Lush, famous for its colourful bath bombs and soaps, uses natural ingredients in eco-friendly stores. In just 20 years the company has expanded to more than 900 stores in 50 countries. Since its beginning Lush’s founders have taken a different “sustainability” route- rather than doing norm, they went out of their way to use minimal (or no) packaging, incorporate several recycled products, and have a smaller economical footprint. To reduce its green footprint, Lush actually creates many of its products freshly in each of the 50 countries it operates. This allows the company to reduce the use of transportation for products, therefore, reducing their economic footprint.
This relatively new company was an instant success with the public. Lush products are handmade and are made of natural ingredients without any animal fats (or any animal testing!). By using these sustainable techniques, combined with the beautiful products themselves, I think many individuals are drawn to using Lush. A well as creating less waste for the environment with the lack of individual packaging on most Lush products, as a customer, you can actually smell and touch the products, which I think many people enjoy doing before purchase.
I have been shopping at Lush for quite some time now and knew they were keen on sustainability, but I did not realize the extent of these values! I just recently found out that all the plastic used as containers at Lush is 100% post consumer recycled, as the company refuses to use virgin plastic. I do have a question for Lush though- how truly successful is creating products in different cities at reducing your economic footprint? I think this is a question that needs to be considered at Lush, since their ethical buying practices include gathering ingredients from suppliers around the world. How much does this global sourcing cancel out other carbon footprint reduction methods at Lush?
None-the-less, Lush’s sustainable way of approaching business has grown the company at a rapid pace. Not only has the company succeeded at sustainability, but they are ethical as well. Judging by the 210 Lush stores in North America, sustainability is definitely profitable.
Lush green policy: https://www.lush.ca/Our-Green-Policy/about-green-policy-intro,en_US,pg.html
lgonchar
February 29, 2016 — 8:40 pm
I love LUSH as a company and love their products for these exact reasons! I’ve been using their products for a few years now, and I like that they are so unique from any other skin care or cosmetic products, are made by hand and from natural materials! I also admire that the company cares so strongly about social issues and sustainability issues, and educates their consumers with powerful ad and marketing campaigns. I thought their video ad against animal testing was so powerful! I think LUSH has done an amazing job at growing their stores worldwide while not seeking a lot of media attention. Their success is admirable, and makes it even more awesome that they are a Canadian company!
NicoleGuan
March 3, 2016 — 1:54 pm
I am also a fan of Lush, mainly because their natural ingredients work very well for sensitive skin. I have never thought of the environmental impact of cosmetics by itself until recently I read about the tradition of manufactures using micro-plastics in the formulas of cosmetic products. Their small size allow them to pass through any water filter and enter the ocean, where they are taken in by sea organisms. Most of these plastics would remain in the organism for the rest of its lifespan, and along with other plastics, they can potentially cause death of sea organisms. Therefore, Lush’s commitment to using natural ingredient can reduce threat to health of sea organisms.
TessDavies
March 4, 2016 — 11:45 am
Always nice to see companies with sustainability embedded directly in their values.
While I have no evidence to prove the sustainability of Lush’s independent product creation, I see two possible benefits from it. First it would allow each area to rely on locally accessible inputs, using native plants and other ingredients to their benefit. Second, having the product created in a centralized facility does not remove the need to transport the product to the independent stores, even if the ingredients are being shipped to the individual locations from a more centralized supplier for the entire brand the transport costs are unavoidable.
As for global sourcing in general, I would challenge Lush to build lines that are specific to an area and allow them to take advantage of the natural abundances.
Raman Johal
March 21, 2016 — 7:15 pm
Hi Alex! An interesting post and Lush is indeed an interesting company; people LOVE their products and they have many dedicated customers. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with the company’s origins but they were born from The Body Shop. The company’s founders used to be the largest supplier for The Body Shop, who in turn bought the rights to their product formulations. Several years later, the founders invented new products and created Lush. The two companies are perhaps each other’s greatest competitors: both sell natural personal care products and are sustainability-focused. The main difference between them is that The Body Shop is now owned by L’Oreal and has had a somewhat turbulent history, at one point being at the centre of the green-washing controversy. What do you think each company could do to distinguish themselves from the other, especially in the area of marketing?
shomasmah
March 22, 2016 — 9:08 pm
Nice share Alexia!
In Social Enterprise, we talked about a local social enterprise based out of Vancouver called Plastic Bank. It’s one of my favourite SE’s as they allow developing nations to bring soft plastics to a central location and exchange it for useful commodities (ie. cell phone charge, basic food, toiletries). Plastic Bank then turns these plastics into pellets and sells it at industry based prices. Lush is their first customer! Lush can chooses to purchase the recycled plastic at virgin plastic prices because it feeds into their corporate values as well.
It’s a win-win!
danielleyallouz
April 5, 2016 — 5:38 pm
Great Post Alexia! I LOVE Lush! It is so amazing to see a sustainably driven, local Vancouver company having so much success. Lush really puts their customers first in every aspect of their business. This not only has a positive impact on the environment and society, I really think it also inspires other companies to do the same. By constantly innovating and thinking outside the box, Lush has become a leader not only when it comes to sustainability, but also in their entire industry. A company like Lush is also changing the nature of the industry entirely. It makes customer think before they purchase and inspires them to do the right thing with their purchasing power. Thank you for sharing more of the amazing things Lush does, I learnt so much from this post! I wonder what else this company can do to push the boundaries of sustainability even further.