So powerful and yet so threatened: how your lipstick helps save the kings and queens of the jungle and their eco-system. And why it affects us all.
Vegan and Cruelty-free Lipsticks: A Good Start!
It's the core of our brand but it doesn't hurt to be reminded: ALL TIGERS lipsticks are vegan and cruelty-free. Our brand bears the name of an animal, so it's important we go all the way in our support and respect for all living things.
- Vegan: This means that, unlike traditional formulas, there are absolutely zero animal or animal-based ingredients in our lipsticks, such as carmine pigment extracted from the cochineal insect (yuck), beeswax, animal fats etc... A woman ingests up to 2 kg of lipstick in her lifetime, so it's best to already avoid that stuff no one wants to swallow...
- Cruelty-Free: This means that we are opposed to animal testing, and that ALL TIGERS lipsticks will never be tested on animals. This is already the rule throughout Europe (since we have only put good ingredients in our lipsticks, there would be no point), and ALL TIGERS will not sell products in countries where local authorities would require us to do this type of testing.
Vegan, cruelty-free...for animals in general, it's great... "But what does this do for tigers?" Legitimate question, it's our logo, after all. Because we see tigers everywhere—on t-shirts or toys (without the brands being very clearly committed to its protection)—one would almost forget that it's a species that's seriously endangered. We would not have been comfortable using the image of the tiger without giving it royalties, one way or another...
We have a lot in common with tigers: so powerful, and yet so threatened... like with the choices that manufacturers make for us, for example, starting with lipstick, a product consumed daily by millions of women and which has a little-known formula. WE are ALL TIGERS: That's what inspired the brand name.
Wild Tigers, "Shareholders" of All Tigers
From its beginning, ALL TIGERS made the choice to join the organization 1% For The Planet, a group of companies that are committed to donating 1% of their turnover each year to an organization of their choice. This is 1%, whether the company makes a profit or is in the hole: this is a very strong commitment.
With 1% For The Planet, we chose to support Véronique Audibert's efforts and her NGO Poh Kao, which was founded in 2006 and supports projects in Asia involving local people in the preservation of wild tigers and their entire environment. So you could say that tigers are stockholders of 1% of ALL TIGERS!
"Saving a tiger is preserving the balance of entire regions."
During the 20th century, the population of wild tigers went down from over 100,000 to no more than 2,000. When a tiger disappears, it's the sign of a ravaged ecosystem, the direct result of the destruction of entire forests and the depletion of prey. It is also the result of intensive poaching and illegal trafficking, orchestrated by international criminal organizations that profit from it... Local communities, often extremely poor, are directly affected by the deterioration of their environment, from which they derive most of their resources. Not to mention the threats raised by the presence of criminal organizations in these remote areas. Saving a tiger is preserving the balance of entire regions.
Just recently, the Chinese government announced its intention to partially reopen the legal trade of tiger parts, for scientific purposes: the news saw major push-back from wild tiger advocates, for this could only nourish international trafficking. Under pressure from environmental organizations, China finally suspended this decision, though it reminds us that the tiger's situation is still unstable.
The POH KAO Association, founded in 2006 and recognized as a general interest, has made the protection of the last wild tigers its mission, first in Cambodia, then more recently in Rajasthan, India, to guide local people manage protected areas. You can read about Poh Kao founder Véronique Audibert's fight in her interview here. These areas are not part of major international tiger safeguards programs, and local NGOs benefit little if at all from government or international endowment funds while they perform exceptional work. We want to help them.
