Lush Opens Its First Plastic Packaging-Free Store in the UK

Updated May 25, 2019. Cruelty-free and vegan-friendly beauty brand Lush opened its first packaging-free store in the UK earlier this year.

The “Naked” shop in Manchester offers plastic packaging-free alternatives to Lush’s product lineup — such as vegan-friendly shampoo bars, bath bombs, and soaps — as well as “new naked skincare innovations,” according to the company.

“In Lush we work in an industry where the packaging costs the customer more than the product. Now, the customer needs to worry about how to recycle something they didn’t want to buy in the first place,” said Mark Constantine OBE, Lush co-founder and managing director. “This seems like a raw deal to us. If we can cut out all the plastic packaging, we can give our customers better value for money.”

The shop follows up on the success of its Naked stores in Milan and Berlin. According to Constantine, consumers are increasingly becoming more conscious of plastic use. Its solid shampoo bars are its top seller with nearly 8,000 sold, accounting for 616,880 hair washes that haven’t come from plastic bottles.

“The Naked Shop is the cosmetics store of the future. It shows what cosmetics can look like if there are no plastic packaging,” said Lisa, Store Manager for the Berlin location

Lush further reduces its plastic use at the new location through the #LushLabs App, a mobile app that replaces packaging labels first introduced at its bath bomb concept shop in Harajuku. Customers are now able to scan products directly in order to receive detailed ingredient information.

Lush Vs. Plastic Packaging

Reducing packaging has been a conscious effort of Lush’s for many years. In 2017, the cruelty-free beauty brand partnered with The Ocean Legacy Foundation to transform 27 tonnes of ocean plastic into new packaging.

While Lush does use plastic packaging in its standard stores, much of it is made from 100 percent recycled plastic, which can be recycled again. It also runs the 5 Pot Program, where customers can return five plastic pots for a free fresh face mask.

Last month, it launched 40 refillable vegan lipsticks, following up on the success of its plastic-free vegan highlighters and plastic-free vegan foundation.

The Lush Naked shop in Manchester is located at 10 Market Street.