OUR MISSION

“Achieving our company mission - to be the world’s most trusted beauty retailer - takes more than just selling phenomenal products. We want the people who work for, partner with and buy from Cult Beauty to know that we’re committed to making the beauty space a more transparent, sustainable place, and we're committed to supporting the UK’s most innovative, creative and diverse communities.

“And on our quest for beauty excellence, we also aim to minimise the impact of consumption - by helping to waste less by buying better - as well as by driving initiatives that speak to our customers’ values and needs. Making sustainable choices shouldn’t be difficult, which is why we are constantly striving to set the next industry benchmark - instigating an ethical cycle that benefits all.”

Alexia Inge, Co-founder of Cult Beauty

WHERE WE ARE

In 2021, we began collaborating with experts to develop a robust action plan to initiate lasting and meaningful change in a number of critical areas. We’re still at the dawn of our journey, and there is a lot of important work to be done. Everything we do externally is rooted in our values, we want to show before we tell, which is why we’ve established four pillars; the foundations of our Sustainability & Social Causes manifesto, and the bedrock of our business as a whole. These are:
  • Transparency
    By honouring our founders’ mission - to be the world’s most trusted beauty retailer. (Cult Conscious)
  • ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
    Demonstrated through our packaging, our soon-to-launch recycling programme, our (more:trees) partnership and our eco delivery options.
  • Diversity, equity & inclusion
    From our recruitment policy to how we stock and merchandise our website, this is an ever-evolving learning and improvement process.
  • COMMUNITY
    Mental wellbeing: we are striving to support the mental wellbeing of our people and communities close to our heart through our partnership with MHUK.

Cult Conscious

WHAT IS CULT CONSCIOUS?

In 2020, 81% of customers said transparency is ‘important’ or ‘extremely important’ when shopping*, while 83% were more likely to trust a product's sustainability claim if it is verified by a third party**. Enter: Cult Conscious. Powered by Provenance, a software solution that uses blockchain technology to log impact claims, this increasingly in-demand program acknowledges a product’s ethical credentials with clear, independently investigated (and verified!) Proof Points. These span an ever-growing range of social and environmental issues, meaning customers can effortlessly shop according to their principles.

*Source: Capgemini, Consumer Products & Retail (2020)

**Source: Compare Ethics, Knowledge is Power Report (2020)


A UNIVERSAL STANDARD

As part of our goal - to instigate a universal standard for substantiating claims across the beauty industry - Cult Beauty actively encourages new and existing brands to work with Provenance. As of September 2022, 130+ of our brands became part of our ‘Cult Conscious’ category, and we - as a brand - are in the process of being verified ourselves! Cult Beauty will soon be awarded the following Proof Points: Female Founded, Recyclable Packaging, Donates to Charity, Widely Recyclable Packaging, Partly Recycled Packaging and FSC. What's more, we're constantly striving to set minimum transparency standards for every brand we sell.

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EXPLORE THE PROOF POINTS

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CULT CONSCIOUS

What makes a product worthy of a spot in our Cult Conscious line up? Dive into the definitions of each of the Proof Points, and learn more about the transparency technology used to verify them.

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INDEPENDENT BRAND CHAMPIONS

Back in 2008 our co-founder, Alexia Inge, established Cult Beauty to cut through the industry ‘noise’ and sell only the products that work. Championing brilliant, up and coming brands was a pivotal part of our ethos and now, 14 years later, incubating indie brands remains our speciality. In fact, the majority of our brands are still independently owned and we work collaboratively with founders to nurture their entrepreneurship. Since launching we’ve helped hundreds of small business-owners (the majority of whom are female-identifying) to build a loyal customer base via marketing initiatives such as our annual Skindie Brands campaign, which celebrates the coolest names-to-know.

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

PACKAGING

Our customers tell us that recycled and recyclable Cult Beauty packaging is non-negotiable, and that we need to minimise our plastic footprint. As part of THG we are now signed up to be part of the UK Plastics Pact and, as part of our Group 2030 sustainability strategy, we are striving for 70% of packaging from our third-party brands to be recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025. We are also targeting zero waste to landfill by 2030.

Our packaging:
• All customer order boxes are made from 100% widely recyclable materials and have a minimum of 50% recycled content.

• Void-fill paper is 100% recycled and 100% recyclable.

• We've rolled out paperless invoices to all the countries that permit it, and we aim to do more in this space as the solutions become available.

Watch this space for our soon-to-be-confirmed packaging Proof Points...


More Trees

Through our partnership with (more:trees) we are able to plant one tree for every eco delivery option selected. Eco delivery saves 40% of emissions on average and does not slow down the delivery of your Cult haul.

Recycle Me x THG Eco

Watch this space for our newly revamped beauty recycling programme run by THG Eco (our sister company), where you can return your tough-to-recycle beauty products in two simple steps.

SOCIAL CAUSES

We support charities that champion causes important to our industry, our community and the Cult Beauty team.

Mental Health UK

In 2022 and beyond, we will be partnering with Mental Health UK to support groups especially close to our heart. Starting at home, we’re consistently listening to identify priorities and areas in which we can provide additional support for employees - be it mental wellbeing training for managers, Mental Health First Aiders and supplementary tools and resources to make sure the team feel equipped to confront any challenges. This isn’t a ‘quick fix’ - it requires time and collaborative effort to instil a positive mental wellbeing culture - but we’ve taken important steps towards ensuring we foster a safe and supportive workplace culture.

Looking outward to our community, our support is focused on supporting and empowering the LGBTQIA+ community, black and person of colour communities and those experiencing reproductive lifecycle challenges that impact mental health — from fertility to menopause and everything in between.

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KEY WORKERS

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re working with Blue Light Card to offer an ongoing discount to the emergency services, NHS, the social care sector and the armed forces. We also worked with influencers on a competition for key workers struggling with PPE-related skin concerns, which saw 120 winners receive a personal consultation with Cult Concierge along with a complimentary skin care haul.

Beauty Banks

Beauty Banks was founded with one simple mission - to make hygiene poverty history - and in August 2020, Cult Beauty donated £15 from the sale of every Cult Beauty Advent Calendar 2020 (15,000 in total!) to support their incredible efforts to help those without ready access to everyday hygiene essentials. No one should have to deem sanitary products or toothpaste a luxury, which is why the charity has been raising money - and awareness - for those in desperate need since 2018. Our initial contribution went towards the creation of 200+ boxes of toiletries which were distributed amongst 130+ charities in the run-up to Christmas and, given that Beauty Banks' life-changing work is more pressing than ever, we will be donating a minimum £60,000 to the organisation in 2022.

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PAST CAUSES

In March 2019, we launched our industry-leading Vulvalution campaign which aimed to break the taboo and start vital conversations around all things sexual health, pleasure and wellness. In addition to raising awareness of gynaecological cancers, 10% of net profits from our Sexual Pleasure and Wellness category went to the Lady Garden Foundation (£120,000) until March 2021.

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THG SUSTAINABILITY GOALS

Since 2004, THG has been revolutionising how brands connect with consumers. Today, we drive the global growth of some of the world’s best-known brands. THG x Planet Earth is our Group strategy for a better, more sustainable future.

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