The new year is the time of year when many of us look back over the previous year and make plans for the next one – it’s a chance to take a moment to be glad and grateful for what we’ve achieved, as well as setting the direction for the next part of the journey. So in this vain I want to share some of our 2019 highlights and say a HUGE thank you to our friends, supporters, team members and partners that we’ve worked with over the last year. Please bear with me (I promise not to cry).
So in no particular order……
Our African Tunics project: Following our crowdfund at the end of 2018 we worked with Proudly Made in Africa, Cotonea and Mayamiko Trust to create our beautiful range of organic tunics with a tale (and accessories too) Thank you to Vikki, Feena, Dirk and Paola (and team) from these organisations as well as Thomas, Maggie and Troy for their help. The biggest thank you must go to our product manager Lucy Kerry for her attention to detail overseeing the design work and making sure the finished products are beautiful and functional. I couldn’t have done it without her. Thanks also to those of you who supported the project with donations, crowdfund pledges, purchases or just sharing the word.
Sustainable products for business: We’ve had some wonderful projects this year creating sustainable textiles (bags, scarves etc) for businesses and a growing order book for next year too. Favourites include shopping bags for Hanks Deli and Shop, product bags for Love HeartWood and a Christmas scarf project for a major global software company. Big thanks to our long term partners Moralfibre Fabrics and Khadi London who have worked with us on these projects. Creating ethical textiles with a tale for your business is a wonderful way to make a really positive impact on people and planet – find out more about creating Ethical Products for your Business.
Campaigning and events: We run and get involved with a number of events during the year but the key one of 2019 was our Ethical Brands for Fashion Revolution Event at London’s Museum of Brands back in April. In Partnership with Ethical Hour we ran a whole day session with 25 ethical fashion and accessories brands and ran 3 panel sessions with experts from natural fabrics and recycled fibres to harnessing technologies like blockchain and shopping apps. We even got invited onto BBC Radio Five Live to talk about it! Thanks to all the brands who took part, everyone who attended and especially Elizabeth Ings our event manager. We are starting to plan for Fashion Revolution 2020 so watch this space!
Other fun this year included our pop up shop in Framlingham with Lina Hogg and Jenny Hogg from Arya Candles. We’ve kept up our ongoing work with resellers including Ipswich Fair Trade Shop, Ethical.market, Mamoq and Fair and Fabulous plus a new partnership with Suffolk Wildlife Trust.
We’ve had some fantastic publicity, including an article in Forbes, mentions on the BBC (TV and Radio) and lots of support from the East Anglian Daily Times and Natural Mumma magazine. Thanks also to BBC Radio Suffolk for keeping us involved in any ethical fashion discussions that come along and letting us co-host our first radio show on sustainable living ……
The MOST important thing is people. Where Does It Come From? only exists because of our wider team who are generous with their time and knowledge. These include Lucy and also Alexandra who interned with us, along with Katya, Steff, Mark, Rob and many others who have given us advice and support through the year. We also rely totally on our customers (we don’t get money from anywhere else!) so thank you for having faith in us, buying our products and sharing our story. If you aren’t already signed up to our mailing list please do – it’s at the bottom of this page!
Oh yes and we won the ‘Greenest Product’ award at the Suffolk ‘Green Oscars’ this year too, which we were quite pleased about…. (thank you!)
Please stick with us in 2020 – as sustainability and ethics become even more in the public eye we are planning to have an even bigger positive impact and would love to have you with us on the journey….
Published January 19, 2020 & Filed in ethical events and happenings,Jo’s Soapbox,Where Does It Come From? Blog