Lush Cosmetics Relaunches Limited-Edition Shark Fin Soap

This World Oceans Day (June 8), U.K.–based cosmetics company Lush will be re-releasing its limited-edition Shark Fin soap in honour of late Canadian filmmaker and environmentalist Rob Stewart.

One hundred percent of sales of the vegan soap, which uses ingredients like Arame seaweed and sea salt and is decorated with a small paper shark fin, will benefit a new foundation that continues Stewart’s ocean-conservation and shark-protection efforts.

A portion of these funds will aid in the completion of Sharkwater: Extinction, the sequel to Stewart’s award-winning doc Sharkwater that the filmmaker was working on when he went missing during a diving excursion in Florida’s Alligator Reef in January. His body was found three days later at a depth of 220 feet.

“Rob believed that it was everyone’s duty to protect our oceans,” said Brandi Halls, director of brand communications at Lush, in a press statement. “By relaunching Shark Fin soap, supporting the foundation and continuing to engage our customers on ocean protection, we hope to help his vision live on for years to come.”

Lush’s Shark Fin soap retails for $5.95 and will be available in-store and online across North America until $250,000 is raised for Stewart’s foundation. 

The soap was first released by Lush in 2014, and over two years, collected nearly $500,000 for various environmental groups dedicated to preserving the Earth’s oceans, its sharks, and the accompanying ecosystem. It also spawned a petition to ban the shark-fin trade in North America.

Known as much for its bath bombs as its environmental and animal-rights campaigns, Lush has partnered with Stewart in the past to support the aforementioned Sharkwater, which revealed the man-made threats facing the world’s rapidly dwindling shark population.

Sharkwater: Extinction will expand on this work by exploring the various multi-billion dollar industries that are contributing to the destruction of sharks. It's slated for a late-2018 release.