How I Research Businesses Before I Buy From Them
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While the below is a lot of information on how to research businesses and vote with your dollars about things that matter to you — don't shame yourself if you're not currently doing this. Or if you don't always do it. Just basically living is exhausting in this day and age.
I am not a perfect ethical shopper. I still buy from companies I don't fully align with on occasion. I make convenience and cost concessions at times due to timing, lack of information, lack of other options, or a better deal.
Over the past few years, I've become a lot more intentional about where my money actually goes. Not only because I've needed to stretch my money further for longer, but because I learned from Tori Dunlap how revolutionary voting with your dollars can be. Money makes the world go 'round and women are the ones doing the shopping. We're the ones being marketed to and targeted. If we're going to spend our money on something, let's make it work harder by investing in brands that we align with. Let's stop making Jeff Bezos rich and start helping the small businesses and the big businesses that give back in a way that aligns with our values.
What I'm Looking For (My Three Non-Negotiables)
When it comes to ethical shopping, I personally focus on three things: political and human rights alignment, environmental sustainability, and low-toxicity ingredients. I don't want to give my hard-earned money to a corporation that is actively donating funds to causes I fundamentally disagree with, is killing the planet my hypothetical grandchildren will live on, and/or is lowering my quality of life with dangerous ingredients.
“Fun” Facts
Did you know the US is one of the most permissive developed countries when it comes to what's allowed in the products we buy, eat, and put on our bodies? While the EU requires ingredients and additives to be proven safe before approval, the US does the opposite — things are allowed until they're proven harmful. That's why food dyes, preservatives, and chemical additives banned across Europe are still sitting on American grocery shelves. It's why your favorite Bath and Body Works candles release benzene and toluene (both classified as carcinogens by the World Health Organization) every time you light them. And it's why the word "fragrance" on any label is a legal loophole that can conceal thousands of undisclosed chemicals.
Meanwhile, Amazon, everyone's favorite convenience trap, was found responsible by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission in 2024 for over 400,000 hazardous products sold on its platform, including children's pajamas that failed flammability standards and carbon monoxide detectors that didn't actually detect carbon monoxide.
Our largest corporations have a responsibility to set the tone, and they're failing. The documentary Buy Now on Netflix is a call to action on exactly this. I highly recommend watching it if you haven't yet — it radicalized me.
Apps That Make Voting With Your Dollars Easier
There are certain apps now that can tell you about a brand, about the ingredients in a product, and the environmental care they take in business practices. Using these makes it much easier to vote with your dollars when you have options. There are also a few certifications that businesses can earn that prove they've taken steps to be cruelty-free or environmentally friendly, and I'll cover where you can find them and why they're worth looking for.
Goods Unite Us — Political Donations & Human Rights
Available on Apple and Android, this is my favorite of the apps I have to share. Goods Unite Us shows you where a company's political donation dollars are actually going. You search a brand, and it breaks down which candidates and parties the company and its executives have donated to — not what they claim to stand for, but where their money actually went. It's free with ads, or you can pay a small support fee to drill down to exactly the causes you care about. I haven't upgraded to this level yet, but I am incredibly tempted.
Disclaimer: I'm not here to tell you which way to vote. But I do think you deserve to know whether the businesses you're spending money with are funding causes that conflict with your values. For me, human rights is non-negotiable, and this app makes it easy to do a quick gut-check before clicking "add to cart." It takes about 30 seconds and it has genuinely changed many of my purchasing habits and decisions. It's one of the most underrated tools in the ethical consumer toolkit, and I wish more people knew it existed.
COMMONS — Carbon Footprint & Sustainable Spending
Available on Apple and Android, COMMONS is the app I use most for sussing out whether a brand is actually walking its sustainability talk. I love being able to look up businesses and see their sustainability rating. When I'm shopping for clothing, I can make sure I'm not accidentally supporting fast fashion. That's my primary use for it, and honestly it's enough to keep it taking up storage on my phone.
What the app can do beyond my personal usage is pretty impressive. You can connect it to your personal accounts and it will calculate the carbon footprint associated with your purchases across all spending categories — not just one. It gives you personalized tips for lowering your emissions over time, and rewards you for sustainable choices like thrifting or buying from climate-positive brands. I haven't dug into these features yet, but they're on my list. Even just using it as a brand lookup tool has been genuinely eye-opening.
Good On You — Sustainable Fashion & Beauty Ratings
Available on Apple and Android, Good On You is your deep dive for fashion and beauty specifically. It rates over 6,000 brands on their impact on people, the planet, and animals — giving each brand a score from "We Avoid" to "Great." You can look up your favorite clothing and beauty brands, but brace yourself, there are stages of grief involved.
What I love is that the score breaks down by category, so you can see exactly where a brand is falling short and decide whether that's a dealbreaker for you personally. It's also helped me discover smaller ethical brands I never would have found otherwise.
A note on COMMONS vs. Good On You: these two are more complementary than redundant. Use COMMONS for your overall spending footprint across all categories, and Good On You when you want a detailed sustainability deep-dive on a specific fashion or beauty brand. They work really well together.
Yuka — Ingredient Safety & Low-Tox Living
Available on Apple and Android, Yuka is my go-to for anything going on or in my body. Scan a barcode and get an ingredient score that flags anything potentially harmful — endocrine disruptors, synthetic additives, questionable preservatives. It covers both food and personal care products, which is huge for anyone trying to live a low-tox lifestyle.
I got into low-tox living because of TikTok, and my grandparents. I fell down the low-tox TikTok rabbit hole while doing research for a few clients and trying to find cures for my allergies. TikTok is a wealth of information and thanks to it I've learned how toxic so many of my favorite things are for me and the people I love, and discovered some great alternatives. Along with that, I was noticing the difference in health between my grandparents and most others their age. They're in their 70s and are significantly more mobile, and generally healthy than others. The reason? They live simply (and genetics probably). They eat food grown in their own garden and eggs from their “happy chickens.” They're not regularly consuming all of the extra ingredients in the food we buy at the grocery store.
Yuka makes it genuinely easy to make better choices right there in the aisle. It has completely changed what lives in my bathroom cabinet and my pantry — and honestly, some of what I found early on made me want to throw out everything and start over. But that's where my sustainability kick helped out, because the most sustainable option is the one you already have. Currently, you'll find me in the aisle scanning barcodes for different lotions, as I'm on the hunt for the perfect low-tox moisturizer that isn't too heavy and sticky.
Indicators That a Brand Is Making the Effort
Leaping Bunny — Cruelty-Free Products
If cruelty-free is part of your values (it's part of mine), the Leaping Bunny database is the gold standard for finding cosmetic and household brands that don't test on animals. Unlike some "cruelty-free" labels that are self-certified and completely unverified, Leaping Bunny certification actually means something — brands have to apply, meet specific standards, and recommit annually. When you see that little bunny logo, trust it.
The Certified B Corp Label
While you're doing your research or shopping in store, keep an eye out for the Certified B Corporation designation. B Corp certification is awarded by a nonprofit called B Lab to companies that meet rigorous standards for social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. It covers how a company treats its workers, its community, the environment, and its customers — not just one of those things, but all of them together.
It's one of the most credible third-party certifications out there because companies have to re-certify every three years and submit to an actual audit. A B Corp label on a brand I'm considering is a serious green flag — it means someone besides the marketing team has looked under the hood. Brands like Patagonia, Dr. Bronner's, and Seventh Generation are B Corps, just to give you a sense of the company you're in.
Reality Check
No single tool gives you a perfect answer, and no brand is going to be flawless across every category. And it does take extra time to look these things up. But using these apps together — Goods Unite Us, COMMONS, Good On You, and Yuka — gives me a solid, multi-angle picture of whether a brand actually deserves my dollars politically, environmentally, and physically.
I share this not to make anyone feel guilty about their shopping habits, but because I genuinely wish someone had handed me this list sooner. These tools are free, they're user-friendly, and they make ethical consumerism feel achievable instead of overwhelming. Your dollars are more powerful than you think — and now you have the tools to use them intentionally.
Have a tool I missed? Drop it in the comments — I'm always looking to level up my research process.
Links & Resources
Apps
Certifications & Resources
Referenced In This Post
