Cult Beauty to fight greenwashing with pioneering blockchain platform

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Nov 29, 2019

Online fashion e-tailer Cult Beauty is working with Provenance to increase transparency in beauty and verify brands’ eco-friendly and ethical claims.

In what has been touted as ‘the first use-case of blockchain for a beauty retailer’, the fast-growth company will leverage the Provenance platform to enable brands to share and prove information, including the origin, ingredients, process and claims of their products.

“We are always looking for ways to empower our customers by providing the information they need, without them feeling overwhelmed with facts and stats that make decision-making more bewildering,” said Alexia Inge, co-founder of Cult Beauty.

“Provenance provides next-generation proof point-transparency, allowing consumers to do their due diligence around brand claims."

But how does this work? Provenance has created a blockchain-based software solution which provides a multi-layered look into brands’ claims. Designed to be as clear as possible for consumers, the system allows brands to share and provide evidence about their products. Claims verified by an independent third-party, such as certifications, are shown with a green tick to offer consumers piece of mind that the products are truly what they say they are.

Provenance said blockchain technology is used because it is open, incorruptible and decentralised, allowing the most honest and trustworthy way to verify the information from the brand and its supply chain to pass to the end-customer. 

The initiative will roll out with a select group of brands, with plans to expand the platform in the future.