Affiliate Disclosure: This post may contain some affiliate links, which means when you click, I get a small percentage of the purchase at no extra cost to you. This allows me to keep this website running, so feel free to click away! You can read my entire Affiliate Disclosure here.
Is Weleda Cruelty-Free?
Weleda has confirmed that they are 100% cruelty-free.
They don’t test their ingredients or final products on animals, and they don’t sell their products where animal testing is required by law.
Weleda isn’t certified cruelty-free by any official cruelty-free organizations.
Is Weleda Vegan?
Weleda is NOT a 100% vegan brand, but they have many products that are vegan. You can shop for all of their vegan products here.
If you only want to purchase products from 100% cruelty-free and vegan brands, click here.
Shop
Is Weleda Owned By A Parent Company That Tests On Animals?
No, Weleda is not owned by a parent company that tests on animals.
Is Weleda Sold in China?
No, Weleda is not sold in China.
Animal Testing is required by law in China for all foreign cosmetics companies. All American and European cosmetic brands that are sold in China must undergo animal testing.
Any brand that chooses to sell its products in China cannot be considered cruelty-free.
Even products that can bypass mandatory tests may still be pulled from the shelves by Chinese authorities to be tested on animals.
About Weleda
Weleda started as a pharmaceutical laboratory that creates beauty products such as hair care, oral care, and skincare.
Email to the Company
Before classifying any brand as cruelty-free and vegan, I send them an email with the following questions:
- Are your products vegan? If only some are vegan, which ones?
- Are any of your products or ingredients tested on animals?
- Do you have a Leaping Bunny or PETA certification?
- Do your suppliers or any third parties test animals on your behalf?
- Does your company sell products in mainland China (except Hong Kong)?
- Are you owned by a parent company that tests on animals?
This is how Weleda responded to my email:
Since our founding in 1921 and in keeping with our guiding principles and values, Weleda has proudly produced cruelty-free personal care products. Weleda’s face, baby, body, hair, and oral care products are certified natural according to the NATRUE standard. The NATRUE standard requires that no personal care products be tested on animals and enforces this prohibition. The term ‘cosmetics’ in China is considered to be skincare, makeup, perfume, hair care, sun care, nail care, deodorants, and whitening products. Strangely enough, toothpaste and bars of soap are exempt and therefore not required to be tested on animals. So Weleda toothpaste and soap may be found in China. But rest assured – they are still cruelty-free. Cosmetics bought in China via an overseas e-commerce website also avoid the animal testing requirement, so increasingly the Chinese are buying from online stores in Hong Kong and further afield in order to get hold of European beauty brands. We do not sell our other products in mainland China because of the current cosmetics regulation, and there is no plan to do so until China changes its requirement regarding animal testing. Hopefully, consumer pressure in China will bring about change before too long.
Weleda doesn’t carry the Leaping Bunny symbol on its products because we’re a global brand with international packaging which bears the NATRUE-certified natural seal on every single one of our personal care products. NATRUE, the body established by the International Natural and Organic Cosmetics Association to certify natural cosmetic products, is against animal testing and their criteria stipulate that “Products must comply first and foremost with the basic requirements of Cosmetics Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009, particularly with regard to their composition, safety, efficacy, and labeling requirements. Furthermore, animal testing is fundamentally against NATRUE’s underlying values and ethics. It is for this reason that the NATRUE criteria extends the animal testing ban on finished cosmetic products as regulated by Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 to countries outside the EU.” Today, thankfully it’s against the law in Europe for any beauty cosmetics to be tested on animals. So it goes without saying that, as a European beauty brand, our products are cruelty-free.
You can find a list of all Weleda products that are suitable for vegans here: www.weleda.com/vegan