LOHAS

Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS) is a demographic defining a particular market segment related to sustainable living, "green" ecological initiatives, and generally composed of a relatively upscale and well-educated population segment. The author Paul H. Ray, who coined the term Cultural Creatives in his book by the same name, explains that "What you're seeing is a demand for products of equal quality that are also virtuous." Included in the cultural creative demographic are consumers of New Age goods and services.

Researchers have reported a range of sizes of the LOHAS market segment. For example, Worldwatch Institute reported that the LOHAS market segment in the year 2006 was estimated at $300 billion, approximately 30% of the U.S. consumer market; and, a study by the Natural Marketing Institute showed that in 2007, 41 million or 13% of the Americans were included within the LOHAS demographic. In Japan roughly 17 million adults or 12% of the population are LOHAS consumers.

Products and services

The marketplace includes goods and services such as:

• Organic and locally grown food
• Organic and natural personal care products
• Hybrid and electric cars as well as city bicycles
• Green and sustainable building
• Sustainable or Ecotourism
• Energy efficient electronics/applicances
• Socially responsible investing
• Natural household products (paper goods and cleaning products)
• Complementary, alternative and preventive medicine (Naturopathy, Chinese medicine, etc.)
• Fair trade products
• Literature in the Mind/Body/Soul, Holistic Health, and New Age genres

Scope

LOHAS is a recognised market segment in the USA, Western Europe and Asian countries including Japan, Singapore and Taiwan.

The Japanese government have a campaign called "Cool Biz", it encourages offices to allow their workers to remove the tie and adopt light-colored business suits. This made a great contribution to the environment as offices adjusted their themostats up to 28 degree Celsius, subject to the government's instruction.

See also

• Green marketing
• Natural Capitalism
• Simple living – Sometimes called LOVOS, Lifestyles of Voluntary Simplicity
• Sustainable business
• Triple bottom line

External links

• [1] LOHAS Journal Magazine and organizers of annual LOHAS Forum trade convention
• LOHASwire.com Canadian news wire agency specializing in LOHAS
• [2] Chic Cities - A current weekend series on Hong Kong / Shanghai / Tai Pei Lifestyle with introduction to latest trends, places of interest, shops and restaurants, celebrity interviews and many more.
• The Source Asia Hong Kong based Online Magazine focused on LOHAS and Holistic living.
• LOHAS and The Indigo Dollar: Growing The Spiritual Economy Article critical of LOHAS' mobilization of spirituality.
• [3] On the New Economy - A blog featuring trends, businesses and products LOHAS buy and sell.