Lush co-founder Rowena Bird on the brand’s 30th anniversary, staying off Facebook and holding steady on DEI commitments
Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics launched in 1995, but initially, it did not have a name. A contest winner put forth the winning entry, and since then, the word “Lush” has become a household brand, popping up in more than 50 countries and becoming synonymous with brightly-colored, scented products. Now, as the company marks 30 years in business, it’s paying homage to its roots.
This past weekend, Lush rolled out a promotion around its Butterball Bath Bomb, an original Lush product. From August 2-3, customers could buy the Bath Bomb for its original price of 95 cents, alongside any full-price purchase. The brand is also debuting limited-edition Body Butters in three scents (Super Milk, Sex Bomb and Posh Chocolate), and it’s holding special anniversary workshops in stores across the globe, including make-your-own-Bath-Bomb stations.
Rowena Bird, one of six co-founders of Lush, told Modern Retail that Lush sells 10 of the same products it sold when opening its doors in the U.K. But a lot has also changed in the last three decades, she said in an interview. Since 1995, Lush has sold more than 375 million Bath Bombs, one every 1.5 seconds. It has nearly 900 stores worldwide. It’s collected nearly 8 million plastic packages through its Give It Back recycling program. And, in an achievement Bird is especially proud of, Lush has donated millions of dollars to campaigns and causes supporting communities, animals and the planet — everything from banning conversion therapy to championing gay rights.
Bird is now getting ready for the next era at the company, although she recognized that, economically, “times are challenging” and that the company has had to stay competitive. But, she said, Lush is optimistic about the future. “The exciting thing is, you can’t imagine what’s going to appear in the next 30 years,” she said. “I think we’ve got challenges coming, but challenges are what keep you going. If you’ve got no challenges, life’s a little bit boring, isn’t it?”
Below are excerpts of Modern Retail’s conversation with Bird, edited for length and clarity.
What have been some of your favorite moments at Lush, over the last 30 years?
“I’ve loved taking on the campaign mantle: campaigning for LGBTQ rights, for animal rights, for environmental rights and things that people maybe didn’t really realize were going on. For instance, palm oil. We joined in quite early, highlighting the fact that the orangutans were losing their homes [due to related deforestation] and saying we were going to try and get rid of all the palm oil in our ingredients. Giving is another thing — we created the [product] Charity Pot, and every penny that we raise, apart from taxes, goes to grassroots charities. I’m incredibly proud of that, and we reached $100 million [in donations since launch] last year.
Surviving the pandemic is another highlight, … and also, I’ve loved seeing the organic growth of the company. We’ve never done that whole thing where we’ve taken a big investment and then gone and not really understood the business we’ve got. It’s been 30 years, and all the founders are still active — except for one, Liz [Bennett], who died sadly at the beginning of the pandemic [in 2021]. But after 30 years, we’re all still friends, and I think that’s a great achievement, as well.”
You mentioned the pandemic. Obviously, there’s been a lot of challenges in the last 30 years, including global events and economic downturns. What have been some of the most challenging moments for Lush?
“It’s hard to recognize them [when they happen], because we don’t collapse in the heat. … But at the moment, what is challenging for us is our gift sales, because people are gifting in different ways. Times are challenging. People haven’t got so much money. The cost of living is going up. The wages aren’t necessarily matching that. So, we’re always looking at, ‘OK, what do we need to change now?’ We’ve got so many different areas — bath and shower and skin and hair and body — and there’s always going to be one where the sales seem to be dropping, and you just say, ‘OK, we need to energize this.'”
Lush has stood firm on DEI commitments at a time in which a lot of other brands and retailers are pulling back. Why is this important to you, and do you plan to continue doing so?
“Oh, absolutely. We’re not backing down on any of that because of the people we work with. We are DEIB [diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging]. … That’s what makes this company what it is. People have chosen to work with us, and they see us as a safe place because we do look out for them, and we do support them, and it’s only right that we do double down on this. If this is their safe place when they’re in Lush and at work, then that’s when we’ve done our job.”
In 2021, Lush decided not to post on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat, due to concerns over content moderation, the algorithms and data collection. What response have you gotten since making this change? And has it been difficult in any way to not be on those platforms, knowing that there are so many conversations taking place there?
“Personally speaking, I’d be lying if I said that we don’t miss being on them. Of course, we do, and that’s where a lot of our customers hang out. But what we didn’t want to do was be on there, and then people are coming to look for us [on social media] and getting tangled into the horridness that’s on there. … I’m sure we will have lost sales for it. I’m sure we’re not able to promote some different things that we’re doing to a wide enough audience. But at the end of the day, we sleep well at night.
We do have lovely influencers that want to write and talk about us. It’s delightful when they do, but we’re not in there controlling that. The minute [the platforms] change the algorithm and they make it a safe space, we’ll be back on it. But, until they do, we won’t be there. … However, we are on YouTube. We’ve created our own app, and we’ve created our own Friends of Lush [ambassador program], so that’s another safe area that people can go.”
When you look ahead to the next 30 years of Lush, what do you want the company to be?
“We have a magazine called The Insider, and Karl Bygrave, one of our founders, wrote a lovely thing about what he saw [for the brand] in 30 years, including negotiating the lease for the first shop on Mars. … The exciting thing is that you can’t imagine what’s going to appear in the next 30 years. … I think we’ve got challenges coming, but challenges are what keep you going. If you’ve got no challenges, life’s a little bit boring, isn’t it?
At Lush, … the next generation is coming up, and we hope that the company will continue with the same [principles]. With that in mind, we created the EBT, which is the Employee Benefit Trust [in which employees own 10% of the business]. That was purely to make sure that when we’re not here as founders, anyone else can’t come in and destroy what we’ve built. The company will still be there in the same format, so everyone that’s joined us because of the way we work, because of our values and our ethics and our morals, won’t be let down. … People are with us a long time, and we’ve become their career. It’s absolutely lovely that they put their trust in us. So, we’ve got to look after that and make sure that the company remains the place they want it to be.”