According to the international crueler-free organization Leaping Bunny certification data, only 40% of the world ‘s whitening strip manufacturers (whitening strips manufacturers) have obtained crueler-free certification. Among them, representative companies such as Twilight Whitening in the United States use artificial gum models (costing about $500 per set) instead of animal testing. The research and development expenses increase by 15%, but the product safety testing cycle is shortened to 3 weeks and the efficiency is increased by 20%. The 2023 industry analysis report shows that the annual sales growth rate of brands certified by PETA is 25%. For instance, Hismile achieved a monthly sales volume of over 2 million US dollars on the TikTok channel due to its cruelty-free statement. In a typical case, the British brand EVERWHITE saw its share price drop by 7% due to the exposure of animal testing practices during a supply chain review in 2022. Subsequently, it urgently shifted to in vitro cell culture technology and obtained ISO 17025 certification, with a rectification cost of 1.2 million pounds.
In terms of ingredient transparency, the proportion of plant extract formula in cruelty-free dental strips should be over 95%, such as the tea tree essential oil strips from DentGlow in Germany (with a concentration of 0.5%). Market data shows that the average R&D budget of compliant brands has increased by 30%, but the consumer premium acceptance rate has reached 63% (with a 2024 Statista survey sample size of 5,000 people). Referring to the New Zealand brand White&Bright, after collaborating with an environmental organization, the repurchase rate of its vegetarian certified dental strips has risen to 45%. In 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of the United States issued a fine case, revealing that a well-known manufacturer falsely labeled “cruel-free” but entrusted third-party animal experiments, and was fined 2 million US dollars. This prompted the industry to introduce a blockchain traceability system (with a traceability success rate of 99.8%), increasing the cost by $0.15 per piece.
From the perspective of differences in certification standards, cruelty-free dental strips in the European market must comply with the EC 1223/2009 regulation, which requires a heavy metal content of less than 1ppm, while in the United States, Bunny needs to have its supply chain documents reviewed annually (with a pass rate of only 70%). Comparative analysis shows that the innovative biofilm technology (0.01mm thick) of the South Korean manufacturer BriteSmile has passed the artificial oral test, with a clinical effective rate of 92%, but the certification cycle is as long as 9 months. In the industry events of 2023, Unilever’s brand lost 15% of its market share due to a boycott of animal testing in the Southeast Asian market. Later, it announced an investment of $5 million to develop an AI predictive model to replace animal testing, reducing the research and development cycle to six weeks.
Current market trends indicate that the price premium range of cruelty-free dental strips is between 20% and 35%. For instance, the British brand Oral-BIO set (14-piece set) is priced at $35, which is 32% higher than the regular product. However, the global sales forecast is expected to reach 1.72 billion US dollars by 2025 (with a compound annual growth rate of 8.7%). Technological innovation cases include the Australian company Pearl’s adoption of a 3D gum simulator (with an accuracy of 99.5%) to reduce development risks, lowering its product recall rate to 0.3%. Meanwhile, the industry challenge lies in the fact that the compliance rate of raw material suppliers is only 55%, which means that leading brands need to audit over 200 suppliers to ensure the integrity of their cruelty-free commitments, and the proportion of management costs has increased to 10% of their revenue.