Aveda

Aveda Corporation is a company headquartered in Blaine, Minnesota, that manufactures skin care, cosmetics, perfume, hair care products, and trains students in cosmetology and esthiology at the Aveda Institutes in Minneapolis, New York City, Washington, DC, Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and many other cities.

Aveda pronounced ah-vay-da was founded by Horst Rechelbacher in 1978. In 1970, Horst, on a trip to India, was introduced to the healing properties of Ayurveda the Hindu science of longevity and aroma and suddenly his vision for his company thus the name Aveda was born. Horst had formulated the first product, a clove shampoo, in his kitchen sink. 1 Today it is part of Est e Lauder Companies Inc., based in New York. Rechelbacher sold Aveda to Est e Lauder in 1997 for 300 million, 2 although Aveda continues to be run as a separate entity. In 2004, Aveda was awarded the prestigious Corporate Achievement Award at the Smithsonian-Hewitt National Design Museum. 3 Aveda was one of the first beauty companies to endorse a set of principles designed to encourage greater environmental responsibility in business known as The Ceres Principles. According to the company's website, "Aveda" is Sanskrit for "all knowledge", 4 but in fact means "no knowledge".

Aveda sells products ranging from skin care to hair care which are as organic as possible. Aveda also maintains a variety of partnerships with salons and spas that use their products. Many of these locations also offer treatments certified by Aveda. Aveda offers training to employees of its affiliated salons and spas. They also run several institutes for cosmetology education.

Aveda has an on-going partnership with the Yawanawa Tribe of the Brazilian Amazon. This tribe uses a red seed called "uruku", derived from the Urukum Palm, to paint their bodies for different rituals. This partnership has helped to sustain the Yawanawa Tribe while helping to bring attention to the plight of their disappearing rainforest home.

In 1995, Aveda partnered with a community collective that the babassu nut breakers of the Brazilian Amazon had formed to obtain certified organic babassu for use in the creation of a foaming cleansing element known as "babassu betaine". Aveda has financed the construction of and training for a babassu processing facility, a soap-making facility and a paper press for processing babassu fibers. Aveda does not test their products on animals, but rather on willing human participants.

In 2009 Aveda a subsidiary of Est e Lauder Companies Inc. , was included in the BDS Campaign as one of the "Top Ten Brands to Boycott This Christmas".