Behind the Lush Brand

We chat with Tim Maguire, Store Manager (and exceptional Lush Party Host!) at Lush Northland in Victoria. Tim has worked in many roles, including Customer Care Specialist, Sales Assistant, Superviser so it's fair to say he knows his way around the Lush brand.

What is the best part of your job?

The highlight of my job is the difference I get to make in people’s days. I believe in the power of a retail environment to positively impact the lives of customers (even if it's just helping them find their new favourite body lotion!). I truly feel like the work I do is meaningful, which makes each day worthwhile. Oh… and it doesn’t hurt to be able to enjoy plenty of lovely products every day!

What's the funnest part of working with Lush?

The most fun I have working at Lush is helping customers create the perfect gift for their loved ones. Working together to choose the best products for the occasion, then using our bespoke fabric gift-wrapping “Knot Wraps” to tie it all together!

How did Lush start? Who is behind the brand? 

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 (not so good for a bath bomb company) – it was the same team that created and inspired this new venture called Lush.

Lush is 10% Employee Owned and our people are the heart and soul of our business!

What are the foundations of Lush based on? 

It's in our name - at Lush we believe in making fresh, handmade cosmetics. At our core, we are passionate about making products that utilise the power of fresh ingredients and leaving the world Lusher than we found it. Before Lush our founders were fighting against animal testing and our campaigning roots are at the very centre of our business today. 

One of our brand statements that has always stood out to me, personally is - “We believe in happy people making happy soap, putting our faces on our products and making our mums proud.” And it’s not just about making our mums proud, we want everyone connected by Lush to be able to take pride in the work that we do as a business - from our customers and staff, to the charities we support, to the people that we ethically source our ingredients from. 

Tell us some of the policies Lush implements for sustainability and ethical principles.

Lush is constantly striving to be as ethical as possible, and our aim for the world is that this should not be a point of difference for us - all companies should live up to this expectation. Our list of policies are extensive, and are evolving continuously as we respond to world events, new legislation and our own aspirations to constantly improve.

Some of the key policies include an environmental policy, which focuses on sustainability in our packaging and raw materials, our modern anti-slavery statement, which works to address modern slavery practices. All of these are publicly accessible on our website weare.lush.com

Our anti-animal testing policy in particular stands out to me as it dictates that we do not test on animals, do not use materials that contain animal derivatives that are unsuitable for vegetarians, and only buy raw materials from suppliers 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. This is a cut-above our competitors when it comes to the breadth of our policy across all parts of our business.

How does Lush support your communities?

Lush supports communities in so many ways, locally and further abroad. All money from the sales of our Charity Pot body lotion (minus GST) goes towards a fund that directly supports local communities via grassroots charities - and applications are always open to share that financial assistance with more. 

We also charge 10c for our carry bags as part of our Bags to Branches scheme - with that money being used to support sustainable farming practices around Australia and New Zealand.

Lush also purchases fresh raw ingredients from many local suppliers and small family-run businesses, who often are going beyond suitability and working toward regeneration. We are always actively working to find new ethical suppliers for our ingredients. 

Tell us something you're working on we think you should know about…

Lush’s “Secret Master Plan” was unveiled in 2019, and it dictates the direction we are moving in as a company following our 25th anniversary and into the future. It includes creating products for every need, being number one in every category, and creating a cosmetics revolution to change the world. These are our goals for the future, and will help us inspire and delight our customers for many years to come! 

Oh, and speaking of innovation… our upcoming Christmas 2022 range is not to be missed! Our brand new flagship store at Melbourne Central opening in mid-September will be the first Lush store in the whole world to stock these goodies! 

What can we expect from Lush in the future?

Going forward, you can expect more innovations, more donations, and more sensations! We are constantly working on fresh product inventions, partnering with new local ingredient suppliers and charities, and working together to leave the world Lusher than we found it!

News: Lush now do kids parties! We teamed up with Lush and held our very own! Parties take place in Lush stores and are led by a dedicated Lush Party Host. They're messy, smelly (in a good way!) and loads of fun. Fun our more about Lush parties in your local store HERE

Want more Lunch Lady articles? why not read Find A Sit Spot HERE and Yoga For Kids HERE

///