Check out details about our company in the About Section and read our Intro Article on our blog!
Wondering how to use Ethicli? Click Here.
Let us know if you have any additional questions at hello@ethicli.com.
Meet the teamWe pull from data sources such as BCorp and BlueSign. These sources are highly credible and respected sources, and they consider businesses based on their treatment of workers, customers, suppliers, their communities, and the environment.
We also crowdsource data from our users. If you would like to learn about our approach, please check out this blog article. After attaining the data, we make it into a large list that is checked by the extension every time you use it.
We are currently hand-grading large companies that don't yet have data-backed scores, but are working on making the scoring process more automatic.
After we have a solid foundation on our ethical product suggestions, we want to start a subsidizing program to essentially price-match ethical products with the cheaper, less ethically made ones. This subsidizing would be funded from a part of the commission we make on the product suggestions we make to you. This would allow you to save money and still serve our mission to make ethical shopping more accessible to our users.
By supporting ethical businesses, we will help increase the demand and shift the mainstream market to be more competitive with products who do right by us. We have already seen many companies fold to consumer demand, and Ethicli will help your purchasing power push harder by empowering you with the information you need to make the choice.
Absolutely! You can use our browser extension to compare some of the brands you see in brick and mortar shops too. While shopping local is a great way to go, many of us still want to know about a company’s ethics regardless if a purchase is made.
Or, if on a blue moon you do shop, Ethicli can still help you make an informed choice on the one thing you do buy! Every purchase counts, so we just want to arm you with all the information you need to do it.
We love working with ethically-run online businesses! Please fill out the form at https://ethicli.com/advertise to introduce yourself and we can get the ball rolling from there.
Maybe! For now while shopping via smartphone, you can see the score of the company you are looking at by visiting: ethicli.com/info/____ (replace the underscore with the company’s name).
This is so important to us at Ethicli. We focus on certifications, legal documents and databases that reflect specific aspects of company practices. For example, a shopper looking at an animal welfare score will only see sources about animal testing and if the company involves animal byproducts.
Likewise, the “Social” section of our scoring system involves the companies’ effects on our communities. Such contributors to this score includes the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark, Covid-19 safety precautions for customers, charity donations, and community involvement.
You may see badges such as “POC-owned business” or “Anti-racism” to depict organizations investing in POC wellness, however those aspects are not included in the score and only serve as highlights for the user to see.
We at Ethicli chose these 4 areas of ethics because we believe they are broad enough to capture most business practices, while being simple enough to understand a company’s ethics at a glance. The overall score for a company is an average of the subscores available.
Here is a definition of each category along with examples of information we may include in our scoring algorithm:
The effect that a company's practices have on the environment through emissions and use of resources. We include things like sustainability measures, use of carbon offsets to help neutralize their carbon footprint, shipping practices, and release of environmental impact reports. We also look for their electricity and fossil fuel usage, textile waste, wastewater treatment, plastic pollution, where they source their materials and how, whether they promote hyperconsumption (i.e. fast fashion apparel brands), and whether their products are single-use as opposed to being made to last and/or repairable. Some data sources we use include BlueSign and EPA’s Green Power Partner list.
The treatment that an animal receives as a result of a company’s manufacturing or practices. We look for certifications that indicate the humanity, quality and traceability of their animal product usage, and are cruelty-free, and their treatment of animals directly. We also let you know if a company has been involved in animal cruelty charges or allegations and if they test on animals (including selling cosmetics in countries that require animal testing by law). Some data sources we use include Certified Vegan and Leaping Bunny.
Animal Treatment is concerned with the direct impact a company’s supply chain has on animals vs indirect environmental impacts on animals such as habitat destruction. For example, unsustainable palm oil harvesting destroys wildlife habitat for orangutans, so we classify a company’s palm oil use under Environmental Impact. On the other hand, a company’s leather shoes or makeup tested on animals would fall under Animal Treatment.
Note: Some companies that do not use animal products might not have a score if their product doesn’t typically use it, such as a bookstore or ceramics artisan.
How a company’s policies and operations affect their employees. We consider whether the company pays a fair living wage, is transparent with their employees’ working conditions, and whether their labor supply chain is traceable. We also look for employee lawsuits, evidence of forced labor, labor rights infractions, child labor, CEO overpay, and sweatshop manufactoring in the supply chain. Some data sources we use include Fair Trade and Living Wage Foundation.
How a company affects the good or health of a community and society at large. We collect information regarding humanitarian and charity involvement, social justice involvement, and community partnerships. We also provide information about boycotts, lawsuits, legal issues, scams, legal infractions, and infringements on social rights. Some data sources we use include the Human Rights Benchmark and Charity Navigator.