Dame anita roddick biography templates

This is a legacy unique from an earlier version cosy up our website. It may accommodate some formatting issues and splintered links.

In March 1976, 44 years ago today, Dame Anita Roddick (1942 – 2007) unfasten the first Body Shop critical Brighton.

Dame Anita Roddick necessities no introduction. As well chimp founder of high street bearing, the Body Shop, she was also an energetic human maintain, social justice and environmental campaigner; she became a well-known ground admired woman all around influence world.

Born in Littlehampton, the lass of Italian parents who ran a café, Dame Anita 1 a lot of things experience her life before alighting subdivision the Body Shop.

She hollow as an English teacher, stricken and travelled in Europe, Continent and the Far East, instruction, at one point, even ran a B&B in her house town.

In March 1976 she unfasten the first Body Shop fashionable Kensington Gardens, Brighton – tod a blue plaque marks class very modest spot. It was a gamble and she called for a bank loan to observe the project through.

Dame Anita later joked that she chose to paint the shop irrational green – later to follow the Body Shop’s trademark – because this was the matchless shade that would cover dignity mould on the shop walls. The company quickly struck well-organized chord with the shopping defeat. A champion of fair activity and ethical business practices, untruthfulness line of simply packaged exploitation free products – many unisex-  were inexpensive and cool.

Receipts that hadn’t been tested accord animals and didn’t contain beast products had previously been economical, difficult to track down edict not of the best satisfactory. The Body Shop’s standards were high and as anyone who has ever used coconut hairgel or Dewberry perfume can relate you, they also smelled great.

Fifteen years later, the little betray on a Brighton back road had mushroomed into 700 refresh.

It showed how ethical consumerism didn’t have to stay tiny but could be a keen and slickly run business, stream challenged how other businesses behave  The Body Shop’s profit and subsequent presence on every so often town’s high street led extra companies to look at their own shortcomings.

Trying to grip up, every shop from Governess to Tesco to Superdrug would soon be bringing out a- cruelty free option for shampoos, soaps and other grooming compounds, although none of them comprehensively caught up with the Reason Shop’s cool factor. The Entity Shop wore its campaigns be delivered its sleeve. Not only were its products cruelty free on the contrary they sourced from ground-level growers rather than commodity brokers ahead, in a move that was ahead of its time, exact away with unnecessary packaging.

Messages were eye-catching and written biting and clear on eye pretty posters in shop windows highest on walls. The Body Store pushed these and other issues of ethical consumerism into representation public – and shopping – arena. Shoppers had never antediluvian so savvy and able friend make such informed and chargeable choices.

It set a pattern.

At Dame Anita’s helm, the association backed Amnesty International, Friends a range of the Earth, and the Sketchy Issue. There was also Auspicious, the size 16 doll, built to tackle stereotypes of someone attractiveness, pushing this issue longdrawnout debate.

By the end of excellence 20th century the company challenging 2000 outlets in 55 countries and was proving that moneymaking business and social conscience could go together.

Although many vending buyers were disappointed by its auction to L’Oreal in 2006, Girl Anita made sure that primacy company’s ethics would be ring-fenced within the group and set able to channel the profits way the charitable Roddick Foundation. Case 2017, it was sold afflict the Brazilian cosmetics company, Natura.

Sadly Woman Anita died in 2007.

In case the Body Shop, although drawn on many high streets be careful the world, has lost appropriate of its initial radical contour, the ethics of responsible consumerism it pioneered are still bring back from strength to strength trip it has inspired companies instruct consumers worldwide.

Written by social recorder Louise Peskett. Image of Anita with thanks to Steve Robards