The conscious consumer needs to be quite vigilant these days because many popular ethical brands are actually owned by multinationals. This is what happens in capitalism: a brand becomes popular and a massive conglomerate comes and buys it to quell all competition while wrapping up all the profits into its investors’ pockets.
Investors who couldn’t give a flying fuck about the brand and its products, let alone sustainability or the brand’s original green values. I say original because once these brands fall under one of these multinationals, they unfortunately cease to be a sustainable brand.
Yes, it’s very difficult for the people who built these popular brands to say ‘no’ when a massive buying offer is dangled in front of their face. But what this time and age needs is people who have integrity and are able to fight against the overwhelming greed. Greed that is destroying our climate and all of us with it!
I will make life a little easier by giving you a list of brands to avoid because they are no longer ethical brands. And then I will share a list of brands that are (so far) still doing all the right things!
There’s going to be ethical clothing brands, ethical beauty brands as well as ethical shoe brands. Check out also my favourite Ethical fashion brands in the UK here.
Why avoid multinational brands and products?
So, why is it smart to avoid brands that are owned by massive corporations? It comes down to keeping control of our lives in our own hands. Consider these on a personal as well as on a community level:
- Supporting local economy: buying from local businesses keeps the money in your area through taxes and employment | with multinationals your money goes overseas without benefiting you.
- Personal autonomy: preferring local maintains our individual autonomy; ability to choose which products and services we want to use | being dependent on multinationals, like Big Tech, means they can sell us shit and steal our privacy as there aren’t any alternatives available.
- Healthy values: shopping from independent brands supports ethical labor practices, more ecological sourcing and local traditions and craftsmanship | multinationals engage in modern day slavery and ecological degradation just to make more profit.
- Democratic accountability: with smaller brands your wallet bears more power; your boycott actually matters to the local business | with multinationals boycotts need hundreds of thousands of people to partake to make any difference.
- Limit corporate political influence: local businesses can help drive beneficial policy changes in your area | foreign corporations influencing local politics due to large presence there is detrimental to your freedom.
- Keep public spaces vibrant: a busy high street benefits everyone both economically and socially | multinationals offer chain outlets or online stores, which promotes isolation.
- Promote consumer safety: local farms and tradesmen offer cleaner and healthier produce | multinationals are the biggest polluters and known for poisoning our food with pesticides and unnecessary medicine.
It comes down to this: do you want to live a healthy and free life or allow corporations to limit your existence while they slowly poison you?
More on the topic: 40 Simple Everyday Tips to Fight Capitalism – Rebel’s Guide
Ethical Brands Owned by Multinationals to Avoid
You may think that we lowly consumers have no power against these huge businesses that basically own everything in the world. But that’s not quite true, is it? Because we’re the ones who make and keep the money in circulation:
- we’re the employees who enable these companies to run: a company can run without managers but not without workers!
- Us consumers are the ones who use the salary we receive from these companies to buy their products and services.
- When we redirect that money away from these multinationals en masse to sustainably operating brands, the effects are noticeable.
So, while we can’t dictate what everyone else does, let us shop better individually, encourage everyone we know to do so as well and hope that more and more of us will follow. And to do this, let’s start by listing the ethical brands owned by multinationals that we should keep away from.
1. Pukka tea – Unilever
Pukka Herbs started off in 2001 as a sustainable brand offering organic herbal, green and black tea. They’ve prided themselves in their sustainably sourced ingredients and commitment to drastically reduce their emissions by 2030. They even received the B Corp certification.
In 2017 all of that came to an end as Lipton Teas bought Pukka Herbs. As a result Pukka lost their B Corp status, which is only acceptable since Lipton, as well as now Pukka, belongs to Unilever.
Why is Unilever a problem?
Unilever is considered by many as one of the worst polluters on this planet. It’s also one of the biggest conglomerates, which means it owns a huge chunk of, for example, our food production and beauty brands among other industries.
This giant is particularly well known for its massive contribution to plastic pollution. This affects mostly developing countries, but by now the effects also reach us privileged pricks through microplastics. In addition, Unilever has faced allegations of deforestation and serious labor rights abuse across its supply chains.
2. Lily’s Kitchen – Nestle
Here’s another former B Corp brand that lost its status as an ethical brand once it was purchased by one of the worst multinationals this planet has ever seen. Lily’s Kitchen was founded in the UK in 2007 and was inspired by a sickly Border Terrier called Lily.
The brand has an absolutely lovely and captivating story behind it but unfortunately it was greatly dimmed in 2019 when the brand was sold to Nestle. Of all the bad actors in any industry they had to go for the absolute worst…
Why is Nestle a problem?
By 2026 most of us born and raised in the West should be aware of at least one of the many, many terrible things that Nestle has been found responsible for. Things like:
- causing the death of thousands of babies in developing countries via their misleading marketing, even harmful sales tactics of their baby formula
- causing permanent droughts in already drought-ridden areas by emptying and/or poisoning state-owned water sources and not helping to solve the issues
- using child slave labor in cocoa farms across the world, and the list goes on.
If there’s a company that we should all avoid, even if it’s a little inconvenient, THIS is it!
3. Everlane – Shein
When it comes to ethical fashion brands being acquired by multinationals, it can’t get worse than this! In May 2026 the sustainable fashion industry was in turmoil after learning that Everlane had been acquired by a known and very controversial ultra fast fashion company.
None other than the Chinese clothing giant, Shein!
Why is Shein a problem?
I’m sure I don’t need to elaborate on this, but just in case there is someone who doesn’t know, here’s why Shein is a problem:
- Fast fashion is an overall detrimental business model; ultra fast fashion is 100 times worse.
- Shein has been proven to treat their workers appallingly; not paying them, forcing them to sleep in the factory, etc.
- The company’s clothing has been proven on multiple occasions to consist of toxic materials, especially children’s clothing.
- Shein constantly steals small designers’ designs and creates their own, ridiculously cheap versions of them.
- And the list goes on and on and on!
4. Wild deodorant – Unilever
Wild deodorant was launched in 2020 in the UK as an alternative for single-use deodorants. Their refillable deodorant had an inspiring motive behind it: reducing plastic pollution on a personal level.
The 2 founders of the brand promised to specifically fight plastic pollution while offering us a natural skincare product. Until in 2025 the brand was bought by Unilever, which is one of the biggest polluters on the planet. Bye Bye from the Ethical brands list, Wild!
5. iPhone – Apple Inc.
Sure, as ethical brands go, the iPhone was never one and it wasn’t acquired by Apple. It was invented by the corporation. But the most recent developments within this multinational business have been more than alarming!
iPhones have always been marketed very aggressively, and while its branding has always been spot on, the way Apple products are ‘centralised’ creates its own problems. This centralisation has had a blacklash, though:
The EU created the universal charging port law (USB-C) to combat the technology waste problem caused by Apple’s centralisation.
Why is Apple a problem?
While technology waste is a massive problem globally, it’s not the worst that Apple has done. You all remember the class-action lawsuit around the brand purposefully degrading their products’ batteries. The point of this was to make sure that people would need to buy new devices constantly.
The brand has also been charged on multiple occasions for anti-competitive practices, for abusing their employees’ rights and for illegal data collection. Privacy concerns keep increasing around the company year by year. Overall Apple is a brand that millions of people pay to screw them over. And sure, it is one’s right as a consumer…
6. Aēsop – L’Oreal
Many of us prefer ethical beauty brands, like the Australian luxury cosmetics brand Aēsop, for our own health and safety. Don’t want to spread any toxic chemicals on our skin, now do we? The growing problem with ethical makeup brands among others is that they are being bought up by multinationals.
And as it happens, Aēsop was purchased by L’Oreal in 2023, which raises concerns about its commitments to sustainability and social responsibility. Because how much control do these brands really have under these monster multinationals?
Why is L’Oreal a problem?
L’Oreal is known for animal testing even though there has been loads of backlash over it for the past 2 decades. Many of these huge corporations don’t need to care because their sales still stay high. (See how we consumers hold the power but decide not to use it for the sake of convenience?)
The conglomerate has also been sued several times. Often because of the brands under its umbrella that use harmful chemicals in their cosmetics. Chemicals that can cause cancer, for example. I might also add the fact that 20% of L’Oreal is owned by Nestle…
Green Brands to Support That Have NOT Sold Out to Multinationals
It’s unfortunate that these days we can’t trust anyone claiming that they are a sustainable brand. Instead, we now need to do a little bit of research to make sure our money doesn’t go to waste. What happened to honesty and integrity, I wonder?
Thankfully there are still plenty of ethical brands that deserve the name! These brands are usually small, family-owned companies, which we should support anyway. Especially in terms of food, supporting local is becoming essential.
Just look at this chart showing how just a few multinationals own every brand in your grocery store. And we know these brands knowingly poison and genetically modify the food they sell. So, stay well away from them! And check out these:
1. RainSisters
This is my personal favourite when it comes to ethical clothing brands! RainSisters is a Lithuanian clothing brand founded by three sisters and they did something that I thought impossible: they made me like rainy days.
And they achieved that by creating a rain coat that makes me want to get outside while it’s bucketing it down. A long coat that looks like an A-lined dress equipped with a hood is the only way to survive the wind-infused vertical deluge by the sea, where I live.
And it makes me look and feel like a princess!
2. Proton
Technology is one of the biggest dangers for both our mental health and the climate. While the Big Tech has all of our attention and money we’re extremely vulnerable. That’s why in 2025 I decided to switch from Windows to a Linux laptop.
I started looking for more services to replace the Big Tech products with. And the best alternative for Gmail and Google Drive is Proton! The company was founded in Switzerland and it emphasizes the privacy of its users in every possible way.
The user experience is very similar to Gmail and Drive so I am very happy to recommend this European alternative!
3. Lucy and Yak
Now, this is an inspiring brand that is moving towards a future that we should all prepare for! In 2025 one the best known British ethical clothing brands, Lucy and Yak, switched to employee ownership. This means that the people who work for the brand also own it, and thus have a say in how its run.
[Before you start raving about communism, go and educate yourself on what that word actually means! In short; the USSR and China were/are NOT communist countries]
As if their cheerful and comfortable clothes weren’t reason enough to prefer this brand over H&M and Zara, it’s only one of many interesting ethical fashion brands in UK.
4. Fairphone
Some of the biggest problems with the huge technology companies are their environmental impact and human rights violations, even child slavery, all over their supply chain. For a long time the two big ones have been our only options in terms of, for example, smartphones.
Not anymore! Fairphone was founded in the Netherlands in 2013 and is nowadays a worthy alternative for Apple and Samsung. It has the B Corp certification and some of their phones have even received the Fairtrade label. What makes these phones phenomenal is the following:
- the user can decide which operating system they want (Android, Ubuntu, Touch, etc.) or buy a phone with a pre-installed OS
- Fairphone smartphones are modular, which means they have a longer lifespan and are easy to fix and customise without creating waste
- the phones come with a 5-year warranty and long-term support for software updates and spare parts
- these phones are created using Fairtrade and recycled materials as well as metals acquired from conflict-free areas.
Fairphone has been dubbed “the most ethical smartphone in the world” for a good reason!
5. Palmroth
If you’ve been looking for ethical shoe brands, look no further! Palmroth is a true pioneer in sustainable shoe-making. The brand was founded in 1928 in Finland, and the family company has grown into a global success.
They combine Finnish design and craftsmanship with their knowledge of a challenging climate and create shoes that can stand the tooth of time. This is a truly European brand: all of their materials are sourced from European countries. They also use recycled materials, and even have a vegan shoes collection.
Style, convenience and comfort is what you can expect from a pair of Palmroth shoes (I can personally vouch for that!)
6. Signal
One more technology alternative. Signal Messenger is exactly the same as Whatsapp except it’s a privately owned company that values your privacy. The user experience is no different to Whatsapp and you don’t need to worry about your private photographs being used to train Meta’s AI.
Peace of mind without compromising the convenience is exactly what these new alternatives to Big Tech are offering us. Don’t you just love that?
Summa Summarum on Ethical Brands Owned by Multinationals
In the end your safest bet is to prefer small family owned private companies. The world being built as it is, we consumers need to put a little bit of effort in if we want to consume as sustainably as possible. Because it’s worth it! And sometimes we have to admit that it simply isn’t possible.
For instance, like I covered in my Green Lifestyle Tips, plastic is absolutely everywhere. Also, it is a fact that truly sustainable brands have higher prices which can feel unfair. But that’s the point: their prices are reasonable! We’ve just been brainwashed to think we deserve cheap prices.
Reasonable pricing covers the work and materials in addition to not degrading the planet. But right now it is a lot cheaper to produce stuff by destroying the only planet we can live on than operating in a sustainable way. Like, WTF?!
And yes, individually we don’t have any power against these huge conglomerates. But if we manage to come together, our power is unbeatable as a community! We are the ones who spend money on products and services, not the richest people. You see, being rich doesn’t actually mean you have any cash to spend. Instead, all that money is tied to assets like real estate.
Which means that the moment we all STOP buying products owned by these multinationals, they feel it immediately. Make better choices not just for the planet but also for your own health and wellbeing! ♥
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