Lush (company)

Early years Co-founders Mark Constantine and Liz Weir met in the 1970s and subsequently set up a cosmetics business. Constantine began training as a hairdresser and, after completing his training, began working for Elizabeth Arden in London. Constantine began working at Marc Young's Beauty Salon in Poole, where he met Liz Weir, who was freelancing at the salon as a beauty therapist. Weir and Constantine started their own business selling natural hair and beauty products. Both co-founders signed a non-competition agreement, which was enforced until 1994. Creation of Lush In 1995, Constantine and Weir opened a cosmetics shop on High Street in Poole, creating cosmetics from freshly purchased fruits and vegetables. The company's name was chosen after a customer competition in the store's newsletter. Lush expanded into other countries.Just one year after opening 29 High Street, in 1996 Lush opened its first store outside of the UK… 1118 Denman Street, Vancouver, Canada, then with stores in Croatia and then Australia in 1997, Brazil in 1999 and Dublin, Ireland, in 2000. "B Never Too Busy To Be Beautiful" was an experimental brand launched in 2003 by Lush. The first B Never store opened in 2003 and was located on Carnaby Street in London, B Never closed its stores in 2009. Recent history In 2010, Lush launched Gorilla Perfume, a collaboration between perfumers Mark Constantine and his son Simon Constantine. In December 2010, Mark and his wife Mo Constantine were awarded the OBE in the New Year's Honours list, for services to the beauty industry. In 2014, Gorilla perfume opened its own standalone store in Islington, London. In December 2018, Lush launched its Naked skincare range, which includes solid facial oils and cleansers and a seaweed gel eye mask, and opened a number of Naked shops, in Manchester, Milan and Berlin. In 2019, Lush opened its biggest store in the world in Liverpool. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Lush offered the public free handwashing in all its stores, as a means to help slow the spread of the virus. However, due to the pandemic, Lush temporarily closed all North American stores on 16 March 2020, but continued to pay staff, with stores in Australia closing four days later and those in the UK closing on 21 March. Later in March, the company announced it was laying off staff in Canada due to the impact that the pandemic was having on its operation, facing a future with a "much smaller business". In 2021, Lush removed its Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok accounts citing negative mental health and body image effects caused by such services. In February 2022, following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the company announced that it would be closing all 15 of its stores in Ukraine due to safety concerns. In 2023, the company partnered with Nintendo and Illumination to make cosmetics based on The Super Mario Bros. Movie. ==Business structure==

Lush is a privately owned company with a small number of shares available on an invitation-only basis. The company operates in 49 countries, with approximately 20% of its stores located in the US as of 2017. A similar arrangement saw the launch of Lush Australia in 1997, when the first store opened in the country. However, the company partnered with drag queens from ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' alumnae Kim Chi, Detox and Shea Couleé in the holiday season of 2018 to create photo campaigns for their new products. Products are also advertised through staff engaging in "random acts of kindness", where they are allowed to give away products to customers. Lush states that it does not have a target demographic, and that as a brand it is "trying to make [its] stores welcoming to all". == Ingredients and ethics ==

Lush does not buy from companies that carry out, fund, or commission any animal testing. They test their products on human volunteers. In the 1980s, the founders worked with Cruelty Free International (previously known as BUAV), with the aim of developing an ethical testing standard, specifically for cosmetic companies. The project led to the creation of cruelty-free standards still used today in the field of cosmetics. This stance against animal testing has meant that there are some countries where Lush refuses to sell its products. An exception to this is REACH legislation, which was implemented by the European Union in 2007. In late 2007, Lush introduced its first palm oil-free soap entitled "Greenwash", utilising a blend of sunflower oil, rapeseed oil, and coconut oil. Due to the soap's success, the company decided to switch both UK and overseas production from palm oil to this blend, significantly reducing the amount of palm oil the company purchased. However, many Lush products continue to contain palm oil, and palm-oil derivatives such as stearic acid, cetostearyl alcohol and sodium stearate. Since 2017, Lush has campaigned against the production and harvesting of palm oil, which is associated with orangutan habitat destruction in Sumatra, Lush products are 100% vegetarian, and 95% of the products are also vegan. They often contain fruits and vegetables such as grapefruit juice, vanilla beans, aloe vera, avocado butter, rosemary oil, fresh papaya, and coconut. However, some products contain honey, and/or beeswax. Eggs used to be in products but were removed early 2019 and replaced by aquafaba, similarly lanolin was removed from all formulas in 2023. Parabens are used to preserve a number of the products. Lush focuses on limited packaging for its product range, or package-free products. The Environment Possibility Award conferred the "Award of Earth Defender" to Lush in 2020. == Donations and campaigns ==

In 2006, the REACH legislation was proposed by the European Union and contained legislation that Lush believed would increase animal testing. The cosmetics company wrote to its European customers and also ran an in-store marketing campaign, asking for postcards objecting to the legislation be sent to MEPs, a move which resulted in 80,000 Lush customers sending postcards. In December 2006, Lush protested outside the European Parliament in Strasbourg, by attempting to dump horse manure outside the building. Lush is a supporter of direct action, animal rights operations including Sea Shepherd. Lush has been a supporter of anti-taxation-avoidance grouping UK Uncut and became the first multinational high-street retailer to secure a Fair Tax Mark in 2015. In 2007, Lush started openly supporting campaigning groups by sending a dozen cheques for £1,000 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, Lush supported OneWorld's track Freedom for Palestine, which led to backlash from Israel advocacy groups, such as StandWithUs. Lush has since said it supports collaboration between the two nations especially in almond farming. In 2012, Lush had a performance artist endure ten hours of animal testing in the window of their Regent Street store window as part of their 'Fight Animal Testing' campaign. 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. Following the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season, Lush launched a campaign titled All The Wild Things, with proceeds from the sales of the koala-shaped soap bars would go to relief efforts aimed for Australian wildlife affected by the bush fires. In 2024, Lush announced that it had raised £100 million in charitable giving since 2007. #Spycops campaign On 31 May 2018, Lush launched a campaign aimed to highlight previous abuses by undercover police officers in the UK. The company put up window displays in its stores with a mock-up of a police officer in and out of uniform alongside the tag-line "Paid to lie #Spycops". In some stores replica police tape was put on the shopfront windows with: "Police have crossed the line". The campaign attracted criticism on social media due to its "broad brush" approach which appeared to suggest that all police officers were liars and involved in a cover-up. Calum MacLeod, chair of the Police Federation and the Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, criticised the campaign. Lush suspended the window campaign "for the safety of our staff" on 8 June 2018, Boycott Israel Dublin shop window During the Gaza war, a sign was placed in front of Lush's Dublin store saying "Boycott Israel".{{cite web|url=https://www.itv.com/news/utv/2023-10-11/boycott-israel-sign-at-lush-store-sparks-backlash ==Lush Prize==

In 2012, Lush created The Lush Prize, a global award and grant given to researchers that find solutions and alternatives to animal testing. Since its launch in 2012, the Lush Prize has funded £2.7 million. Past winners of the award have included PETA and a research team at the University of Cambridge. Recently the Lush Spring Prize was introduced, a biennial award with prize fund for projects that assist repairing the planet's damaged systems. ==Lavender Hill Mob incense==

In 2015, Lush was criticised for insensitivity when it stocked a new product, Lavender Hill Mob – a brand of incense inspired by the 2011 London riots, featuring a graphic of a burning building. Lavender Hill had been targeted by looters and rioters. Lush stated that the product was "created to emphasise the importance of community". == Labour relations ==

In July 2018, Lush Australia admitted owing more than 5,000 staff members up to $2 million in back pay. Lush Australia director Peta Granger said staff across the retail and manufacturing businesses have been underpaid since 2010 due to incorrect interpretations of the retail award. In 2020, The Guardian raised concerns about the labour conditions at the Lush kitchen in Sydney, Australia, due to the high rate of injury reported by factory staff. During the August 2020 resurgence of COVID-19 in Auckland, New Zealand, Lush employees were given 48 hours notice that they would not receive pay for the duration of level 3 restrictions when the stores were unable to open, prompting negotiations between Lush and First Union New Zealand. Lush were ineligible for the government wage subsidy for staff, as their revenues had not decreased enough during this period. Beginning in 2020, Lush North America faced criticism for union busting and poor working conditions. In September 2020, Lush workers in Toronto, Canada launched a campaign to unionise. Employees complained about having their voices stifled by the company; facing retaliation for speaking out; having pay well below a living wage; and unfairly barring some employees from stability and benefits by abusing the company's seasonal contract policies. In response, Lush handed out anti-union leaflets, held captive audience meetings, and allegedly targeted union organisers. ==See also==