Lush (company)

History

Mark Constantine, a herbal trichologist, and Elizabeth Weir, had an interest in beauty therapy and thus, formed a company named Constantine & Weir. In the early '80s, Constantine read about Anita Roddick, who had just started The Body Shop. He called her and offered some of his products. She initially placed an order for £1,200 to start with. Constantine & Weir developed a number of recipes for bath and beauty products and were a major supplier to The Body Shop, until Roddick was consulted to take more products in house. The Body Shop then paid £11 million for the rights of Constantine & Weir's recipes. It was at this point The Body Shop decided to buy their product formulas.

The Body Shop's purchase of their product formulas forbade Mark and Liz from opening another retail shop for five years, so they set up a mail order cosmetics company called Cosmetics-To-Go. It was a successful although complicated venture that ended up burning out. The company went into administration and sold to someone from Poole, who took the product formulas and the Cosmetics-To-Go name.

Mark and Liz, along with Mo Constantine, Helen Ambrosen, Rowena Bird and Paul Greaves from Cosmetics-To-Go, spent what money they had left on fresh fruits and vegetables at the market. In a shop in Poole, they hand made products upstairs that were being sold downstairs. They had previously been paying another company to come up with the fragrances for their products, but found out the perfumes weren't always pure, so Mark decided he would create the perfumes himself. A competition was launched for customers to give the company a new name. One customer suggested LUSH, which is defined as being fresh, green, and verdant.

In December 2010, Mark and Mo Constantine were awarded the OBE in the New Year's Honours list, for services to the beauty industry.

Business structure

Lush is a privately owned company with a small number of shares available on an invitation basis only. The company's growth is based mainly upon partnerships. There are two different types of partnership. The general partners own and operate the business and assume liability for the partnership, while the limited partners serve as investors only; they have no control over the company and are not subject to the same liabilities as the general partners. Lush is structured in the latter way, namely a limited partnership.

The company also owned the B Never Too Busy To Be Beautiful brand, which had outlets in Poole, Leeds, Covent Garden, and Oxford Street. Lush announced in 2009 that B would cease trading, saying "the company has NOT gone bust or bankrupt and there are no administrators involved, we are simply unable to make a profit. Lush will be absorbing the business in order to retain the assets."

Products

Lush produces creams, soaps, shampoos, shower gels, lotions, moisturizers, scrubs, masks and other cosmetics for the face, hair, and body using only vegetarian or vegan recipes. Solid shampoos as well as "Toothy Tabs" which are solid toothpaste tablets are also available for purchase online and in a retail store. Lush is also known for their bath bombs which are solid bars of sodium bicarbonate, citric acid, essential oils and natural butters that fizz out and can produce an array of colors. As of July 2012, Lush began selling their "Emotional Brilliance" makeup collection, which includes liquid lipsticks, liquid eyeliners, and cream shadows. Lush also launched their first mascara, Eyes Right, under the "Emotional Brilliance" line.

Lush products are 100% vegetarian, and often contain fruits and vegetables such as grapefruit juice, vanilla beans, avocado butter, rosemary oil, fresh papaya and coconut. However, some products contain lanolin, milk, eggs, honey, and beeswax. Parabens are used to preserve a number of the products.

Lush products are made in factories around the world including Poole, Dorset; Toronto, Canada; Düsseldorf, Germany and Vancouver, Canada, Lush marks its trademark black tub products with stickers of the actual creators of the product being sold, a unique trademark stamped on their recyclable polypropylene plastic black pots. The company also offers customers a way to recycle used black pots by bringing empty ones back to the store for a free Fresh Face Mask for every five returned. Most Lush products are to be stored at room temperature, with the exception of their Fresh Face Masks, which require refrigeration due to the absence of preservatives and the main ingredients being fruits and vegetables. Stores do not typically sell products older than four or five months and most products have a shelf life of approximately 14 months, depending on the particular item.

Ethics and campaigning

Lush does not buy from companies that carry out, fund, or commission any animal testing. They test their products on human volunteers before they are sold to the public. Lush has also phased out its use of sodium palm kernelate, which is often derived from trees in the natural habitat of orangutans and home to tropical forests with overall endangered biodiversity. Since 2008, all Lush soaps have been made with palm-free soap base, and they have since removed all traces of palm oil from the products.

Lush launched the 'Charity Pot' campaign in 2007. Charity Pot is a hand and body lotion with a self-preserving formula and a delicate floral perfume of ylang ylang and rosewood oils. Lush donates 100% of the price of every ‘Charity Pot’ purchased at their stores and online to small, grassroots organizations working in the areas of environmental conservation, animal welfare and human rights. Since launching the Charity Pot program in 2007, Lush has donated more than $10,000,000 to over 850 grassroots charities in 42 countries.

Lush is a supporter of direct action, animal rights operations including Sea Shepherd, a group that works to protect whales, seals, and other aquatic animals. Lush has been a supporter of antitax avoidance grouping UKuncut.

In 2007, Lush started openly supporting campaigning groups by sending a dozen cheques for £1000 each, including road protests groups such as Road Block and NoM1Widening, Hacan Clear Skies (anti-aviation group), and Dump the Dump (which is fighting against an incinerator).

In 2011, Israel advocacy groups StandWithUs and United With Israel UK launched a campaign encouraging consumers to boycott Lush products on account of the company's decision to promote OneWorld's Freedom for Palestine initiative.

Since 2013, Lush's 'Charity Pot' has included the campaign to release Guantanamo detainee Shaker Aamer to the U.K., who is presently only clear for release to Saudi Arabia.

Lush Cosmetics donated £3.8m to charities in 2014.

In 2014 Lush supported the first Hen Harrier Day, with all its UK stores prominently highlighting the illegal persecution of Hen Harriers on upland grouse moors. The following year it launched Hen Harrier bath bombs to help fund satellite tagging of these raptors.

In Summer 2015 Lush raised £275,000 ($425,000) from the worldwide sale of its "GayIsOK" soap, with funds going to support LBGTI campaigning groups.

In 2016 Lush raised £246,000 ($300,000) from the sale of its "Hands of Friendship" soap, with funds going to support Syrian Refugees.

Criticism

In 2014, UK newspaper the Daily Mail criticised Lush and Body Shop for implying that some cosmetics on sale elsewhere in Britain were still tested on animals, despite an EU-wide ban coming into force in 2013 (for which Lush had campaigned) which made it illegal to sell toiletries and make-up in the EU which had been tested on animals anywhere in the world.

The following year it was criticised for insensitivity when it stocked Lavender Hill Mob - a brand of incense inspired by the 2011 London Riots, featuring a graphic of a burning building. Lavender Hill itself had been targeted by looters and rioters, but Lush stated that it was "created to emphasise the importance of community".