Black History Month is the month to celebrate the achievement of African Americans and their role in the history of the United States. We at GoodGuilt are always thriving to create a world that is good, and above all, kind to all, people & nature. This month, we want to take this further by supporting Black-owned businesses that over the last few years, have become our community’s favorite places to shop for all things good & sustainable. With initiatives like Green For All, BIPOC business owners spanning various industries are bridging gaps between communities and creating sustainable jobs in local communities.
Why Black-Owned Companies Need Your Support Today?
Unfortunately, we live in a world that isn’t as inclusive as it should be. But, it is up to us to reach the root of the problem and choose to make the change by making efforts (not just this month, but even beyond that) to make the world more inclusive.
According to an article released by Forbes, “A Federal Reserve Bank report in 2017 indicated that black-owned businesses apply for credit at a ten percentage points higher rate than white-owned businesses, and yet their approval rates are 19 percentage points lower.” This clearly says that black business owners encounter more financial hurdles and a harder time getting credit in comparison to white business owners. And so, black-owned companies need our support for a more sustainable and inclusive tomorrow. We, as consumers, can offer our support in a very effortless way by knowing and supporting these black-owned sustainable businesses that are doing good for the planet.
10 Black-Owned Sustainable Businesses To Support Today For A Better Tomorrow
These black-owned sustainable businesses strive to make a world free of stacks of plastic, less carbon emission, no landfills, and more inclusive of communities and gender. So let’s learn about and support these sustainable black-owned companies this Black History Month, and in the coming months too.
1. Goodee
What Is It For?
Gifts, furniture, decor, bath and body, dining, and all things good for the planet.
What Makes This Brand Eco-Friendly?
This black-owned sustainable brand is B Corp™ certified and commits 1% For The Planet to give back to Mother Earth.
Goodee is a community of socially-conscious design enthusiasts who put “caring” for people and the planet at the center of everything they do. Its founders, Byron and Dexter Peart, exclusively work with artisans and products that make a positive social or environmental impact. This black-owned good marketplace offers impactful products from different vendors, along with their stories. This black-owned business ensures a living wage for its supply chain workers while also providing acceleration, professional development, and leadership opportunities. Goodee also supports women and non-binary people by encouraging diverse leadership and creating a workplace safe from discrimination and harassment.
In a world where consumption is overwhelming, Goodee is a place of change and our hope for a sustainable future.
2. Omi Woods
What Is It For?
Ethically sourced and made jewelry.
What Makes This Brand Eco-Friendly?
The founder of Omi Woods, Ashley Alexis McFarlane, makes an annual donation to a local or global non-profit, social organization, charity or cause every year.
Donations made each year: 2019 – AllOneBlood, 2020 – 8 Billion Tree, 2021 – Doctors Without Borders, 2022 – The Ocean Cleanup.
Omi Woods is a fair trade black-owned jewelry brand that makes ethically handmade jewelry with fair trade African gold and globally sourced and conflict-free fine metals. Omi Woods‘ jewelry pieces are contemporary heirlooms that celebrate the founder Ashley Alexis McFarlane’s connections to Africa. The brand’s jewelry is made to be collected, gifted, worn every day, and passed down to the coming generations to keep its meaning and value alive.
This ethical and sustainable black woman-owned business believes in paying people fairly for their resources, time, and labor. They source their fair-trade African gold from small-scale artisanal mines that support miners’ well-being and their communities, by paying miners a fair wage and contributing to improved health care, education, safety, and living conditions on the continent. The brand’s gold is extracted utilizing traditional methods that have a low impact on the Earth. Their silver is sourced from casting houses that use a blend of recycled and pure silver.
3. OUI The People
What Is It For?
Shaving essentials and body care products.
What Makes This Brand Eco-Friendly?
Their products come in glass bottles that are refillable and recyclable to help you reduce waste on the Earth.
Here is another black-woman-owned sustainable brand we love! This brand is not just a brand; it’s also a mirror that reflects our culture, language, and mindset. For decades, beauty brands have been selling their products under the terminology “anti-aging,” “flawless,” and “perfect,” setting an unrealistic beauty standard in society, especially for women. OUI the people is here with a mission – a mission to reconstitute the language of beauty. To build efficacious beauty products that help you feel great in the skin you’re already in. OUI the people first started designing stainless steel shaving razors to solve the issues of ingrown hair and razor burn; they then expanded into more body care products that address irritation, inflammation, dry skin, and more.
Looking for other beauty products for women of color; check these out.
4. BLK + GRN
What Is It For?
All-natural products ranging from beauty, home, bath & body, hair, skincare, to mom and baby products.
What Makes This Brand Eco-Friendly?
Their products are toxic-free, plant-based, cruelty-free, and quality tested by industry experts to ensure product effectiveness.
BLK + GRN is a black-owned sustainable marketplace where all black artisans are chosen by black health experts, who know what an all-natural product truly looks like. A place that connects black people with natural lifestyles to high-quality, toxic-free brands that have a mission of health, wellness, and community cultivation. They thoughtfully select the most nourishing, cruelty-free products from black artisans worldwide.
5. Brother Vellies
What Is It For?
Fashion footwear, handbags, small leather goods, and a small selection of thoughtfully-made products for your home.
What Makes This Brand Eco-Friendly?
This brand makes products from vegetable-tanned leathers, soling from recycled tires, hand-carved wood, dyed floral feathers, along with a stack of other by-product materials collected from farmers across the world.
Many fearless and powerful black businesswomen are leading the business world with their innovation, creativity, love for what they are doing and the planet. One of them is Aurora James, who has transformed our thoughts on the pair of luxury and sustainability in the fashion industry through her brand Brother Vellies. This black-owned business makes luxury accessories that celebrate cultural histories and timeless design.
6. Golde
What Is It For?
Beauty and wellness superfood essentials.
What Makes This Brand Eco-Friendly?
All of their formulas are 100% natural and vegan-friendly, with superfood ingredients you can recognize and trust.
This black-owned business is on a mission to make wellness easy, accessible, and fun for all. That means products that blend in with your lifestyle rather than the other way around. Golde‘s journey started in Brooklyn in 2017 with a single product – the Original Turmeric Latte Blend! And since then, Golde has grown into a small-but-mighty team sharing superfood essentials with thousands of customers.
From morning smoothies to skincare, this black-owned sustainable brand’s products are a celebration of superfoods to boost your daily routine easily. You can rely on Golde to provide formulas that are always 100 percent natural and vegan-friendly, with superfood ingredients you know and trust.
7. PUR Home
What Is It For?
Natural and safe home cleaning products, made with the highest quality ingredients to ensure the effectiveness of cleaning.
What Makes This Brand Eco-Friendly?
All of their products come in recyclable containers, and they are Leaping Bunny Certified.
Here is one of our favorite black-owned businesses whose products we love to use in our homes. PUR Home is dedicated to making natural and safe household cleaning products that do not cause harm to Mother Earth. All of their products come in recyclable bottles, and they even educate their customers about recycling and upcycling the containers. That’s how they contribute to reducing waste.
8. Galerie.LA
What Is It For?
From sustainable dresses and jackets to sustainable jewelry and sunglasses, Galeria.LA has everything that you need to be fashionable.
What Makes This Brand Eco-Friendly?
All of their products are curated by values like ethical, local, BIPOC-Owned, vegan, and much more.
Who says finding chic and sustainable fashion products is difficult? Galerie.LA makes it simple to find chic, ethically made products. They bring you the highest quality and environmental-friendly products ranging from loungewear and accessories to home goods. You can even shop for products based on the values (between BIPOC-Owned, locally made, artisan, eco-friendly, vegan, ethical, and recycled) that are most important to you.
One of the most serious challenges for consumers who are new to the sustainable world is the lack of information and access. This is where the founder of this sustainable black-owned business, Dechel Mckillian, bridges this gap using her experience in the entertainment and lifestyle industries to bring socially conscious fashion to the masses.
9. Sample Haus
What Is It For?
Eclectic home décor made creatively by upcycling interior design waste.
What Makes This Brand Eco-Friendly?
This black-woman-owned sustainable brand keeps the waste away from landfills by upcycling them into artistic home décor pieces.
The founder of this sustainable brand, Diana Adams, noticed that the conscious alterations in the interior design and architecture industries to make sustainable designs and lower their carbon footprint, was also creating excessive waste. This inspired Adams to create her own products out of their waste into her line of eclectic home décor. Her ceramics are made from upcycled pots, leftover marketing samples, and upholstery/ building scraps. The ceramics from this sustainable black-owned business Sample Haus can be used to house your numerous plants, flowers, or any other small items you may have. Their brightly colored planter and her made-to-order bathroom vanity accessories have us completely smitten!
10. Reel
What Is It For?
Tree-free premium toilet paper and paper towels.
What Makes This Brand Eco-Friendly?
All of their products are BPA-free, with no added inks, dyes, or fragrances, made from sustainably sourced tree-free fibers. This black-owned sustainable brand sends their goodies in a plastic-free package, including the tape! With your purchase through Reel, you are helping provide access to clean toilets to the 2.4 billion people that are forced to defecate outside.
Reel is more than just a paper company. This black-owned sustainable brand is a group of like-minded, big-hearted people with a clear vision for the future. The company’s vision is shaped by the challenges we see others face in the US and around the globe. Challenges like climate change, a lack of adequate resources food, and an absolute need for us all to take better care of the planet and each other.
Reel Paper is made entirely of tree-free fibers, making it the most environmentally friendly paper on the market. Furthermore, all of their shipping materials are biodegradable and without any plastic packaging.
Ultimately, the future we want to build is up to us! We have the power to decide whether or not we will leave our mark in history as a generation that fought for a more sustainable and inclusive world, or simply another generation with a few good ideas.
What we see in this list of ten black-owned businesses is a collective effort toward social change and a sustainable future. These black-owned companies are changing how we look at millions of little things that can lead to a better world. And they’re not alone! We have seen many other black-owned sustainable businesses carry out similar endeavors in recent years. With so many voices coming together to help shape our collective vision for the future, it’s awesome to see that sustainability is becoming a reality for more and more people each day.
