A company makes the list if it passes all four. Most are decided at the first one in under two minutes.
A giant is any owner with brands in more than one aisle, or private equity. Owned by a giant is off the list — not because giants are evil, but because the brand's standards quietly become the parent's within a few years of a sale. Family-owned doesn't exempt it: SC Johnson is family-owned and does $10 billion a year across five aisles.
Full ingredient or material list, including fragrance. An outside certification helps but isn't required — and a company that drops one isn't automatically bad. Dr. Bronner's dropped B Corp in protest. Look at why.
Four searches: lawsuit, OSHA, NLRB, FTC. This is the gate that catches companies that pass the first two and are still bad. Amy's Kitchen is family-owned and independent and has repeated labor violations on record. It's on the fence, not the list.
Sold at a national retailer or ships anywhere at a sane price. A great company sold in one shop in one city doesn't help you.
Everything starts as not yet verified. It moves to solid when the ownership is widely documented, and to sourced when I've linked the actual filing, press release, or certification page. Nothing is finished until it's sourced.
The whole list is published as plain data, updated with every change: companies.json and companies.csv. Every row has the verdict, the owner, the source, and the date it was last checked. It's licensed CC BY 4.0 — use it for anything, including commercially, as long as you credit Project Clarity and link back. If you build something with it, I'd like to hear about it.
Search "[brand] acquired by" — the fastest way to find who really owns something.
B Corp directory — is the certification real and current. They lapse quietly.
OpenSecrets — who they pay to lobby.
NLRB case search and OSHA establishment search — the labor and safety record, straight from the agencies.
A concentrate, a refill, or a bar does more good than switching brands. Most of what you pay for in a spray bottle is water. I'd rather say that than pretend shopping is the point.