What On Earth is a review service that takes the effort out of finding ethically made alternatives to the products you buy everyday. In fact, we spend hours and hours researching, buying, trying and tasting the most ethically made foods, drinks, clothes, beauty and household products out there so you don't waste your time or money buying things that just aren't up to scratch.
And it’s not just about finding things that are good for the planet (although we care deeply about that). It’s as important to us that the products we recommend to you look and taste even better than what you’re using at the moment. We believe you don’t have to compromise on health, quality, taste or style to live a more sustainable life. Everyday, incredible mission-driven brands are coming to market with high quality, fly looking, ethically made products. We’re just here to qualify and highlight them so you can spend your cash in a way that's good for you and good for the planet.
We are an independent review service - not affiliated in any way with the brands or products we choose. We’re driven by the hope that if we do our jobs well, more people will be aware of the positive impact we can collectively make through the everyday products we buy.
How do we choose and rate our products?
We pride ourselves on our integrity and ethical standards, and all of our reviews are 100% our own. None of our posts are sponsored. We are not affiliated with any of the brands we feature nor do we make money from recommending one product over another. We will always remain an independent review service that has our customer at the forefront of our minds. We know that if we recommend anything but the best products, we are wasting your time, insulting your intelligence and shooting ourselves in the foot.
We are researchers by trade and we see What On Earth as an opportunity to apply our professional skill-sets to what we’re really passionate about.
To get to this point, we surveyed over 2,000 UK consumers, interviewed over thirty (and counting) veteran ethical consumers and constantly consult industry experts to make sure whenever we start researching a product category, we know what the important considerations are for people using these products everyday.
We then spend hundreds of hours researching, shortlisting, trying, testing, rating and ranking each product so we can find the very best option in each category. From an ethical perspective, we research every product using the following criteria:
Animal Cruelty considerations: Does the product use ingredients or materials derived from animals? Does the brand test on animals? Do they use production methods that harm animals or their habitats? Are they accredited for their efforts by any noted bodies, such as Vegan Certified or The Leaping Bunny Program?
Environmental considerations: Does the product use ingredients, materials or production methods that are harmful to the environment in any way? Is the brand transparent about their efforts to limit their impact on the environment? Do they track every ingredient from source across their supply chain? Is the product packaging recyclable and made of recycled material? Is the product made in the UK or as close to the UK as possible to limit associated transport pollution? Is the brand accredited for their efforts by any noted bodies, such as the Soil Association or the Rainforest Alliance?
Company Values and Ethics: Does the brand track and ensure the welfare of their staff and partners’ staff across their supply chain? Are they a smaller business and/or do they support smaller, local businesses and economies in the UK? Are they a mission-driven brand attempting to make a more ethical alternative to rival products on offer in their category? Are they accredited for their efforts by any noted bodies, such as the Fairtrade Foundation?
Health considerations: Does the product contain any controversial ingredients that may be harmful to people’s health? Does it cater for dietary requirements such as Gluten-Free, Nut-Free, Dairy-Free, Vegan or Vegetarians? Are they accredited for their efforts by any noted bodies, such as Soil Association Certified Organic?
First we shortlist brands and products that score highly across these criteria. We then buy and use the products to assess their performance, design and taste. To really stress test the performance and durability of a product, we may wear and wash t-shirts, for example, again and again to make sure the colour, shape and texture stay the same. Or we will hold a blind taste testing for ice cream so we’re relying on more than just our own palettes when selecting a winner.
Whatever the product category, our aim is to highlight truly amazing, sustainable items that taste, look and work better than their less ethically-made peers.
Who are we?
What On Earth was founded in 2019 by friends in the UK who wanted to make more ethical life choices through the everyday products they purchased, but didn’t want to compromise on health, quality, convenience, taste or design. Currently we think researching products that meet the highest ethical standards is too confusing, overwhelming and time-consuming.
At What On Earth we’ll spend the time to curate and rate the best sustainable products we find so you don’t have to. We exist to help you feel good about the things you buy by making ethical life choices simple, inspirational and aspirational.
How can you help?
If you find our posts helpful, or if you have any suggestions on how to make our services serve you better, we’d love to hear from you. Send us your feedback and feel free to share or comment on our product reviews. Have a product you’d like for us to consider or want us to write about a particular product category for our next review? Don’t be shy, let us know!
