Frequently Asked Questions

Buy Better Stories is part editorial guide and part crowdsourced directory, featuring amazing ethical companies that are vetted for values, transparency, and impact. Every listing is a company doing something specific and verifiable: we look at how it treats workers, sources materials, handles waste, or distributes ownership. Our goal is to help you easily find ethical brands to support when you actually need something.

Anyone can! If you run the brand, submit it. If you’ve been buying from a small company for years and think more people should know about it, submit that one too — some of the best listings on this site came from people with no connection to the company beyond being a happy customer.

No. Listings are free.

You need a working ecommerce site where someone can put an item in a cart and check out, with the United States in the shipping options.

Orders are being fulfilled, the site is maintained, and inventory is consistently available.

“Sustainably minded” and “consciously made” don’t tell us anything. What we need is something concrete: a certification, a named factory, an ownership structure, a materials standard, a documented giving commitment, etc.

Third-party certification is the cleanest form of proof, but it isn’t the only one — plenty of excellent small companies can’t afford B Corp certification. Published supply chain details, ownership documentation, or a detailed and transparent About Page can work.

Resellers, dropshipping operations, white-label storefronts, and marketplace aggregators aren’t a fit.

1. Create an account or sign into an existing account here.
2. Open the submissions form here or using the “+ Add Brand” button.
3. Fill out the form with the requested information (see next question for more details).

• Category – What type of product do they sell? Pick the closest fit, and email us at hello@davidgaines.com to suggest new product categories.
  • Accessories – Bags, belts, wallets, etc.
  • Fashion – Clothing items
  • Food – Anything edible or drinkable
  • Home Goods – Kitchenware, decorations, storage, cleaning supplies, bedding, etc.
  • Jewelry – Necklaces, rings, bracelets, earrings, etc.
  • Personal Care – Soaps, lotions, candles, beauty products, mental health products, etc.
• Images – Please upload a variety of images of the brand’s products, impact stories, etc. Images must be high-resolution and in .jpg or .png format. Upload up to 10 images.
• Brand name
• Website URL
• Contributor status – Would you like your contributor profile to be publicly shown on this brand’s page? Check if so, leave blank if not.
• Impact Area – See below for more information.
• Certification (optional) – See below for more information.
• Description – What is this company’s mission? What makes them unique? What products do they offer? Aim for 100 words or less.
• Your Impact – Describe the company’s positive impact as if to a potential customer. Do they ethically source their materials? Provide jobs to marginalized communities? Donate products or money to causes? Have a beneficial ownership structure? Does their product revolutionize an industry? Aim for 200 words or less.
• More Ways to Support (optional) – This is a great place to share about other ways to support the brand besides purchasing their products. Do they offer corporate gifting options or onsite tours of their facilities? Do they have special recipes or information on their website? Aim for 100 words or less.
• Be sure to use third person language in your submission.

Areas of Impact describe what kind of positive change the brand is making through their work. You can select more than one Area of Impact as needed.

• Opportunity — Brands that create work, training, and income for communities facing barriers to employment (previous incarceration, addiction, homelessness, trafficking, poverty, etc.). Ex. Women’s Bean Project
• Basic Needs — Brands that get food, clean water, shelter, or clothing to people who don’t have them, whether through direct giving, a share of revenue, or the nature of the product itself. Ex. BioLite
• Education — Brands that expand access to learning: funding schools, supporting literacy, training people in a trade, or putting resources in the hands of teachers and students who lack them. Ex. Better World Books
• Environment — Brands that reduce harm to the planet or actively repair it. Regenerative materials, circular design, waste reduction, carbon commitments, and land and water restoration all belong in this category. Ex. Force of Nature
• Health — Brands working on physical and mental wellbeing, from healthcare access and hygiene supplies to clean ingredients and products. Ex. Soapbox

No. Certification is great, and we include it in the listing when applicable, but the reality is that the cost and paperwork keep it out of reach for a lot of small companies doing genuinely good work. What we require is evidence, and certification is one kind among several.

Learn more about certifications here.

We read it and double check the claims. Give us about two weeks — we’re a small team, and verification takes time! If it’s a good fit, we’ll publish it. If not, we’ll email you to let you know.

• Vagueness. A brand that describes itself in the language of sustainability without any substantial claim we can verify.
• Lack of Ethical Practices. We don’t list companies whose core business runs against the point: fast fashion, fossil fuels, extractive supply chains, etc.

No, and we’d be suspicious of any brand that claimed to be. Every company on Buy Better Stories is operating inside a system that makes ethical choices expensive and difficult, and each has strengths are areas to improve. Ethical business is a spectrum and we want to see brands progressing along the spectrum in a meaningful, quantifiable way.

Of course – check out our listings for Rebel Nell, Parker Clay and Thistle Farms.

Yes. After logging into your account, visit the brand page and click the “Edit” tab.

Brands will be featured for the first two weeks after they are published. We may continue to feature brands at our discretion.