Hey Product Hunt - Zach here, founder of Convoke, the team behind Vinegar 👋

The original idea for Vinegar came from Luke on the WAN Show. He brought up the problem, the name, and basically said someone should build it - so we did, with credit where it’s due.

The problem stuck with me because it’s something I kept noticing everywhere: it is weirdly hard to know who actually owns the brands you buy from.

A lot of brands look independent, niche, founder-led, or mission-driven on the surface. Then you dig a little and realize they’re owned by a massive parent company, conglomerate, or private equity group. The info is usually public, but it’s scattered across filings, press releases, Wikipedia pages, acquisition articles, and corporate websites.

Vinegar is our attempt to make that context easier to see in the moment.

Right now, it’s a browser extension that shows brand ownership chains while you shop, so you can better understand the companies behind the products you’re browsing.

One thing that matters a lot to us is making this community-driven. My background is in community, and I really believe products like this only work if people can help improve them. Ownership data changes, sources can be messy, and brands get acquired all the time, so we’re building Vinegar around sourced data, community-submitted corrections, and feedback from people who care about transparency.

The goal isn’t to shame anyone for what they buy or tell people how to shop. It’s just transparency. People should be able to know who they’re actually supporting without having to do a mini research project every time they see a brand.

This is still early, so I’d genuinely love feedback, corrections, and suggestions for brands we should add or improve.

Thanks for checking it out!

Vinegar

See who owns the brands you buy

See who owns the brands you buy