Fact Check: Who Owns Lush Cosmetics Amid Shutdown in Solidarity With Gaza?

Lush Cosmetics Limited, also known as Lush, is a popular skincare brand that has been around since 1994. Many people know the brand for itds viral bath bombs that have become so popular on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram.

However, Lush has been getting some attention for another reason in 2025, and it has more to do with the company's politics than any new products drops. The company's decision to speak out about a social issue has caused a lot of people to pay attention.

Now, they are wondering who owns Lush Cosmetics Limited? And what is the story behind the brand's development and rise to fame. The good news is, we have the answers to that and so much more, and we're ready to share everything we know about the colorful skincare brand that has everyone talking about both bath bombs and human rights.

According to the Lush Wikipedia page, the company is headquartered in Poole, England. The idea of Lush started brewing in 1977, when husband/wife duo Mark Constantine and Mo Constantine created a natural hair and beauty line that they sold independently to Anita Roddick's Body Shop.

This partnership went really well for the couple, who were eventually bought out by The Body Shop for several million dollars, which included a pretty hefty non-compete agreement.

But once the non-compete ran out in the 1990s, the Constantines opened a new store in Poole, where they sold the cosmetics they created from fresh fruits and veggies. By 1995, the Poole store had a new name (Lush) and five other founding members. From there, they opened other stores in England before expanding to other countries, including Ireland, Croatia, Australia, and Dublin.

As of 2025, the company's leadership is full of nearly two dozen names.

On Sept. 3, 2025, Lush shuttered all of its physical stores in the U.K. to protest the genocide in Gaza. The company provided a statement about the planned shutdown on its website, sharing its solidarity with war-torn Gaza, and posting a banner that read "stop starving Gaza," according to the BBC.

Knowing that the shutdown could impact customers and employees in the U.K., the company issued an apology to anyone who the planned work stoppage may inconvenience.

Customers should expect more protests from the retailer, which called out the Israeli government for "preventing urgent humanitarian assistance from entering Gaza." According to the BBC, Lush plans to engage in similar shutdowns in other countries as it tries to raise awareness about what is going on in Gaza.

While this may seem like a largely symbolic step, it's actually meant as a financial blow to the lawmakers in the areas where Lush stores are located, since they lose out on tax revenue every day the stores are closed to sales.

In a time when many people are showing their protest using their wallet, like the ongoing boycott of Target that has sent the massive company spiraling since it did away with DEI policies at the start of 2025, it will be interesting to see if this moves the needle.