Hi, Tashina.
I see that Bite Beauty is now in the Cruelty Free List, instead of the Grey Area one. Has their ownership changed, and are they now no longer owned by a non-cruelty free parent company? Thanks

Hi Loretta,

If you go to Kendo’s website, their LinkedIn page, or their jobs page there are lots of references to it being owned by LVMH. The statement on their site means that the company of Kendo joined LVMH. From their site – “Kendo Holdings, Inc. is a San Francisco-based beauty brand developer and wholesaler owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton, the world’s largest luxury group.”

I do have a question though in terms of Kendo and LVMH. No where (that I can find) shows that Kendo is owned by LVMH. On the main LVMH website, they show that they Sephora and Kenzo, but not Kendo. Even trying to look theough old press releases and quarterly result releases, I still have found nothing. A brief statement on kendo’s site shows the former CEO of Sephora left to join LVMH….but I cannot find any other money trails…any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hi Ashley,

Bite Beauty is in the Grey Area list not because they were acquired, but because since being acquired I have been unable to get any statement from them about if their animal testing policies have changed. This is different than Burt’s Bees, who has continued to be transparent and provide detailed information. And different than Kat Von D Beauty, who also went through the process to be listed here on Logical Harmony and provided plenty of details about their brand. The note next to Kat Von D Beauty is also noting that their parent company owns other brands who test, not that their parent company tests.

At the end of the day, if Bite Beauty will not talk to me about their animal testing practices I am just not comfortable promoting them as cruelty free. I hope this helps explain things better.

They’re in the same situation as, for example, Burt’s Bees, which has Leaping Bunny certification despite their parent company not being cruelty free.

Shouldn’t Burt’s Bees therefore also be in the “grey area” section? Or vice-versa, shouldn’t Bite be allowed to be in the same list as Burt’s Bees? And what about Kat von D? Not on the Leaping Bunny list but still listed under Cruelty Free on your brands list (with the sidenote that their parent company is not CF). Shouldn’t this brand also be on the “grey area” list?

Your list seems inconsistent in this regard.