GREENBORN

GREENBORN is a German natural-deodorant brand based in Hamburg, built around a single product: a unisex deodorant stick made without aluminium, baking soda or kaolin. It was started in 2017 by the Danish-born entrepreneur Iben Bering, who drew on her background in distributing natural cosmetics to create a product her customers kept asking for [2]. The range consists of five deodorant sticks, one unscented and four fragranced, which the company says are developed and manufactured in Germany, from formula to packaging.

The brand's current operating status is unclear. Its website remains online, but no dated company news or product launch has been found after April 2022, and in September 2026 every individual stick in the brand's own online shop was listed as sold out, while at least one independent retailer still offered the range [8][10]. That picture is consistent with either a temporary stock gap or a winding down of the business, and neither has been confirmed.

Iben Bering grew up in Denmark and, according to a founder interview published by the retailer Blanda Beauty, has described her upbringing as shaped by an interest in design and modern art [9]. In the same interview she explained that she and her husband had founded a distribution company for international natural and organic premium cosmetics brands roughly fifteen years earlier. The company's own account places that distribution business in Hamburg and describes sustainable, natural beauty as her daily work for fifteen years [2].

The idea for GREENBORN came out of that trade. According to the brand, customers repeatedly asked Bering for one particular product: a unisex deodorant stick free of what the company calls "critical" ingredients that would still protect reliably through the day. In 2017 she decided to turn her industry experience toward developing it [2]. In the Blanda Beauty interview she put the motivation more directly, saying the one product the manufacturers she worked with did not offer was a fully natural deodorant stick that worked the way she wanted [9].

The company presents Bering as the head of a team of scientists, creatives and clean-beauty enthusiasts. She is the only person the brand names as a founder.

Development took several years. The brand says its team reached its goal only after more than three years of research and development, and Bering told Blanda Beauty that the formulation alone took around three years of work, at a time when few fully natural deodorant sticks were available on the German market [9]. The company does not give a launch year for the finished sticks.

After launch, the brand's public history is thin. Its website carries a small blog of undated articles on topics such as sweating, underarm itching and why the brand avoids aluminium and baking soda in its formulas. The latest dated item connected to the brand is the Blanda Beauty founder interview, first published in December 2021 and updated in April 2022.

GREENBORN is operated by Green Trend Trading GmbH, a Hamburg company registered in the German commercial register under HRB 166588. The legal notice on the brand's website lists Iben Bering Hümpel and Stefan M. Hümpel as managing directors [7]. No source identifies a corporate parent above the operating company, and it is not documented whether Green Trend Trading is the same business as the cosmetics distribution company Bering runs with her husband. No acquisitions or sister brands are recorded.

GREENBORN sums up its approach in a blunt English tagline: "No stains. No doubts. No bullshit." The company describes its credo as scientifically confirmed effectiveness combined with pure naturalness, and calls its sticks a new generation of body care that leaves out anything superfluous, in its words "clean, pure, timeless". The brand does not name any study, institute or figures behind the phrase "scientifically confirmed".

Bering's own statement on the website frames the brand as an argument against compromise. She writes that she believes in the power of nature and in the responsibility to protect it, but also in performance and aesthetics, and that the three should not be treated as mutually exclusive. The cleanest care product, she argues, is worth nothing if it does not work or if people do not want it on their bathroom shelf. She also describes her outlook as "progress, not perfection": a healthy lifestyle, in her view, should be an open and curious process rather than a burden that lowers quality of life.

Although the business is based and manufactures in Germany, it markets a Nordic identity. Its brand values are grouped under three headings, "Pure Scandinavian", "New Luxury" and "Modern Spirit". Under the first, the company says its Nordic origin is unmistakable, stylish and clear, and links it to a focus on the essentials and a natural sense of reliability. Under "New Luxury" it describes a drive for excellence in every detail of product development. The packaging follows the same line: the brand describes a pared-back Scandinavian look whose appearance and feel recall the surface material Corian.

The range consists of one product format in five versions. Raw Matter is the unscented stick. The four fragranced versions are Bitter Sweet, described as citrus and spicy; Basic Instinct, fruity and oriental; New Roots, invigorating and green; and Gentle Man, woody and aromatic. According to the company, the scents were created exclusively for GREENBORN by a Swiss perfumer, a detail also repeated by the retailer Cosmeterie [10]. The brand says all fragrances use only natural aromatic substances from essential oils. The sticks are sold as suitable for both men and women.

In place of aluminium, baking soda and kaolin clay, the formulas rely on absorbent powders and fibres, waxes and plant oils. The brand's ingredient glossary explains the role of each component. Zinc oxide, produced in the Netherlands, is said to keep the skin dry and act as an antiseptic. Charcoal powder made from beech wood in France targets odour-causing bacteria. Bamboo fibre and European wood fibre absorb moisture, while berry wax, obtained in Germany from the fruit skins of the lacquer tree, is said to protect against sweat odour. Arrowroot starch from organic farming in India, cold-pressed jojoba oil from organic farming in Uruguay and Israel, and European organic sunflower oil complete the base.

The company claims its sticks protect "like a second skin" for 24 hours and do not leave marks on clothing [4]. It describes the products as dermatologically tested, vegan and gluten-free, and states that they carry COSMOS certification, an international standard for natural and organic cosmetics that sets criteria for ingredient purity and sustainable production [2]. The brand does not specify which COSMOS level applies or which body issued the certificate.

Packaging is the brand's main sustainability claim. GREENBORN says its stick case was the first of its kind made entirely from polypropylene, a plastic it describes as recyclable several times over, and that the outer box is made from FSC-certified paper [2]. The company also states that it supports the marine-conservation organisation Sea Shepherd with every product sold, explaining the choice by the role ocean ecosystems play in regulating the climate, producing oxygen and providing food.

GREENBORN's status as a going concern cannot be confirmed either way. As of late September 2026, the brand's website and online shop were live and its Instagram and YouTube channels were linked from the site. However, all five individual deodorant sticks were marked as sold out in the brand's own shop, with only a deodorant bundle still viewable [8]. At the same time, an independent online retailer listed four of the five sticks as available for delivery [10]. No brand announcement, product launch or dated news item has been found after April 2022, and the brand's blog posts carry no dates. Whether the empty shelves reflect a stock gap or a gradual withdrawal from the market is not documented.