Lush
The arrival of Lush was a humble one. The first shop was simply designed, and naked products did away with frivolous packaging—most money for this new business went into keeping things simple and sourcing fresh, quality ingredients. In fact, the Lush shops you see today aren’t much different than the very first Lush shop in England.
Today there are over 900 Lush stores worldwide, offering handmade cosmetics for bath, body, hair and skin care. From bar soaps to bath bombs, face and body to fragrances, their products are fresh and colorful and not tested on animals.
About half of their products come without packaging, and they are working to ensure that 100% of their packaging can be recycled.
The company cares about their impact on the planet and has instituted an ethical buying policy that consider workers’ rights, sustainability and regeneration, animal protection and limiting carbon emissions. They even have a carbon tax policy on business travel, and tax themselves at a rate of 50 pounds per metric ton. The money goes to fund climate change groups.
From the Lush web site:
We put an enormous amount of love and care into every product we make, and it’s important for us to work with suppliers who do the same.
When sourcing ingredients for our products, we like to know where they come from, how they’re made and how they impact the communities that produce them. To look into these questions, we have a dedicated Ethical Buying team that works hard researching and meeting with suppliers and producers to ensure that they—and the materials they sell—meet our standards.
We believe that every ingredient we buy should have a positive impact on the community from which it’s harvested. Buying from small-scale producer groups gives us the opportunity to drive positive change, encourage sustainability and form long-lasting relationships with people all over the world.