I am passionate about protecting our environment, and with the climate-crisis we are currently facing I make every effort to be as ‘slow’ and as eco-friendly as possible. Below are some of the ways in which I try to make my shop as ‘earth-friendly’ as I can.
Materials
Where possible, I source my fabrics locally and only use natural materials. These are mostly roll-ends, off-cuts, repurposed and second hand materials. This not only reduces the amount of new material being created, but means that each hand-made item is even more unique, as it’s unlikely that you will find such materials being used anywhere else!
The tee shirt blanks I use are particularly eco-friendly. Made in a factory that runs on 100% renewable energy, the jersey fabric is organic, fair wear, PETA approved vegan and climate neutral. This means that each tee shirt has a 90% lower carbon footprint than a conventional tee shirt. They are also certified by the Soil Association, Fair Wear Foundation and the Carbon Trust.
Where printing is involved, I try to leave as little a mark on the environment by only using water-based inks which means that no plastics or acids are polluting our waterways.
I also reuse and repurpose scrap materials and end-pieces into small, one-off ‘skew-whiff’ items. Remnants of thread are even put to the side and used when hand-sewing labels into items. Because of this I am almost completely zero-waste.
Packaging
I try to use as little packaging as possible when posting my designs. Each type of packaging has been specifically chosen because of its minimal size and eco-friendly properties. Generally, I use packaging made from recyclable paper materials, as well as paper packing tape and postage labels. The presentation boxes used for my silk scarves and pocket squares are FSC certified, ethically sourced and fully recyclable. In every case I use the minimum amount of packaging possible for the item being sent.
Postage and delivery
Unless in exceptional circumstances I post with Royal Mail – all of the packages and parcels I send are small enough that they can be delivered by foot, reducing the need for delivery vehicles.
Despite living very rurally, I am very lucky to have a mobile Post Office that visits my village twice a week. As well, our village garage takes in packages to be collected by Royal Mail most days. I therefore do not have to drive anywhere to have my packages posted out to you!
For more information on postage and delivery, please see the ‘shipping and returns‘ page.
