Ella Lou Social Mission

Ethical chic means you can feel good about your purchases from Ella Lou. Not only do we bring our customers a curated collection of the most stylish, luxe goods we can find, but we do so in a socially responsible way as we believe that business can improve the world if run with a certain set of ethics. 

Give back:

We firmly believe in giving back. One of our founding principles is that we share our success. 

We have entered into a unique partnership with the Global Soap Project ("GSP"), a not-for-profit organization which provides soap to vulnerable populations. 

We value the objective of GSP and appreciate the simple way it aims to achieve it, by taking soap which would otherwise be discarded and turning it into lifesaving “weapons” to fight disease. By working with a large number of partner organizations, from hotels to large multilateral aid organizations, GSP is achieving great things and we are proud to partner with them. 

For each product you purchase from us, we will make a donation to GSP, which will provide funds to produce (e.g. upcycle) and distribute a month’s supply of soap to five families living in impoverished, conflict-ridden areas. It is estimated that 1.4 million deaths could be prevented each year by hand washing with soap - we have partnered with GSP to improve these statistics. To learn more about GSP, click here.

Responsible Sourcing Practices:

Ella Lou is committed to forming and sustaining relationships with our artisan suppliers, customers, and our communities. We actively pursue suppliers we believe meet our high quality standards and are practicing their trade in a responsible and sustainable way. 

Although many of our products are imported from abroad, we source them from their countries/regions of origin. For example, our pestamels are sourced in Turkey where they are made using the same techniques used for hundreds of years. We do not pursue a "race to the bottom" strategy whereby we source our products in the least expensive way possible using mediocre quality materials. In other words, we are not going to source traditional Turkish pestamels from China simply because doing so means we can purchase them more cheaply. Similarly, we would not purchase traditional Chinese goods from large-scale producers in Turkey or elsewhere. 

We are not against mass-produced, factory-made goods; however, we believe there is charm and inherent quality in artisan-made, small-production goods and aim to provide hard-to-find, stylish, quality products to our customers.

Community Investment:

Ella Lou believes in investing in our own communities. 

We work with other small, local businesses whenever possible. We purchase our business cards and other paper products from a local printer. We work with a small, local fulfillment center to ship our packages. We continue to look for opportunities to work with local companies when sourcing new products and services.