Seventh Generation: Building consumer trust and brand strength through footprinting

Seventh Generation believes in protecting the health of the next seven generations. We believe business value, including consumer trust and loyalty, comes from greater transparency and addressing chemicals of concern. Our aspirations to “enhance health” and “nurture nature” begin with chemical transparency across the supply chain and have progressed through seeking safer alternatives to ingredients in longstanding use in the industry that many consider to be chemicals of concern. 

Seventh Generation has published 2020 goals that include removal of any non-preferred materials and details our journey to eliminate chronic toxicants in our 2017 Sustainability Report. We work closely with suppliers to ensure ingredients and finished products meet our stringent ingredient and quality standards. We follow up with authenticity testing of both ingredients and finished products. When unexpected chemicals are detected, for example, due to cross-contamination, we research the cause and aspire to be transparent with stakeholders about the findings and solution. We disclose all intentionally added ingredients for all products to the consumer, including the presence of fragrance allergens. 

We have steadily improved our score in the CFP Survey over three years as we made continuous improvements to our chemicals management and hazard reduction. In 2019, we received 98 out of 100 points, the highest CFP Survey score by any company to date. We also eliminated all of the chemicals on the CFP Chemicals of High Concern List as ingredients from our products, reducing the chemical footprint of our product portfolio to zero. 

Beyond our products, Seventh Generation is deeply involved in advocating for stricter chemicals management and reporting, both at the federal and state level, and has worked tirelessly in driving the homecare industry toward ingredient disclosure. In 2017, Seventh Generation played a critical role in the passing of California’s Cleaning Product Right to Know Act, which requires the disclosure of ingredients in cleaning products sold in the state.
We are a member company of the Beauty and Personal Care Leadership Group, where representatives from across the beauty and personal products supply chain are working together to develop a common assessment tool for evaluating the sustainability of beauty and personal care products, with the goal of simplifying and aligning the wide array of product assessment criteria in use today.

Our commitments to developing safe and effective products and to building trust through transparency have been the foundation of our success. We believe consumers have the right to know what’s in the products they buy, and to trust the companies they are supporting. This resonates with consumers: when they understand our mission and practices, they are twice as likely to be loyal to our business.

Martin Wolf, Director of Sustainability & Authenticity