IN THE BEGINNING…

Lush was founded in 1995 by six co-founders; Mo Constantine, Mark Constantine, Rowena Bird, Helen Ambrosen, Liz Bennett and Paul Greeves.

Emerging from the demise of a previous mail order business called Cosmetics To Go – a massive success that collapsed through a combination of over-trading and flooding – it was the same team that created and inspired this new venture called Lush.

1. Make products for every need. It’s not what customers want, it’s what they need.

2. Be number one in every category. Do not accept the status quo: invent new products that fulfil all of the vision.

3. Create a cosmetic revolution to save the planet. We’re running out of time – we need a revolution.

When you walk into the LUSH store, you can still see many bottles and cans of facial masks, skin care lotions, perfumes, and other products. These bottles and cans are made of 100% recycled materials. 

In addition to bottles and cans made from fully recycled pellets, in-store gift boxes and online shopping cartons are also made from 100% recycled pulp or banana tree fiber.

The store also sells reusable wraps, which are also made from 100% recycled PET bottles. Shampoo cakes are easy to collide and break when placed in the box, so the gift box contains "eco-flo", a white cushioning material made of cornstarch. It can be thrown directly into leftovers and soil, which can be decomposed naturally.

For many years we have had a policy of aiming to purchase our materials direct from producers: the farmers, growers and processors, wherever possible, in order to learn the true story of each ingredient. This means that our buying team travel the world visiting suppliers, to meet the people involved. We see first hand how the ingredient is grown, harvested, mined, processed, etc. This allows us to get a better understanding of the raw materials, where they come from, how they are produced, what potential labour or environmental issues might arise and what might impact the cost of the materials (seasonality, crops, climate, etc).

Purchasing our materials in this way, with face-to-face communication  also  helps  us foster good, honest, long-term productive relationships with the producers/suppliers and guarantees uninterrupted supply of good quality materials to make our products. We are able to ensure our suppliers understand the needs of our business and we also understand the constraints of their operations.

Lush Digital believes technology should give more than it takes from society and the environment. Tech doesn’t have to be unethical; it can be built for the greater good and impact positive social change. We champion ethical hardware, ethical data, ethical design and open source technologies and we support and elevate communities who feel the same.

Just as Lush ethically sources ingredients, and treats employees right, Lush Digital believes in ethical tech that gives back to the community. Lush Digital aims to provide open source solutions where before only monopolies existed; it fights for supply chain transparency, digital innovation and telling the Tech For Good stories that are as yet untold.

“We are working hard to offer people the ultimate waste-free shopping experience. We continue to invent revolutionary naked products, unique packaging materials, work on reusable plastic packaging items as well as looking into refilling options for the future. This recycling scheme is another step on our path to leaving the world Lusher than we found it.

By moving towards a deposit-style scheme, whereby Lush customers know that they are ‘renting’ the packaging and can simply return it when they are finished, we keep the responsibility of waste-reduction and resource recycling as a company responsibility. All we need our customers to do is simply return their empties to us – we’ll take care of the rest.”

Rae Stanton-Smithson, Lush Earthcare