Malaysian have been hearing about the beauty brand, Lush for years now, especially since the debut of their magical bath bombs. Since then, many have even flown overseas in hopes of getting their hands on some of Lush’s highly sought after products, including their innovative shower jellies and shampoo bars.
Finally, on the 1st of October, 2018, Lush set foot in Malaysia to launch their first-ever, long-awaited local store in Pavilion Mall, Kuala Lumpur, so that their Malaysian fans would never have to beg their friends living abroad for a Lush hook-up ever again.
Source: WOB
And thanks to that high demand, Lush has now opened their second physical store in Sunway Pyramid! We managed to sit down with the one and only Harvinder Harchand, the Director of Lush and the person who brought their amazing products to our shores.
Source: WOB
WORLD OF BUZZ: What made you want to bring Lush to Malaysia?
Harvinder Harchand: It basically started because Lush was not in Malaysia yet and they have certain values that other brands don’t. People were more ready to have the brand at this point in time, they’re ready for what Lush’s values are and will get from the brand itself, so Lush was very welcomed to the Malaysian shores. Lush did come to Malaysia around 10 years ago and felt that at that time the market was not ready.
Source: WOB
WORLD OF BUZZ: Why do you believe Lush should be the staple beauty brand for Malaysians?
Harvinder Harchand: Because of the 6 values that we have and its contribution towards communities across the globe. Our 6 values are:
Going Naked: We’re trying to go package-less, without packaging.
Against Animal Testing: Nobody wants to have a hose down their throat.
Vegetarian: We’re now 80% vegan. We planning to go full vegan in the time to come.
Ethical Buying: That means that when we source for raw materials, we make sure that we buy from suppliers who are treating their employees well, they don’t use child labour and they pay them well.
Handmade: Our products are made with pure love.
Freshness Policy: We have a policy in place where we can’t display our products for more than their shelf life. For example, our products expire in 2 years, so we give them a shelf life of 5 months from production and after that, we take them down. So, there’s always that freshness to our products.
Source: WOB
WORLD OF BUZZ: Why do you think Malaysians should opt for package-less products?
Harvinder Harchand: Because, if we don’t, there won’t be any more beaches for our future generations. Anything we litter either goes to landfills, a majority of it goes into the sea, from our drains to our river, from the rivers to the sea. Our marine life will be gone, we’ll probably be watching (marine life, beaches) on screens in time to come. It’s just very sad. So it’s basically for our future generation.
And why create something, packaging, if you don’t need it at the end of the day?
People may or may not say that we still have our black pods, but ours is not a single-use plastic. They’re sustainable in the sense that they’re all made from recycled materials so that we don’t contribute to more waste, we take recycled stuff and recycle them again.
Source: WOB
WORLD OF BUZZ side note: Lush utilises scarves instead of wrapping paper to package gift sets, called knot wraps. The scarves are completely made from plastic bottles and on the scarf, there’s a label that shows you how many bottles were used in the making of it based on its size. They’re super soft and come in the most vibrant colours and designs that they can be used to accessorise your daily outfits!
Source: WOB
WORLD OF BUZZ: What’s in store for the future of Lush in the Malaysian market?
Harvinder Harchand: There are 2 things, of course, we’d like to expands to stores 3, 4, and 5 depending on the sites available and to spread out a little bit around West and East Malaysia. But the most important thing for Lush is also to educate the younger generation about our values by campaigning because if we don’t, it defeats the purpose not only for us but in totality.
Hence, we want to expand and are already in progress with our 2nd store launching, which is very successful and I’m very happy about it. But also at the same time, we want to encourage people to campaign and speak out on issues such as deforestation and orangutans being burnt as they risk going unheard of.
I know sometimes we do it (deforestation) for plantations and housing, but we should create another home for them. If we don’t want people taking our homes from us, we should not take their homes from them.
Source: CleanMalaysia
WORLD OF BUZZ: What’s your go-to Lush product?
Harvinder Harchand: I can share with you what I have, but at the end of the day they can’t be set as an example to others because everybody is designed differently. I won’t say I have limp hair, but my hair is basically straight and I need something to bounce it up, but someone with frizzy hair, they can’t use what I have, they could probably try Curly Wurly because it settles the frizz but I can’t use it, it’ll probably flatten my hair.
So for my hair, there’s a routine that I have, my shampoo is Jersey Bounce, my conditioner is American Cream and my weekly treatment is S’huan Wen Hua. That’s the 3 that I use, it moisturises while bouncing out my hair.
Source: WOB
Rarely do you see a director of a company that’s so attuned to and actively involved in championing such universally ethical practices while running a business! This shows that you can always be the boss of a successful company while doing your part to save the environment.
Hence, with Lush, you can enjoy high-quality beauty products thanks to their fresh and vegan ingredients while contributing to as little wastage of plastics as possible from your beauty routine.
Oh, and did I mention, all their products smell SO GOOD.
So, what are you waiting for?
Head on down to Lush’s brand spankin’ new store at Sunway Pyramid!
