Lush has been in India for almost four years now. Has it been a hospitable market?
India is currently one of our most promising markets, as is a large part of Asia. In fact, we are hoping to open 50 Lush stores in the next five years. We may even start a manufacturing unit here.
What brings you to India now?
Our policy doesn't allow us to buy any materials that may be ethically suspicious. All of our products are made from materials that follow fair trade standards and are absolutely vegetarian. One of the reasons for my visit is the issues surrounding sandalwood that's being apparently smuggled out and sold to us. We want to get an Indian buyer who understands the market and is as environmentally conscious as us.
So, India is not just a retail market for you?
We use close to 1,500 different materials in our products, including our make-up line Be Never too Busy to be Beautiful (or simply Be) and a lot of our raw materials are sourced from India. For Be, for instance, we use products made by some of the fair trade projects in India.
In Delhi, in fact, we bought lac boxes for our make-up range that are made by one project that is against child labour. We also source handmade paper and a lot of the essential oils that are used in our products from India.
The concept of handmade cosmetics is not new to India. What makes you confident of Lush's acceptance?
How many cosmetic products actually come with an expiry date? Ours do. And that just goes to show the freshness of our products. Lush products are actually perishable and go off the shelf after some time. At the same time, they are also a lot of fun.
From the chocolate soaps to the body gels and body masks, everything is natural with not even a hint of chemicals or preservatives. One of our cocoa products is actually edible... though you may not like the taste too much!
Moreover, we are an ethical company. We continuously try and pick up a public issue and relay it through our stores and products. Yet, Lush never spends on advertising, marketing or even packaging. We don't believe in extra packaging or an overload of expenditure.
