How our ranking works
We measure acceleration, not volume
Most lists show what sells the most. We do something different: we measure how fast interest in a product is growing. A small product that is rising quickly therefore scores higher with us than a big product that has been standing still for years. That way you see trends while they are emerging.
Our data sources
Every day we collect public signals. These proportions determine how heavily each source counts:
- Google Trends: search interest in a product (50%)
- YouTube: views of recent videos (31%)
- News (GDELT): how much the world's news media report on the product (19%)
We deliberately use several independent sources: if one drops out temporarily, the score holds up on the others. No single source determines the outcome on its own.
In practice not every source yields something for every product. A niche product rarely makes the world news, and not everything has a Wikipedia article. When a source measures nothing for a product, we leave that source out for that product and spread its weight across the sources that are available. We explicitly do not count a missing measurement as "no growth": not measured is not the same as standing still. That keeps products fairly comparable, even when they do not all appear in the same sources.
Wikipedia is temporarily on standby. We do measure and store the page views, but they currently do not count towards the score. The reason: the automatically chosen article often turned out not to be about the product — "solar power bank", for instance, matched a power station in Morocco. We would rather leave a source out for now than weigh it while knowing it measures the wrong thing. We will switch it back on as soon as the matching is reliable.
We compare this week's measurement with last week's. That growth is converted per source to a figure from 0 to 100, added up with weights, and that forms the trend score. A new product therefore needs at least two weeks of measurements before it receives a score.
How we make money, and what that does and does not influence
Full transparency: this site is also a business. We earn (or intend to earn) money in these ways:
- Affiliate links. If you buy a product through a buy button, we sometimes receive a small commission. It costs you nothing extra and is always disclosed next to the link.
- Sponsorship and advertising. We may work with sponsored placements in the future. You will always recognise them by a clear label such as "sponsored", and they will never be disguised inside the ranking.
Whatever happens, one rule is untouchable: the trend score and the ranking are never for sale. The score comes from public data and a fixed formula; the assessment of whether a product is sustainable enough for the list is also fully separate from commercial agreements. A brand can advertise with us, but it cannot climb the list, those two worlds never touch.
How we prevent greenwashing
Not every rising product makes the list. A human reviews every product by hand. A product must be demonstrably sustainable: via a recognised certification, or via our checklist (for example made from recycled material, refillable, or replacing a disposable product).
Products with misleading claims or from fast-fashion brands are rejected. On every product page we show why a product is on the list. We never simply write "sustainable", we show the concrete characteristics.
Transparent and evolving
This is the first version of our method (v1). If we adjust the formula, we update this page and keep the old data intact, history stays honest, exactly as measured.