Ethical retailer of the week: Paul Mitchell

Paul Mitchell releases professional high quality hair care products, with special attention to the environment, animals and social causes.

John Paul DeJoria and Paul Mitchell founded the company in 1980 with the aim to provide ‘luxury hair care at an affordable price’ for salons – with a starting budget of $700.

Now the business is well known and appreciated across the continents, not only for its high quality hair products – from shampoo to hair dye and professional tools – but also for its revolutionary approach to value-led business.

It was the first professional beauty company to ban animal testing since its foundation and was at the forefront of innovation when it built a solar farm in Hawaii for its energy needs in 1987, from where it also sources awapuhi – a type of ginger used for its special shampoo – and which is also used as an eco-retreat.

With the motto being “reduce, reuse, recycle and respect”, Paul Mitchell puts ethics at the core of its operations. In addition to opposing animal testing, the company has engaged with a number of conservation projects to stop deforestation and has plans to plant 500,000 trees by 2016 in Peru and Guatemala, which would help capture 85,000 tons of CO2.

The firm also supports a number of charities such as Sea Shepherd, Heal the Bay, Much Love Animal Rescue and the Waterkeeper Alliance.

With the founders being philanthropists and activists themselves, Paul Mitchell also supports social charities and projects for children and homeless, such as Food4Africa, Chrysalis, Boys & Girls Club of America and more.

Paul Mitchell has also found its own professional hair styling schools where the skills – as well as the ethics – are passed onto students.

www.paulmitchell.com

Further reading:

Ethical retailer of the week: Lanka Kade

Ethical retailer of the week: Qui Teas

Ethical retailer of the week: Quagga

Ethical retailer of the week: Meridian Foods

Ethical retailer of the week: U- Konserve