Naïf

Naïf is a Dutch personal-care brand founded in 2013 that makes mild, natural products for babies, children and adults. It was started by Jochem Hes and Sjoerd Trompetter, two friends who became first-time fathers the same year and could not find gentle baby-care products free of ingredients they distrusted [9]. The company sells across roughly 17 countries and produces in the Netherlands and Belgium; it has been a certified B Corporation since 2020 [6]. The brand's name is usually written with a diaeresis, as Naïf, though some retailers list it in plain ASCII form.

Its products are positioned around a single idea the company sums up as "Good Care, Worry-Free" — everything a child's skin needs and nothing the founders considered questionable. The range leans on plant oils and a short list of avoided ingredients, and several of its launches have been framed around reducing plastic and waste.

Naïf began with a practical problem. Jochem Hes and Sjoerd Trompetter, who had met in Groningen, both had babies arrive in 2013 and went looking for mild products "without junk" for their children's skin. Finding little that satisfied them, they decided to make their own. Hes had previously worked in marketing at Unilever and Google before turning to the venture [11].

From the start the brand framed itself less as a premium cosmetics label than as everyday family care, with an explicit aim of serving ordinary parents rather than a wealthy niche. Its Dutch tagline, "Verzorging zonder zorgen" — care without worries — carries the same message in English as "Good Care, Worry-Free."

Naïf describes its approach as removing ingredients it regards as harmful or unnecessary rather than chasing novelty. According to the company, its formulas leave out mineral oils (paraffin), microplastics, the sulfates SLS and SLES, and parabens [7]. It states that at least 92 percent of its products are made from ingredients of natural origin [9], and the range is vegan and cruelty-free according to the third-party sustainability platform COSH!.

A recurring theme is honesty about imperfection. Among the brand values it publishes are transparency "including admitting mistakes" and a candid acknowledgement of the realistic chaos of parenting alongside its joys. The company casts sustainability as a gradual process rather than a finished achievement, summarising it in Dutch as "babystapje voor babystapje" — step by step.

The brand's catalogue centres on skincare and body care for the whole family, built around plant-based oils such as avocado, coconut, sweet almond and macadamia, together with shea butter and ingredients like panthenol, aloe and calendula. Its sun care uses non-nano mineral UV filters based on zinc oxide, which the company describes as reef-safe and free of oxybenzone and octinoxate [5].

Its most discussed product is the Circular Face Scrub. The Plastic Soup Foundation's Beat the Microbead initiative described it as "the world's first circular beauty product": instead of plastic microbeads it uses calcite granules, a byproduct of Dutch drinking-water purification, sourced in partnership with the Dutch water organisations Waternet and Aquaminerals [10]. In 2020 it also introduced plastic-free baby wipes [6], and it has moved parts of its packaging toward cane-sugar bioplastic and a refill system that it says can save the equivalent of several tubes per purchase.

Sustainability is central to how Naïf presents itself, and several of its claims are externally documented. The brand became a certified B Corporation in 2020 with an initial score of 89.4, and recertified in 2023 with an improved score of 111.9 [6]. B Corp certification is awarded to companies that meet standards of verified social and environmental performance. Some of its products also carry AllergyCertified status.

The company manufactures locally in the Netherlands or Belgium and states a long-term goal of climate-neutral, plastic-free products, framed as an incremental effort rather than a current claim. It publishes an annual impact report, with a 2024 edition released through its website [8].

Beyond the Beat the Microbead column on its circular scrub, Naïf has been profiled by the social-entrepreneurship platform BRTHRS in an interview with co-founder Jochem Hes, and assessed by COSH! in a third-party sustainability review [11]. The company also reports that its products are used in settings beyond the home, including hospitals, hotels and childcare facilities [1]. No major industry awards are documented in the available sources.

Naïf is an active, independently owned company. As of mid-2026 it operates a live webshop, runs current promotions and has published a 2024 impact report. It remains based in the Netherlands and ships to around 17 countries across Europe and beyond. No parent company or acquisition is recorded for the brand in the available sources.