Vegan Fox

Vegan Skincare That Began With a Question.

Vegan Fox is a small handcrafted skincare brand from Latvia, Vegan Society certified since 2017, with formulations made up of 92 to 100% natural ingredients depending on the product. The range is made by hand in the city of Ogre by a family-run team — which is the kind of detail that means very little in marketing copy and rather a lot in practice, since it is the difference between a product made by people who use it themselves and a product made on a contract line. The case the brand makes, with some justification, is that the word "vegan" on a cosmetics bottle has been allowed to drift toward the loosest possible interpretation in the wider industry, and that having a brand built explicitly around what the word ought to mean is, on balance, a rather useful thing.

The range covers face care, body care, hair care, and shower essentials, formulated around shea butter, aloe vera, marigold, herbal extracts, and antioxidant vitamins, with no parabens, sulfates, or synthetic fragrances anywhere in the line. The face cream is the hero product, well-loved enough that it has won at the European Natural Beauty Awards more than once, but the broader case for the brand is the consistency: every product in the range is vegan and naturally formulated to the same standard, which is rather more disciplined than most natural-cosmetics brands manage as their ranges grow. The whole proposition is built on the demanding little principle that "vegan" should mean exactly what it appears to mean, and "natural" should be measurable rather than gestural — and on the evidence, Vegan Fox is meeting both.

Meet Maija.

Maija Rieksta-Riekstiņa is Vegan Fox's founder, a mother of several children, and the energy behind every decision the brand makes. She left a great job at a great company some years ago — her own phrase, used without irony — because she wanted to do something more lasting and somewhat closer to her own values. What she landed on, after enough late nights wading through ingredient lists for friends who kept asking her which cosmetics were actually vegan, was a small handcrafted skincare line she could make herself in Latvia, in the city of Ogre, with her family. She does it that way, she says, because doing it that way is simply more personal.

A share of what the brand earns goes to animal shelters and to environmental restoration in the Baltics rather than to marketing budgets — which is, on the evidence, where Vegan Fox would rather put it. The fox in the name was hers, chosen because foxes are clever, beautiful, and a touch independent. Asked the obvious question, Maija answers it the same way every time: yes, the Vegan Fox is vegan, because foxes can be different, just like people.

For more pieces from brands chosen for how they make things, browse our Sustainable Brands and Ethical Brands edits, or discover values-led picks through Shop by Purpose. Find more for your Bathroom or browse considered Gifts for Her.