How We Review & List Brands

From The Labels is a discovery platform and directory for independent brands.

Instead of maintaining a small curated list of already well-known companies, our goal is to document as many qualifying independent labels as we reasonably can.

A brand page may include information such as its location, founding year, founder, product categories, price range, manufacturing location, materials, size range, shipping availability, certifications, sustainability information, ownership, collections, and selected products.

Not every brand will have every field completed. Some companies disclose considerably more information than others.

Where information is available, we try to document it.

Where reliable information cannot be found, we would rather say “Not disclosed” than make an assumption.

For many independent brands, visibility is expensive.

A larger company can spend heavily on paid search, social advertising, influencers, PR, affiliates, marketplaces, and content. A small founder-led label may be competing for the same customer while working with a fraction of that budget.

Search results can therefore become concentrated around businesses that already have authority and visibility.

From The Labels works differently.

By giving individual brands their own structured pages and connecting those pages with relevant categories, products, locations, materials, ownership attributes, and collections, we create more ways for those brands to be discovered.

Someone might discover a label while searching for:

• “independent jewelry brands”
• “women-owned clothing brands”
• “small Australian fashion labels”
• “sustainable shoe brands”
• “linen clothing made in India”
• “independent skincare brands”

or even the name of a specific brand they have only recently heard about.

Every additional piece of useful, accurate information creates another possible path to discovery.

That is the purpose of the directory.

“Independent” can mean different things depending on who is using the term, so we think it is important to explain what we mean.

For From The Labels, an independent brand is generally a business that remains privately operated and is not controlled or majority-owned by a large corporation, public company, institutional owner, major conglomerate, or similar parent organisation.

Founder-owned, family-owned, privately owned, small businesses, emerging labels, designer-led businesses, and independently operated D2C brands may all qualify.

A brand does not need to manufacture everything itself.

Independent retailers and businesses that use private-label or white-label manufacturing may also be listed, provided the consumer-facing brand itself meets our independence criteria.

Using an external factory, contract manufacturer, artisan network, supplier, fulfilment partner, or white-label producer does not automatically make a brand non-independent.

Ownership and control are what matter.

If a brand has been acquired or becomes controlled by a larger corporate entity, we may update its status or remove it from areas of From The Labels specifically intended for independent brands.

Ownership structures are not always publicly disclosed, so we update this information as better evidence becomes available.

Brands reach From The Labels in several ways.

Our editorial team discovers brands while researching categories, products, designers, countries, materials, manufacturing regions, and emerging labels.

Brands may also submit themselves to the directory.

Readers, founders, agencies, and other members of the community can recommend brands for us to look at.

Being submitted does not automatically guarantee publication.

Before a brand is included, we look at whether it fits the purpose of From The Labels and whether there is enough reliable information for us to create a useful page.

Our starting point is usually the brand itself.

We review information published through official brand websites, About pages, product pages, FAQs, sustainability pages, shipping information, policy pages, collection pages, and other first-party material.

When relevant, we may also look at publicly available company information, certification databases, manufacturer information, reputable interviews, press coverage, social profiles, retailers, or other sources that help us understand the business.

We generally give greater weight to primary sources and direct evidence.

For example, if a brand says it holds a recognised certification, we may look for supporting information from the certification organisation where practical.

If we cannot confidently verify a claim, we may leave the field unconfirmed or mark it as not disclosed.

Our directory is continuously updated, so an incomplete page today may contain considerably more information later.

Depending on the brand and category, our research may cover:

• Brand name, founder, founding year and headquarters
• Independent ownership status
• Product categories and collections
• Manufacturing location
• Materials and ingredients
• Price range and currency
• Size or product range
• Shipping availability
• Certifications
• Sustainability and ethical practices
• Vegan, cruelty-free or related claims where relevant
• Packaging information
• Production methods
• New collections and selected products
• Official brand policies and disclosures

The information available varies significantly between companies, and we do not fill gaps with assumptions.

From The Labels does not currently assign every brand a single sustainability or ethics score.

There is a reason for that.

Independent brands can be very different from one another, and reducing an entire company to one number can sometimes hide important context.

Instead, we try to make the underlying information easier to find.

A reader should be able to see where something is made, what materials are used, whether certifications are disclosed, who owns the company, what the brand sells, and what information remains unavailable.

This allows people to make decisions based on what matters to them.

Being listed on From The Labels should therefore not be interpreted as an endorsement that a brand is sustainable, ethical, environmentally responsible, or superior to another company.

Those descriptions are only applied where there is information supporting them.

Brands may appear across multiple relevant categories.

For example, an independently owned clothing label could potentially appear under Indian Clothing, Linen Clothing, Women-Owned Brands, Sustainable Clothing, Handmade Clothing, or other appropriate sections.

Category inclusion depends on the information we have about the company.

We do not want brands placed into categories simply because those terms are popular search keywords.

Where a category represents a factual characteristic, ownership status, certification, material, production method, or specific claim, we look for information supporting that classification.

Categories may be added, removed, or changed as a brand evolves or as new information becomes available.

Brand pages are not intended to be static company profiles.

Where possible, we also showcase selected products so visitors can understand what the brand actually makes.

A page may initially include a small selection of products chosen from the brand's current catalogue.

Brands can also request updates when they launch a new product, collection, bestseller, seasonal release, or something else they believe better represents their business.

Product information does not change our editorial assessment of the brand itself.

Our aim is simply to make each page more useful for somebody discovering that label for the first time.

Yes.

Brands know their businesses better than anyone else, and information changes.

Founders or authorised representatives can contact us to correct factual information, update collections, add products, change shipping details, provide new certifications, update manufacturing information, or tell us about other material changes.

We may request supporting information when an update involves ownership, certifications, manufacturing, sustainability claims, or another fact that could influence how the brand is classified.

Brand participation helps us keep pages current, but a brand does not have unrestricted editorial control over its page.

We reserve the right to independently review submitted information before publishing it.

No.

Commercial relationships and editorial information are kept separate.

From The Labels may offer advertising, partnerships, sponsored placements, editorial collaborations, enhanced visibility, or other paid opportunities.

Payment does not allow a brand to purchase a sustainability claim, ethical classification, certification, independent status, positive review, or factual statement that we cannot support.

Brands do not need to pay us simply to qualify as an independent brand.

Where content is sponsored or commercially influenced, we aim to identify that relationship clearly.

Our long-term usefulness depends on visitors being able to distinguish between information and promotion.

Some information on a brand page may originate from statements made by the company itself.

For example, a company may describe a material as sustainable, its production as ethical, or a collection as environmentally responsible.

Where appropriate, we distinguish between information that can be independently verified and information that is primarily based on the brand's own disclosure.

We do not independently audit factories, supply chains, environmental impact, financial ownership structures, or every product sold by every company in the directory.

Our pages should therefore be used as a starting point for discovery and research rather than as a substitute for independent due diligence.

There is no single update schedule because we are building and maintaining information across a large number of brands.

Pages may be reviewed when:

• a brand submits new information,
• our editors revisit a category,
• ownership changes,
• a certification changes,
• a company launches new products,
• we discover outdated information,
• or a reader alerts us to something that needs reviewing.

Where available, we may display a Last Reviewed date so readers can understand when a page was most recently checked.

Independence is central to From The Labels.

If we learn that a listed company has been acquired, majority-owned, or brought under the control of a larger corporate organisation, we review whether it still meets our definition of an independent brand.

Historical information may remain useful, but we do not want a company to continue benefiting from an independent classification when that description is no longer accurate.

If ownership information is unclear, we may mark it for review rather than make an unsupported conclusion.

We will not get everything right forever.

Brands change factories, founders leave, ownership changes, products disappear, certifications expire, price ranges move, websites are redesigned, and policies are updated.

If you notice information that appears inaccurate or outdated, tell us.

Please include the page, the information that needs changing, and, where possible, a reliable source supporting the correction.

We review correction requests regardless of whether the person or brand requesting the change has a commercial relationship with From The Labels.

If you run an independent label, From The Labels is meant to help people find you.

You can submit your brand, claim an existing page, correct inaccurate information, suggest products for your profile, or provide additional details that are currently missing.

You do not need to be a famous brand.

You do not need thousands of backlinks.

You do not need a large advertising budget.

You do need to fit our definition of an independent brand and provide enough information for us to create a useful, accurate profile.

Our goal is simple: when somebody is searching for exactly the type of product or brand you have created, you should have a better chance of being found.

From The Labels is designed to help you look beyond the handful of brands you already know.

Use the directory to discover labels by category, country, product, price, material, ownership, production method, or values.

Then explore the brand yourself.

Visit its website. Read its policies. Look at its products. Check the information that matters most to you.

We provide the starting point.

The final decision is yours.

From The Labels will continue to grow, but the principle behind it should remain the same.

Independent brands deserve a fairer opportunity to be discovered.

Our job is to organise their information, make it searchable, keep it as accurate as reasonably possible, and give readers enough context to decide which brands deserve a closer look.

Not every independent label will become a household name.

They should still have the opportunity to be found.