buy a Fairphone?

Fairphone was started as a campaigning organisation working to stop abuses in the conflict mineral supply chain. It later became a company and started to sell mobile phones that are made to much higher ethical standards than those sold by mainstream brands. For example their phones use conflict free components and some fairtrade gold.

They also use manufacturing facilities in China where working conditions are much higher.

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Top 5 ethical companies and brands

The companies listed below are five of the highest ranking and most ethical companies across our product guides. All five companies score well across our ratings system, gaining product sustainability marks for using fairtrade and organic accreditation schemes. (Read more about our rating system)
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Five unethical companies

Listed below are five of the lowest ranking companies across our product guides. All these companies score poorly across our rating system for failing to address issues including human rights, animal rights and environmental concerns.
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