Lush (company)
Lush [' lʌʃ ] is a company based in the UK Poole, which manufactures cosmetic products such as soap and shower gel and sells in its own chain of stores. In 2007, the Company operated 438 stores and sold products worth 79.3 million pounds worldwide.
History
Mark and Mo Constantine and Elizabeth Weir, later co-founder of Lush, built in 1976 on the firm Constantine and Weir, which was from 1978 a major supplier for The Body Shop. Early 90 bought The Body Shop her recipes for 6 million pounds on and put the products itself. The capital was established in 1988 Cosmetics to Go, a mail order company for cosmetics, which had to file for bankruptcy a few years later. In 1994 the first store was opened by Lush in Poole in Dorset, southern England. Going abroad Lush expanded by awarding franchises. Of the 438 stores that sprung up in 2007, are 80 (2008: 88 ) in the United Kingdom and 40 (5/ 2012) in Germany.
Products
Lush advertises its products with the slogan "fresh handmade cosmetics " ( German: " fresh handmade cosmetics "). Characteristic are the face-up, circular soap blocks from which pieces are to be cut out a wheel of cheese and invoiced by weight. The interior design should be based on a London cheese shop and grocery stores ( slates as price tags, fruit boxes ). Another feature is the scent of open products.
Environmental and animal welfare
The raw materials used by Lush often is organically grown or fair trade trade. The products are developed without animal testing; they are vegetarian and vegan in part and the most solid products are free from preservatives. Lush marketed itself as an ethical brand, so a brand that is considered unethical; For this purpose, it also supports groups of environmental activists such as Seeds for Change and Guerilla Gardeners. According to the company Lush is a total of 2 % of its profits to charitable organizations. A high proportion of the products sold in solid form, which leads one often dispensed with plastic bottles as packaging.
For the solid shampoos, massage bars, body butter etc. are appropriately shaped bare aluminum cans in the Lush logo is embossed, sold for 3-4 euros, making each more sustainable packaging superfluous. For loose items purchased from the business paper bags are offered. The mail order business is working with cardboard boxes in which compostable " by-product of potato chips production " is used as a filler material and are capped with paper tape. Another packaging option are based on the tradition of Japanese Furoshikis towels that are either out of recycled vintage fabrics, organic cotton or recycled and are manufactured in India within a social project from plastic cup waste. also the aprons of the staff are produced in this way in India.
Empty cans from 100% recycled polypropylene are withdrawn in the shops, 5:1 exchanged (as kind - lien ) against fresh face masks and fully recycled.
Criticism
In 2007 Lush was criticized because of the high performance pressure under which the employee must work. The pressure going up, for example, by strict sales targets and sales rankings. Some Lush employees and former employees of German stores also criticize Degrading sales practices, intimidation and a cult- like climate. Moreover, the company overstepping boundaries again and again. In the UK, however, Lush occupied in 2008, the 50th place on a list drawn up by the Sunday Times list of the 100 best employers.