Style Q&A: Lush's Brandi Halls on why Vancouver is the perfect fit for the 'bold' beauty brand
Credit to Author: Aleesha Harris| Date: Mon, 02 Mar 2020 19:00:35 +0000
Lush isn’t technically a Vancouver company. But, in many ways, it is.
The British brand boasts a strong presence in Metro Vancouver — operating seven locations in and around the city, as well as outposts on Vancouver Island and beyond. Plus, its North American headquarters and one of its two factories, where all of its body care products for its North American shops are created, are based in the city.
So, if you thought Lush was a local company, well, you aren’t exactly incorrect.
We caught up with Brandi Halls, the brand director of Lush North America, to learn more about the company, its local ties and what’s next.
Q. How would you describe Lush in a few words?
A. Bold, real and fun. We are in business to swim against the tide, to be real and honest in our relationships with staff and customers, and to brighten someone’s day.
Q. What can you share about your journey with Lush?
A. I was born and raised on the North Shore, am a proud member of the Squamish Nation and a Vancouver lifer. My journey with Lush began fresh out of university at SFU, as a communications grad. I joined the company as a PR assistant in 2003 as we were embarking on our expansion into the U.S. market. I quickly moved into media relations and supported the promotion of all of our new shops. After three years on the road, I moved to New York City, where I lived for almost six years, and was tasked with opening our New York office. During that time, and with my support, Lush dove into the social media and campaigning space. Over those years in New York, I honed my skills as a spokesperson and in crisis communication and brand building, and in 2013 I moved back to Vancouver where I took on the role of Brand Director for Lush North America. My role now includes overseeing 250+ shops in Canada and the U.S. and supporting the brand department which is responsible for all the ways Lush shows up to our customers.
Q. The brand has an interesting tie to Vancouver. What more can you share about that?
A. The brand was first established in a small seaside town in the UK. While on vacation almost 30 years ago, Vancouver’s Mark and Karen Wolverton stumbled across this fragrant little soap shop in London. At the time, there were only two locations, and the founders had no intention of growing the brand outside of the UK. Mark and Karen knew the Vancouver audience would respond well to the Lush’s products, and so persisted until our UK partners agreed to strike up a licence agreement. We opened our first Lush store on Denman Street in 1996. Today we employ over 750 Vancouverites at our head office, factories and distribution centres locally. We also have a factory in Toronto, and today we split manufacturing for all 250 North American Lush stores from these two Canadian factories. Mark and Karen still reside in West Vancouver and remain committed to growing the business here.
Q. What is it about Vancouver that makes it such a good fit?
A. Vancouver is a very relaxed city, people are connected to the environment, they are active, they care about social issues and generally love the farmers market vibe that you get from a Lush store. We are very proud to still hand-make our products locally here in Vancouver.
Q. You’ve been a big part of the ethical campaigns Lush spearheads. Why is this so important to you/the brand?
A. Our ethical campaigns still blow me away. The fact that we regularly shift our focus, our staff and all of our brand channels to campaigning on real issues that need our support is why so many of us (staff and customers) are so committed to this company. We recognize that as a global brand with tens of thousands of passionate staff, with stores on some of the busiest high streets in the world, and with millions of followers on our brand channels, we are in a unique position to educate and bring about real change. People often ask us why we campaign, and our answer is why wouldn’t we, it’s the right thing to do.
Q. What more can people expect to see on this front in the future?
A. You can expect to see a lot more product innovations hitting Lush shops in 2020. We have 50-plus brand new solid bubble bars hitting stores this spring, in addition to a brand new mouth-care range that includes solid toothy tabs, toothpaste jelly and mouthwash tabs in some pretty unique flavours. We will continue to challenge conventional cosmetics by taking traditionally liquid products and turning them into solid form, eliminating the need for water, preservatives and packaging. We also have some beautiful new solid hair conditioners rolling out very soon. You will continue to see us standing up for people with a very important human rights campaign launching this March, and our fight to end animal testing in cosmetics won’t end until the testing ends. We will also continue to hit the streets in support of climate justice. Finally, you will see 100 more Lush stores opening in North America over the next three years, including 25 new stores this year alone.