Lush Story
1970-Mark
Constantine, a trained trichologist (one who studies the health of hair and
scalp) and Liz Weir, a beauty therapist, met in a hair and beauty salon in
Poole, England. A few years later, they decided to branch out and start
their own business selling natural hair and beauty products. They set to
work in their homes creating products with fresh, natural ingredients for the
hair and skin.
1980-Mark
read about Anita Roddick who had just started The Body Shop. He thought she
sounded like-minded, so called her and offered her some of his products.
She put in an order for £1,200 to start with, and from there Mark and Liz
developed phenomenal products for The Body Shop and became the company's
biggest supplier for over a decade. It was at this point The Body Shop
decided to buy their product formulas.
1990-The
Body Shop's purchase of their product formulas forbade Mark and Liz from
opening another retail shop for five years, so they setup a mail order
cosmetics company called Cosmetics-To-Go. They lavished all their money
and attention on it, and it was a very 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.
1995-Mark
and Liz, along with Mo Constantine, Helen Ambrosen, Rowena Bird and Paul
Greaves from Cosmetics-To-Go, spent what little money they had left on fresh
fruits and vegetables at the market. In a little 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, verdant and drunken women and we
thought it fitted us very well.
1996-Canadians
Mark and Karen Wolverton came across the fragrant, colorful shop that is LUSH
and immediately knew they wanted to bring it to North America. On a trip
to England, Canadians Mark and Karen Wolverton came across the fragrant,
colorful shop that is LUSH and immediately knew they wanted to bring it to North
America. In 1996 the first international LUSH was opened in Vancouver,
with a cosmetic kitchen (factory) nearby. In 2003 the first American
store opened in San Francisco. Now they have over 210 shops in North
America, all supplied by the two cosmetic kitchens in Canada.
2007-They
launched Charity Pot, a hand and body lotion that softens skin and warms
hearts. 100% of the purchase price (every single penny minus taxes) goes
into our Charity Pot fund, which is donated to environmental, humanitarian and
animal rights charities. In the first five years, they donated two
million dollars to charities through the Charity Pot program.
2008-They
make products into solid form so they can ditch the packaging and
preservatives; almost half of our products are naked. When they use packaging,
they want it to be environmentally-friendly. They pushed suppliers to source
100% recycled pots and bottles, so they could avoid virgin plastic, reduce
energy on bottle production and save bottles from landfills. In 2008 they
made the switch to 100% PCR bottles.
2012-The
annual LUSH Prize is designed to reward individuals working in the field of
cruelty-free scientific research, awareness-raising and lobbying to help bring
an end to animal testing. The annual £250,000 prize fund was awarded to
scientists, campaigners, lobbyists, training specialists and young researchers
working to replace animal testing with methods that are both more humane and
more effective.
They Believe
...in protecting people,
animals and the planet. Since LUSH began, their founders have been
conscious of how their products interact with the environment. They have
always used creative and innovative solutions to make a positive impact on the
planet. They invention of the first-ever solid shampoo bar is testament
to this practice. The core of our philosophy is based on the highest
levels of ethical standards with the lowest possible impact on the environment.
Sustainability is a company-wide priority that flows through their products,
from their hands to yours. They are committed to becoming more sustainable the
more that their grow. So, environmental and social stewardship are
critical elements in the business decisions that they make on a daily basis.
...buying ingredients only from
companies that do not conduct or commission test on animals and in testing our
products on humans. They invent their own products and fragrances. All of
their products are make them fresh by hand using little or no preservative or
packaging, using only vegetarian ingredients and tell you when they were made.
For
more information about LUSH, visit:
http://www.lushusa.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-Lush-Site/en_US/AboutUs-OurStoryShow?cid=we-believe
Here’s
some videos of people who can explain how to DIY products of LUSH:
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