Johannesburg, May 2024 – The Body Shop continues to uphold changemaking beauty standards for communities, customers, and planet through its pioneering Community Fair Trade programme.

The brand launched its bespoke Fair-Trade programme in 1987, at a time when no other beauty brands focused on fair and equitable pay to the communities from which they sourced ingredients. For over 30 years, the brand has sourced ethical, high-quality ingredients and accessories from thousands of producers, farmers and artisans across the globe, boldly spearheading a movement to uplift communities. This is how Community Fair Trade was launched.

Many of the communities that The Body Shop trades with are led by women. One such community is found in northern Ghana, where The Body Shop sources its renowned shea butter. The brand has worked alongside the Tungteiya Women’s Association since the early 1990s and has, over the years, positively and progressively empowered women and girl children, and in so doing impacted the wider community.

Through this partnership, villagers have reinvested into the community by building schools, teaching quarters, medical centres, water and sanitation facilities, and water storage tanks. Moreover, 1200 students are educated each year. Because of fair and predictable income, these women have become more independent, raising their status in their society, to the benefit of current and future generations. In return, The Body Shop acquires a luxuriously high-quality shea butter used in numerous of its products. The shea butter is made using an 18-step process that has been passed down from mothers to daughters and perfected through the generations.

In line with their Community Fair Trade programme, The Body Shop sources avocados sustainably from South Africa. Avocados have a reputation for being difficult to source sustainably, linked to the risk of labour exploitation associated with Mexican avocados, which infringe heavily on human rights issues. The Body Shop’s customers have the assurance that the brand’s supplier employs sustainable agricultural practises. They make use of a reduced water consumption method and help restore ecosystems. The farmers have also protected a 3.65-hectare area for conservation, supporting a significant stretch of the endangered Afro-montane Forest.

Refilwe Mashego, Brand Manager for The Body Shop South Africa, adds: “As we celebrate World Fair Trade Day on May 11th, we also give recognition to The Body Shop’s sustainable relationships with the communities from which we source our ingredients. The Body Shop has always believed that business can be a force for good, and that means that the beauty products that we create for our customers should align with their values. We want to give comfort to our customers that whatever they are consuming doesn’t violate the rights of the next person. The Body Shop drives an ambitious sustainability agenda so that all living things can live in harmony on this planet that we all share. Our community Fair Trade programmes create change, our products create change, and our customers are changemakers.”

Learn more about The Body Shop’s Community Fair Trade programme here: https://www.thebodyshop.co.za/about-us/community-fair-trade

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ABOUT THE BODY SHOP SOUTH AFRICA

The Body Shop is a global beauty brand and a certified B Corp™. The Body Shop South Africa is committed to upholding the core values of sustainability - fair trade, community upliftment and non-exploitation of scarce resources.

The Body Shop seeks to make a positive difference in the world by offering high-quality, naturally inspired skincare, body care, haircare and make-up produced ethically and sustainably. Having pioneered the philosophy that business can be a force for good, this changemaking ethos is still the brand’s driving force.

The Body Shop South Africa franchise is owned and operated under licence by New Clicks South Africa (PTY) Limited. The South African franchise received the award for the best integration of values from The Body Shop International. For more information, visit https://www.thebodyshop.co.za

Issued on behalf of The Body Shop South Africa
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