Brand Rating:

The Maker

Poor

4/10

Score 4/10

The Shifting Gaia rating evaluates brands based on sustainable practices, ingredients and materials, and social responsibility, among others. Below are a few factors influencing this brand's score:

Certifications

FSC Certified

Our ratings are based on a scale from 1 (Avoid) to 5 (Top Choice).
See how we rate.

Rated: April 21, 2026
Category: Beauty care
Subcategory: Fragrance

Overview:

Sustainability 5.5/10

Non-toxicity 4.0/10

The Maker is a New York-based lifestyle fragrance, candle, and homeware brand founded in 2020-2021 by Lev Glazman, Alina Roytberg, and hospitality partner Damien Janowicz, built around the award-winning 11-room Maker Hotel in Hudson, NY, with a gender-inclusive "clean" fragrance collection.

Highlights:

CO2-free glass production methods
34% PCR glass in fragrance bottles and 100% PCR glass in candle vessels
100% vegan and cruelty-free formulations

Sustainability

score : 5.5/10

Packaging

The signature eau de parfum bottle was developed through a partnership with a German glass maker to use 27% less glass than traditional prestige fragrance bottles, and the glass is produced using CO2-free production methods. The fragrance bottles use 34% post-consumer recycled (PCR) glass, and candle vessels use 100% PCR glass. Refillability extends across the full fragrance catalog, including the 50ml full-size bottles, travel sprays, and 2ml sample vials. The bottles use screw-on pumps that allow consumers to refill rather than discard empty bottles. Outer packaging is FSC-certified and made from post-consumer recycled fiber, printed with vegetable-based inks.

Ingredient Sustainability

The Maker's ingredient sustainability profile reflects the "safe synthetics" approach common in the clean fragrance category. The candles use 100% pure-soy wax and cotton wicks. Soy wax is a renewable, plant-derived alternative to paraffin wax (which is petroleum-derived). The 100% soy wax positioning avoids blended waxes that mix soy with paraffin.

Fragrance notes across the catalog feature recognizably botanical ingredients, including frankincense, palo santo, eucalyptus, bergamot, grapefruit, citrus oils, labdanum, agarwood (oud), and various essential oils and absolutes. Some of these face sustainability concerns as ingredients. Agarwood (oud) comes from the Aquilaria tree, which is on the IUCN Red List due to overharvesting pressure. Sustainable oud is available from cultivated plantations in Southeast Asia, but the brand does not specifically disclose its oud sourcing. Palo Santo (Bursera graveolens) faces similar overharvesting pressure in South America, and ethical sourcing from fallen trees rather than cut trees is a meaningful distinction that is not publicly disclosed by the brand. Sandalwood (used in Lover) faces pressure on Mysore (Indian) varieties, and sustainable alternatives from Australian plantations exist but sourcing is not disclosed.

The brand does describe itself as "committed to making the planet healthier through sustainable sourcing, responsible packaging, and supporting environmental issues,” though specific sustainable sourcing certifications or partnerships are not publicly documented.

Energy Use & Carbon Footprint

The Maker's energy and carbon footprint profile is modest with a few specific structural interventions. The most significant is the CO2-free glass production methods used by the brand's German glass partner for manufacturing fragrance bottles. The 27% glass reduction in bottles translates to proportional reductions in material use, transportation weight, and end-of-life recycling energy requirements.

Limitations are significant. The brand has not achieved Climate Neutral Certified, The Climate Label certified, or Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) verified status. No published emissions inventory (Scope 1, 2, or 3) is available on the brand's own communications. No science-based emissions reduction target is publicly disclosed. No renewable energy sourcing is disclosed for the brand's operations beyond the CO2-free glass production claim.

Waste Management

The Maker's waste management strategy is meaningfully developed, anchored by the refillable bottle system across the full fragrance catalog. The refillable eau de parfum bottles, travel sprays, and sample vials use screw-on pumps that allow consumers to refill rather than discard empty bottles.

Limitations exist. The brand does not publish production-side waste disclosure (manufacturing waste diversion rates, zero-waste-to-landfill targets, or facility waste audits). No specific quantified waste metrics are published (pounds of waste diverted from landfill, refill rate across customer base). No TerraCycle, Pact Collective, or similar hard-to-recycle component partnership is disclosed, which means caps and pumps may still face disposal challenges despite the Zamak recyclability.

Business Model

The Maker operates an integrated hospitality-lifestyle-fragrance business model that includes genuine slow-consumption elements alongside category-standard consumption drivers. The small-batch artisanal production model avoids the overproduction that drives constant new product launches in the beauty industry. The brand does drive new product launches (Revel, Dream as recent additions) and has expanded into multiple candle SKUs and home goods, which introduces some consumption expansion alongside the refill-supported slow consumption positioning.

Non-toxicity

score : 4.0/10

The Maker's non-toxicity profile is moderate with strengths characteristic of clean fragrance brands alongside meaningful limitations common to the fragrance category. The formulation philosophy explicitly excludes phthalates, parabens, formaldehydes, and synthetic dyes.

The candle line avoids known candle-category concerns. 100% pure-soy wax eliminates paraffin (a petroleum byproduct that can release volatile organic compounds including benzene and toluene when burned). Cotton wicks eliminate lead-core wicks that were historically common in the candle industry and can release lead particles when burned.

However, the fragrance formulations contain substantial declared allergen content that limits the non-toxicity profile for sensitive-skin consumers. The Stag fragrance declares Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Benzyl Benzoate, Benzyl Alcohol, Benzyl Salicylate, Citronellol, Eugenol, Farnesol, Hydroxycitronellal, Isoeugenol, Limonene, and Linalool as declared allergens. This is a high allergen load.

The full fragrance composition (inside the "fragrance (parfum)" umbrella) is not disclosed at INCI level, which is standard industry practice but limits independent non-toxicity verification.

Social Responsibility

score : 5.5/10

Fair Labor

The Maker's fair labor profile is at the moderate baseline typical of small indie beauty brands. The brand operates from New York, with production based in the United States under federal and state labor protections. New York State has established labor laws covering minimum wage, worker safety, overtime, and anti-discrimination protections.

Limitations are significant. The brand has not publicly disclosed a supplier list, supplier code of conduct, or factory audit reports for the fragrance or candle supply chain. No Fair Trade, Fair for Life, SA8000, BSCI, or similar third-party labor certifications are disclosed for specific ingredients or the broader supply chain. Specific ingredient sourcing (particularly for at-risk fragrance ingredients like oud, palo santo, sandalwood, patchouli) is not disclosed, which limits visibility into the labor conditions of upstream suppliers who may operate in regions with documented labor concerns.

Animal Welfare

The Maker's animal welfare profile is solid for the core cruelty-free and vegan commitments, but limited by the absence of formal certification. The brand states that its products are "vegan" and "cruelty-free" across the entire catalog. The full-line vegan commitment addresses animal-derived ingredients historically common in fragrance, including musk (from musk deer, civet, beaver), ambergris (from sperm whales), castoreum (from beavers), and similar animal-derived fragrance components. The candle line uses 100% pure-soy wax and cotton wicks, avoiding beeswax.

The brand does not publicly disclose whether it sells in mainland China or other markets requiring animal testing for cosmetic registration. Based on the brand's distribution (Sephora US, Canada, Bluemercury, Goop) and absence of Chinese market presence in publicly available information, the brand likely does not sell in mainland China, but this is not explicitly confirmed.

Community Engagement

The brand's founding charitable gesture was the donation of all rollerball fragrance sales from the hotel launch to Friends of Hudson Youth, a local Hudson, NY nonprofit focused on supporting youth and local families in need. This was a meaningful startup-phase charitable integration, though it does not appear to have been extended to the main fragrance line as an ongoing structural commitment.