Happy Earth month! It’s no secret that both hairdressers and clients are becoming more aware around the subject of sustainability – buying into the brands that are working hard to reduce their carbon footprint. Great Lengths are doing a smashing job! Incase you missed it, Great Lengths are the first extensions brand to have been awarded B Corp certification… globally! Now, that’s some achievement. The brand has been considering its environmental and social responsibility for some time, with measures put in place over ten years ago in a bid to care for both people and the planet by working towards a circular economy.
The B Corp certification is a remarkable achievement and recognises the efforts Great Lengths has made to be more inclusive at all levels – from the welfare of its employees and the trust of its consumers, to working towards reducing the beauty footprint of the entire production chain. Being a B Corp requires ethical business practices, creating a circle where community, business, and environment are related and mutually beneficial. As the world’s leading name in human hair extensions, Great Lengths hopes to use its influence for good and encourage others to consider the differences they can make.
Full circle
Made in Italy, Great Lengths are also proud to able to offer a fully circular, transparent chain with their hair. Ethical sourcing of hair is fundamental to the Great Lengths philosophy and the brand prides itself on their stringent processes and measures that ensure both the quality and ethicality of their hair. All hair is sourced from temples, where it is voluntarily donated during a ritual known as tonsuring; each strand is given willingly and with full consent, and revenue generated is fed back into the local community.
‘For a long time, Great Lengths has understood the importance of operating an ethical, inclusive business that not only considers the world around it, but also benefits it’ says Joscelin McCourt, CEO of HB Collective, the home of Great Lengths. ‘Achieving B Corp status is recognition of the stringent measures the brand has put in place to benefit employees, customers and the planet. Setting the standard for ethical hair extensions and the hope others will be encouraged to follow in example.’
Great Lengths also has a global partnership with The Little Princess Trust and offers a donation scheme in over 1500 salons in the UK and Ireland and over 60 countries worldwide, offering extensions clients the opportunity to change lives. When their extensions are removed, clients can choose to donate them to the charity to make into real hair wigs, which are provided free to children and young people who have lost their own hair through cancer treatment or other conditions. It costs nothing to be involved and is a fantastic way for a salon to give back and reduce waste.
Green Salon Collective
Great Lengths also work closely with Green Salon Collective, allowing salons and extensionists to provide a fully sustainable and transparent service from start to finish. Shorter hair extensions which are unsuitable for donation to the Little Princess Trust partnership can be recycled in the same way as natural hair clippings. Donated hair is used in numerous innovative ways, including the creation of ‘hair booms’ and hair mats; hair cuttings of any length and colour, tightly packed into cotton or nylon tubes. When placed in water or on the shores of beaches, these booms will stop oil from spreading, saving wildlife and the natural landscape. Hair clippings are also used for composting; as a protein, hair breaks down easily when composted, releasing nitrogen to feed and enrich plants.
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