Our Values
All business should be ethical and all trade should be fair. Individual companies should not stand out simply by not being damaging or unfair. No company should be trading from an unethical position and society has a right to expect as the norm fairness and resource stewardship from the companies that supply them.
Is Lush an ethical Company?
Here at Lush we have never liked to call ourselves an ethical
company. We find the term rather a difficult concept, because it seems
to us that it is used to describe companies who try not to damage people
or planet with their trade practices – when surely this should not be
regarded as ‘ethical’ but as normal business-as-usual.
All business should be ethical and all trade should be fair.
Individual companies should not stand out simply by not being damaging
or unfair. No company should be trading from an unethical position and
society has a right to expect as the norm fairness and resource
stewardship from the companies that supply them.
We always wish to conduct our business so that all people who have
contact with us, from our ingredients suppliers through to our
colleagues and customers, benefit from their contact with Lush and have
their lives enriched by it. No company is perfect and we strive daily to
get closer to the ideal vision that all Lush people share. We will
always want and demand more from Lush, so that our business practices
match our own expectations, our colleague and customer expectations and
the needs of the planet.
See our positions and policies here.
These policies are in place in Lush UK&I and are evolving
continuously as we respond to world events, new legislation and our own
aspirations to constantly improve. Where Lush has partners in other
parts of the world, we encourage them to adopt similar policies.
The registered address at 29 High Street Poole is the same as the Lush Poole store trading address.
The Lush Ethical Charter
The Lush Ethical Charter
The Lush Ethos
In the Lush ‘We Believe‘ statement we say “We believe in happy people making happy soap, putting our faces on the products and making our mums proud.”
But in truth it is not just our mums that feel proud of our work, the
people who work at Lush also feel pride and a sense of ownership of the
achievements and core values of the company. Our own pride in the
company and our individual contribution to Lush leads to enormous levels
of hard work and loyalty not often seen in companies and a trust from
colleagues and customers that is hard to win.
We know that many people have come to work here because of our
values. For many, Lush is a place that best represents either their
personal values, their priorities or their world view; a company that
strives to do good business without exploiting people, planet or
animals. In fact over time Lush has become an ecosystem of exciting and
differing people and opinions. Our ability to create a warm and
welcoming home, a safe environment where difference is accepted and
fostered, is maybe our single greatest strength. We have attracted
minorities who have come to us as a refuge from prejudice, bullying or
marginalisation. This wide and diverse group all find a place in the
tapestry of Lush where we can forge a role that has personal value and
meaning, whilst contributing to the whole.
No matter your position, we are all needed to work together for the
future, as in the past, to build on the foundations of Lush, to push
forward in all aspects of creativity, commerce, customer service and
business integrity. Keeping Lush vibrant, relevant and meaningful to
its place and time in the world, means we must continue to innovate and
change whilst keeping true to our values and ensure that Lush remains a
place we all feel proud to work and contribute to.
Whether a customer or shareholder, we all expect Lush to innovate,
adapt and rise to the challenges that an ever changing world throws at
us – with a general expectation that standards should rise rather than
fall.
EMPLOYEE CONSULTATION ON CORE ETHICAL PRINCIPLES
One of the principal aims of the Lush Employee Benefit Trust (the
EBT) is to protect the core values that enable us to maintain our
ethical standards. To that aim, we are putting processes in place via
the EBT to ensure that decisions are not made which may breach or
materially affect our ethical practice without first taking the views of
the staff of all Lush companies into account. This also allows for us
all to be thoroughly briefed about the issues behind any major proposed
changes so that we can make a meaningful contribution to that decision
and the leaders of the business can make an informed decision having
considered all our views.
There are certain values or principles we regard as so core to our
philosophy that they should not be changed without proper consideration
and consultation. If the directors of Lush consider that any such
change is likely (and it would not in any way fetter their discretion or
cause any of them to be in breach of their directors’ duties or any
duty of confidentiality to do so), they will ask the Trustees of the EBT
(the EBT Trustees) to seek the views of the Lush Group Employees and
will seek to take those views into account when considering what action
to take in relation to that proposed change. When requested to do so by
Lush, the EBT Trustees will ask all the Lush Group Employees then on
the payroll of all the Lush Group companies in all the countries where
Lush carries on business whether they consider the proposed changes to
amount to a breach or material change in our core ethical principles.
These core ethical principles are:
No Animal Testing
Lush will never conduct or commission animal tests. Furthermore we
will always choose to buy ingredients from suppliers who do not test on
animals. Where there are laws and regulations which make non-animal
testing difficult or impossible to achieve, we will challenge and
campaign for true cruelty free legislation in all markets.
Lush is a Vegetarian company
Only vegetarian ingredients will be used in products. We also commit
to ensuring that there are always some vegan options in our range.
Company tax policy
We commit to paying the proper amount of tax on time in all countries where Lush operates. A copy of our current written tax policy is available on request.
Lush is a campaigning company
Lush actively campaigns on the issues of Animal Rights, Human Rights and Environmental Protection.
All Lush licensed territories are expected to campaign at least once a
year on one of the core values through their shops and website.
Fair Wages for staff
Lush commits to exceed government minimum standards of staff wages and conditions in all countries in which it operates.
All Are Welcome, Always
Our statement of intent ‘All are welcome, always’ is our guiding
principle on diversity and inclusion for staff and customers, where we
hope to always be a place that embraces everyone.
Lush will always aim to employ and promote people on the strength of
skills, abilities and potential without prejudice or discrimination of
any type.
Commitment to Transparency and External Audits
Lush will contract regular third party audits of its Animal Testing
Policy, its ethical and environmental practices as well as regular
business audits.
EVOLVING ETHICAL VALUES AND PRINCIPLES
There are some core values in addition to those set out above, which
are equally fundamental to the Lush ethical ethos, but which would be
defined differently over time, being affected by new advances in
technology, differing world situations and newly available inventions
and solutions. These core values will have targets and policies which
change from time to time to reflect these advances and changes. They
are:
A Living Planet
Lush believes it’s a part of the natural world, therefore its impact –
be it through the ingredients we use, the way we manufacture and
transport goods or how we generate energy – must give back more than it
takes.
Fair business dealings with our suppliers
We believe fair trade is a trading partnership based on dialogue,
transparency and respect that seeks greater equity in international
trade, engaging actively in supporting producers, awareness raising and
in campaigning for changes in the rules and practices of conventional
international trade.
Keeping product quality, core values, customer satisfaction and making a profit of equal importance
Lush believes in the right to make a profit, but when making major
business considerations and adjustments, all aspects of Lush’s core
values will be discussed and kept in mind. A balanced Lush business
will always try to find profit whilst upholding the core values.
Fresh and Handmade
We aim to have an innovative, effective range of products produced by
hand using fresh ingredients with an end goal of completely eliminating
the use of synthetic preservatives.
Naked products
Our goal of minimising the use of packaging means that we will always strive to invent and perfect naked products.
Digital Ethics
Lush will always endeavour to behave with an ethical conscience in
our ever-evolving digital estate. We embrace open-source technologies
in everything that we design, build and release. We give back our
research and code to open communities. We commit to using conflict
material free commodity hardware that has high output but a low energy
consumption powered by renewable green energy across the group, where
possible. We ensure that all of Lush’s staff and customer data is
encrypted, secure and transparent. Our Customers and Staff have the
right to know what information we hold about them.
Renewable Energy
The past reliance on fossil fuels and nuclear for the world’s energy
needs has caused problems. We will seek out and favour advances in new
energy sources and solutions as they become available.
Recycled Materials
If we can’t make everything naked, then the next aim is to ensure
that those products that do need packaging use the best and most
innovative minimum impact, recycled or reused materials that are
available.
Environmental policies
Lush will always seek to challenge itself over all its uses of the
world’s resources. We aim to reduce and minimise our impact with
policies that meet the needs of a changing and constantly evolving world
situation. We will challenge and target ourselves in areas such as air
transport, energy use, materials into landfill, recycling rates,
pollution and waste outputs.
THE ETHICAL CHARTER COMMITTEE
Convening the Ethical Charter Committee
If an employee of any Lush Group company in any country where Lush
operates raises a concern that any of the core values or principles in
this Ethical Charter are not being adhered to by any Lush Group company
this should be immediately reported to the Trustees directly or via ebt@lush.co.uk. The Trustees will convene to discuss and conduct an investigation.
If the board of Trustees unanimously agree that the company is in
breach of a core principle in the Lush Ethical Charter, the EBT Trustees
will inform the Board of Directors of Lush Cosmetics Limited (or any
other company which may be the parent company of the Lush Group at the
relevant time) (the Board) of the breach or likely breach and will work
with the business to find a remedy for the breach or likely breach.
If the Trustees are unable to agree or following investigation,
unanimously decide Lush is not in breach of the Ethical Charter (unless
they reasonably consider the concern to be unfounded or a result of
mis-interpretation not amounting to a breach of the Charter), the EBT
Trustees shall convene a committee (the Ethical Charter Committee) to
decide whether or not the actions, proposed actions or inactions which
are the subject of that concern amount to a legitimate risk of a breach
to the Ethical Charter.
Members of the Ethical Charter Committee
On each occasion that the Ethical Charter Committee is convened the
members will comprise of: two EBT Representatives from our Group retail
business, two EBT Representatives from our Group Manufacturing business
and one EBT Representative from our Group Support teams. These
representatives will be selected at random from current democratically
elected Business Area EBT Representatives whom our staff have elected to
represent them and their voice in matters relating to the EBT and the
Ethical Charter. The Chair of the Committee, who will not have a vote,
will be one of the EBT Trustees.
Provision of information to the Committee
The EBT Trustees will as far as possible provide the Committee
members with all the information and evidence available on the relevant
Lush Group company’s activities in relation to the core principle
brought into question which they will reasonably require to make a
decision.
Decisions of the Committee and actions to be taken
The Committee will then decide by a simple majority vote whether or
not the relevant Lush Group company is operating within the spirit of
the Ethical Charter:
- if the Committee decides that the company is operating within the
spirit of the Ethical Charter, then no further action will be taken; but - if the Committee decides that the relevant company is carrying on
its activities in such a way that it amounts, or is likely to amount, to
a breach of the Ethical Charter the EBT Trustees will inform the Board
of Directors of Lush Cosmetics Limited (or any other company which may
be the parent company of the Lush Group at the relevant time) (the
Board) of the breach or likely breach and the Board will, as far as
reasonably practicable, take the views of the Committee into account
when deciding what action to take in response to the breach or likely
breach.
Notification to Employees
If at any time the Ethical Charter Committee
is convened, the EBT Trustees will notify all the Employees then on the
payroll of all Lush Group companies at that time of the concern it was
convened to consider and the decision made by the Committee.
AMENDMENT OF THE LUSH ETHICAL CHARTER
We recognise that the Lush Group business, and the world in which it
carries on that business, will evolve and change. The Lush Ethical
Charter may be amended from time to time to reflect that evolution
provided that none of the Core Ethical Values or Evolving Ethical Values
set out above shall be removed, disregarded or amended so that they
cease to comply with or support the spirit of this Ethical Charter at
the date of the of the establishment of the EBT without prior
consultation with Employees.
Hilary Jones Simon Constantine Jack Constantine Karl Bygrave
8 February 2018
* (and it would not in any way fetter their discretion or cause any
of them to be in breach of their directors’ duties or any duty of
confidentiality to do so)
What We Believe
We believe in making effective products from fresh, organic* fruit and vegetables, the finest essential oils and safe synthetics.
We invent our own products and fragrances. We make
them fresh by hand using little or no preservative or packaging, using
only vegetarian ingredients, and tell you when they were made.
We believe in buying ingredients only from companies that do not commission tests on animals and in testing our products on humans.
We believe in happy people making happy soap, putting our faces on our products and making our mums proud.
We believe in long candlelit baths, sharing showers,
massage, filling the world with perfume and in the right to make
mistakes, lose everything and start again.
We believe that all people should enjoy freedom of movement across the world.
We believe our products are good value, that we should make a profit and that the customer is always right.
* We also believe words like fresh and organic have honest meaning beyond marketing
Fresh
Eating an apple picked straight off the tree is of course best for a
healthy body…. and fresh, handmade cosmetics are much like food in the
way that they provide goodness to feed your skin. The finest fresh
ingredients have a far more nutritious and effective action on the skin,
hair and mind than long-lasting, heavily preserved beauty products.
Fresh raw ingredients which have not broken down or aged have ACTIVE
properties, especially the vitamins, minerals and enzymes with wonderful
benefits. Essential oils are also most potent and effective when
freshly extracted from the plant or flower source.
Natural ingredients, plants, clays, butters and essential oils have been
used for hundreds of years because they have a proven history of
effective, safe use and are much kinder for the environment. In
contrast, science, chemicals and claims of miracle formulas may sound
exciting and offer promises of anti-aging etc but how safe and effective
are they and what evidence supports their claims?
At Lush we have been working with fresh produce for many years and
have vast experience of how to formulate, manufacture and look after
products that incorporate whole fruits and vegetables, organic wherever
possible. We have discovered that using the whole fruit or vegetable is
infinitely more beneficial than isolating a property and removing it
from a fruit, vegetable or natural material and adding it to a cosmetic
product to try to recreate its function. At Lush we minimise the use of
synthetics and preservatives. We take special care to ensure we use only
the safest and mildest preservatives we know. Our fresh masks are as
nutritious as fruit smoothies for the face – 100% natural, totally
unpreserved – they are the centre piece of our shops.
We believe that customers have the right to know exactly what is in
the products they buy, and our ingredients are therefore quantitatively
marked on all labels. Our products are suitable for both vegetarians
and vegans – this information is clearly marked on labels for customers
to chose which products are suitable for them.
Over years of gaining knowledge and expertise, and listening to our
customers needs, we have created a comprehensive range of carefully
formulated products that are as fresh and effective as they are
pleasurable to use… and many are lots of fun!
Making Lush products involves:
- Careful ordering of ingredients from ethical sources to ensure freshness and quality.
- Products made by hand, with care and attention – to maximise quality and minimise wastage.
- Batches honestly labelled with date and makers names – transparent information for customers.
products made to order, little and often, so they reach customers when they are really fresh. - No stock piling of ingredients or large stock- holding of products – get products out to shops and Mail Order fast and fresh.
- Controlled factory waste stream – reduce and recycle.
All of our products are Fresh: made and available for you to
buy in less than 21 days, with a ‘made on’ date as well as a ‘use by’
clearly shown on our iconic batch stickers.
This is what makes Lush different. Last year we bought:
- 132,000kg of sea salt
- 23,000kg of lemons
- 11,400kg of bananas
- 11,000kg of limes
We really do put the whole fruit in!
Besides natural ingredients being fresher by nature, they have usually travelled less, as they need to arrive sooner.
The fresher the ingredients, the more nutrients they contain. Fruit,
for example, receives a constant flow of energy from the tree: the
minute it leaves the branch it starts to decompose. The sooner we use
it, the higher its nutrients and the greater the benefit to your skin or
hair.
Fresh is the cornerstone of Lush products. We not only tell you when
you should use your products by, but when they were made, to make sure
you know exactly how fresh your cosmetics are. Where possible we always
use fresh, seasonal ingredients that are ethically sourced to make sure
we know exactly where they come from.
We believe fresh is better; do you?
Handmade
We believe in happy people making happy soap, putting our faces on our products and making our mums proud…
Our products are made in spaces that look more like big kitchens than
manufacturing sites. We have many more people working in our factories
than we have machines. We produce cosmetics with our personal touch,
creating local jobs and using local resources. Our factories are happy
places where the product makers take care in their work and are proud to
have their faces displayed on the packaging of the products they made.
We don’t think of our factory workers as backroom staff, but as the
kitchen stars who whip up fresh, amazing products with speed and finesse
every day.
That is why we add stickers to our packaged products,
to show customers the name and face of the person that made their
product, as well as when it was made and when it goes out of date
We proudly display our faces on each product that we make by hand, and that’s every product, globally.
We tell you when they were made, so you know just how fresh they are.
When we invent new products, we don’t need new machinery, we simply
need to train our staff to make them. With every new skill our
compounders gain, they work their way up to being Master Compounders.
These lovely folk have to train and be signed off in 20 different
departments, which can take up to 2 years to complete. We currently have
14 fully trained Master Compounders in the business, and we’re
constantly looking to train more in all global manufacturing sites.
In Manufacturing we have a culture of training as many people as we
can to make our products. There is a constant training plan in place for
all our compounders to be continually up-skilling and learning new
product ranges and about our raw materials.
There is also a massive focus not just on compounding when it comes
to handmade, but also on our production assistants on the factory floor,
as they press, shape and wrap our lovely products into the final
finished item. Over the years, handmade in production has become more
skilled as the products have become more complex, detailed and
intricate.
Vegetarian
Being a vegetarian company is important to us and we are proud of what we have been able to achieve.
Lush was founded on the vision that cosmetic products didn’t need to
use animal fats or their by-products to be effective, and that animal
testing was entirely unnecessary as well as unethical. Currently, around
95% of our all year round (AYR) product range is vegan with more
products being added all the time which is really something to be
excited about.
From taking a firm stand against the practice of animal testing
itself to sourcing or inventing safe alternatives, it has been a large
and continual part of Lush’s ethos to ensure that the ingredients we buy
are sourced responsibly, sustainably and free of any nasties such as
genetically modified organisms (GMO) and, where possible, pesticides.
Negotiating supply chains can be a murky business so where possible
we prefer to go straight to the source and build relationships with
farmers directly. All of the ingredients in Lush products are from
sources required to sign our strict policy before supplying us and so
are guaranteed not to be tested on animals. Fruit, vegetables and grains
are non-GMO and the honey we use is from sources that we are confident
treat their animals with respect and care, and are the most sustainable,
responsible sources available. We are always looking for ways to
improve, and so meticulously review our sources, and work closely with
farmers to improve animal welfare. It’s never a case of a done deal and a
ticked checklist – we like to visit the sites personally and regularly.
We like to trust the expertise of the farmers and communities we buy from. The honey used in Fairly Traded Honey shampoo
is sourced from a supplier in Zambia who uses traditional techniques
that have been passed down through the generations of their community.
They are in tune with the bees and live alongside them in a mutually
beneficial relationship, building eco friendly hives made from bark high
up in trees to keep the hives safe. They never use pesticides or
herbicides and the bees collect nectar from nearby, uncultivated forests
which gives the honey a rich and smoky aroma.
All of our products are made in an environment free from animal flesh
and are not tested on animals. Where possible, we use or sometimes even
invent safe alternatives to animal products.
Keep an eye out for the official Vegetarian Society and Vegan Society logos on the pots. Life is too short to be reading long labels so we’ve made it easy.
This,
along with a clear list of ingredients, means you can be totally
certain you know exactly what you’re buying and that the product is
suitable for you.
Naked
Packaging is rubbish
We price our products carefully to reflect the cost of the
ingredients inside. We don’t hike the price of our products year round
to cover the cost of holding regular discount sales. We don’t have
special offers, two-for-one tempters or free gifts. The only time we
discount our products is our clearance sale of seasonal Christmas
specials. We sincerely believe proper product advice and a personalised
service can bring greater savings to a customer than gimmicky offers.
Most bathrooms are full of unwanted product bought in error because
the packaging was eye-catching or there was a tempting offer at the
shop. All of them bought from endless aisles carrying a bewildering
array of products. With nothing to guide you but generic packaging
descriptions, you get home and find it’s not what you had hoped or that
it doesn’t suit your skin, hair or lifestyle. You end up with bathroom
cabinets, window sills and shelves full of unwanted stuff, taking a
pit-stop in your bathroom on its way to landfill.
Providing personal service is the best environmental practice. If we
can get you connected to the appropriate product for your needs, you get
really good value for money, we get a regular customer, the consumption
of unneeded product falls and money is no longer wasted.
It’s an old fashioned idea of service that we have always practised
at Lush. We listen to your needs to find out how you like your skin and
hair to feel, to learn how and when you like to bathe or shower, and
then recommend the products that are best for you. This style of service
fell out of use with the rise of self-service and supermarkets.
Personalised shopping gave way to aisles of products that customers have
to browse and choose from, with only as many words as can be crammed
onto the packaging as the guide to which product would best suit them.
Some time ago a TV company asked us to cost a typical shower gel for a
consumer programme. In doing this it became obvious that the packaging
was a larger part of the manufacturing cost than the contents, and that
the bottle, label and lid cost more than twice the shower gel itself.
With very little packaging, solid products like soap, bath bombs and
massage bars need very little to protect or contain them. This is what
makes Lush different:
Bottled products contain a lot of water, which is cheap to buy.
Naked products contain effective ingredients that cost more.
Not using expensive packaging gives us a big saving.
So we can invest that into extra staff and training.
No water helps make the product self-preserving…
Neither you or the earth want a lot of worrying preservatives.
We use Fair Trade, natural and organic ingredients.
This puts the cost up.
We spend the savings making high quality fragrances.
This means using essential oils, absolutes and concretes.
Ethical Buying
At Lush we pride ourselves on our creativity, and this doesn’t stop
with our products. Since the beginning our aim has been to use the best,
safest and most beautiful ingredients.
We have discovered that if you want the best ingredients, you have to
go out and find them yourself in the wider world. Our dedicated Buying
team works tirelessly to ensure that’s what we get. Often this involves a
great deal of creative thinking and finding solutions to problems, such
as sourcing the finest essential oils and absolutes, the best natural
raw materials, safe synthetics, 100% recycled packaging or removing Palm
oil from our products. Lush has a very strong commitment to the
communities and areas from which we buy our ingredients.
We feel that our ingredients should be bought in a respectful way
safeguarding the environment and the social impact. Lush supports Fair
Trade and Community Trade initiatives. We find out what impact our
buying has on the people and environment and make responsible decisions
regarding from where, from whom and how we purchase ingredients and
packaging for Lush.
Ethical Considerations when buying
- Workers rights – unions, collective bargaining, health and safety,
freedom to leave, fair pay, working hours, discrimination, no child
labour. - Environment – organic, sustainability, endangered species,
production emissions onto land and water, use of resources to process
ingredients, no Genetic Modification… - Animal protection – No animal testing of ingredients. Vegetarian ingredients only.
- Transport – The distance ingredients travel, minimum air freight, packaging materials used.
Suppliers we support
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.
Through buying direct from producers we are also able to support and
help finance some really worthwhile and forward-thinking projects
worldwide that make us proud.
When the Buying Team are not travelling the world and working out in
the field, they provide regular updates, reports and presentations of
information on:
- The sources of raw materials that we buy to make our products
- Fair Trade and community trade projects
- Suppliers lists
- The status of ingredients
- Sharing their experiences on buying trips (often very challenging!)
- This is constantly evolving as the Lush business grows and we nurture more relationships with suppliers all over the world.
Child Labour
Our stance on child labour is aligned with the ILO standards. We
believe the minimum working age should not be lower than the age for
completing compulsory education locally. We insist that our suppliers do
not engage in any employment of child labour. Should suppliers become
aware of any child labour taking place, we would expect them to engage
in supporting a training and transition programme to support the child
back into education.
Fighting Animal Testing
Our Core Ethic
We have been fighting against animal testing since before we
opened our first shop, and the fight continues today. Animal testing is
poor science and its results are irrelevant for humans.
Instead, we test our products for safety and effectiveness on human
volunteers – real people. We also use in vitro test methods, using human
cell-cultures and microbiology.
Lush do not test on animals, do not use materials that contain animal
derivatives that are unsuitable for vegetarians and only buy raw
materials from companies that are not involved in the use of, or
commission the use of, animals for testing and have no plans to do so in
the future. We believe that animal testing is not acceptable. We
recognise that customer safety is of importance but that this can be
assured without the use of animals.
We will not knowingly purchase ingredients from suppliers that have
conducted, commissioned or been party to animal testing after our fixed
cut-off date 1st June 2007, unless the supplier commits to conducting no
further animal tests in the future, and to using acceptable in-vitro
alternatives. In-vitro refers to the technique of performing a given
procedure in a controlled environment outside of a living organism.
Whilst we recognise the unavoidable exception of UK and EU REACH
legislation (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation & Restriction
of Chemicals), Lush wishes to continue to encourage suppliers to test
for safety using non-animal testing methods and to fund the development
of non-animal test methods.
We have built Lush from day one using this policy – and we believe
this shows that it is possible to invent, manufacture and bring to the
market an entire range of products without any involvement in animal
testing. Our founders launched this policy in June 1993, whilst still
running their previous company, Cosmetics To Go. So when they started
Lush in 1995, it began life using this policy and has stuck to it ever
since.
Since Lush started in 1995 our animal testing policy has been that we
will never conduct animal tests on our finished products and will only
purchase ingredients from companies that do not test on animals. In
2013 we were delighted when the EU Cosmetics Directive came into full
force, preventing the manufacture and marketing of animal tested
cosmetics within Europe. As a company that operates in 40 countries, we
would like to see such strong legislation in every region, not just the
EU – and we promise to never stop campaigning until animal testing is a
thing of the past, not just in some countries but worldwide.
Still Fighting Animal Testing
The strength of feeling against this unscientific and cruel practice
has not diminished over the years, which means that it is safe to say
that Fighting Animal Testing is not just a Lush position and policy, but
is a lifetime goal and the core value of our company. Lush will
continue to fight animal testing worldwide – to speak out against it, to
join with animal campaign groups to publicise it, to lobby against it
and to educate around the issues – until animal testing is a thing of
the past.
Our Fighting Animal Testing commitment means that Lush has a variety
of positions and policies that both govern our own actions, to ensure
that our business practices are free of animal testing, and reach out to
the wider world to help eliminate the use of animals in testing
worldwide.
To see some of the other ways we work for animals, please follow the links below for more information.
Human Biology Based Testing Methods
We campaign against animal testing, trial products on people and
develop in vitro testing methods in line with cell culture testing
company XCellR8.
Finally, we have reached a point where some human biology based
tests are recognised by The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD). This will mean that all the historical data that is
derived from animal testing, and still relied upon by cosmetic
companies, can eventually be replaced by data that is relevant to
humans. Investigation into the hard work being done to get non-animal
testing methods validated and approved for regulatory use, shows that
although there are those striving to achieve this, there are still not
enough companies using these methods.
In 2013, XCellR8 won the Lush
Prize for Training and began modifying and developing cell culture tests
for both Lush products and raw materials. This will mean we can start
to build that foundation of knowledge and experience in human biology
based testing that needs to exist in order to get more companies and
authorities to drop animal tests altogether.
Here at Lush, we use a range of relatively simple ingredients to make
our products. We know our ingredients to be safe, however cell culture
testing means that products and ingredients which are intended for
humans, are actually tested on humans.
Read more on how we test.
REACH
REACH is European chemical legislation that governs the import and
manufacture of chemicals within Europe. REACH mandates animal testing
in certain conditions, so is of concern to all animal campaign groups
and also to companies which strive to adhere to an animal testing free
policy.
The REACH legislation was the largest piece of legislation passed by
the EU and so complicated that even after it was law it was not clear
how it would be implemented. It is an evolving piece of legislation
and an example of an external pressure on our non animal testing policy.
How We Test for Safety
It’s starts with invention
Our commitment to non-animal tested (or cruelty-free) cosmetics
starts at the invention stage. Our product creators work with natural
ingredients and a small selection of synthetic ingredients with a safe
history of use on humans. In fact, a number of our ingredients have been
used in cosmetics for hundreds, sometimes thousands of years, carrying a
long history of safe use.
We avoid using new ingredients that require animal testing by law.
Under product safety legislation, ingredients that have no history need
to be fully tested before they can be put on the market – some of that
testing could end up being done on animals.
Some companies claim that without animal testing, innovation in the
cosmetics industry is impossible. After 30 years of developing products
with only known, safe ingredients, we still haven’t run out of ideas; it
just takes a little creativity.
Human Volunteers
We still need to ensure that our newest creations will be safe and
effective for our customers, so we test our finished products on human
volunteers. Here’s what that looks like:
We test our products in house first – each one of them needs to be good enough for us before it goes out the door.
We prepare a batch of our new creation and send it to a sample of
volunteer testers. We have around 350 independent volunteers on our
panel across the UK, covering different skin and hair types.
After using the product, each volunteer fills out an extensive
questionnaire that asks if the product was effective, what they liked
and disliked about it, and whether it caused any adverse reaction.
The product testers then send back any multi-use product that is left over for microbiology testing.
The results are collected and analyzed by the inventors – sometimes
the feedback is great, sometimes they need to go back to the drawing
board. These results are also incorporated into the safety dossier of
each product. As we go forward, more and more in-vitro information about
the ingredients and the finished products are included in this dossier,
too.
The dossier is then reviewed by safety assessors. They will either
certify the release of the product, request more testing or make
recommendations for changes.
As the product hits the shelves, as part of our on-going monitoring
program, we collect and review customer feedback from around the world.
Microbiology
There’s quite a broad range of microorganisms in cosmetics, especially fresh cosmetics.
During the development of a new product and during the regular
production cycles, we collect samples and analyze them to make sure that
the level and nature of the microorganism won’t interfere with the
safety or the effectiveness of the product.
We perform a general “aerobic plate count” on nonselective agar
medium. This is a little dish with a thin layer of agar (a clear jelly
extracted from seaweed), sometimes mixed with PH indicators or other
vegetarian nutrients such as sugar. The microbiologist puts a drop of
product on top, incubates the dish and sees what grows.
We accept that there may be some organisms present, but nothing
potentially pathogenic or harmful. We also look at yeast and moulds to
see how the product will last.
We’re proud to say that our products are proven to be safe and
effective, all without the use of animal tests. We hope that by setting
this example, other cosmetics companies will the the pledge to use only
cruelty-free methods to test for safety.
Find out more about our vision for the replacement of animal testing, our company stance on animal testing, or about our cruelty-free testing partner, XCellR8.
Freedom of Movement
In 2018, Lush updated our We Believe statement for the first time, ever.
We are so convinced that restricting freedom of movement is so
damaging, both for people and ecosystems that we have added the
declaration “We believe that all people should enjoy freedom of movement
across the world” to our ‘We Believe’ statement.
Many of Lush’s current staff and employees of the future consider
themselves global citizens, and we will continue to fight for their
right to freedom of movement.
We employ staff globally and inclusively. Our UK factory is based in
Poole where 45% of our current staff are British and 55% are not. Every
August to December we employ an additional 1,400 people to meet
Christmas demand and deeply value and depend on people from outside the
UK filling these roles. With only 3,000 people in the entire Dorset
county currently claiming Job Seekers’ Allowance, we otherwise have a
very small pool of local people to fill these roles.