Peter Leatherland, Author at Natural Collection Blog

Brand Story: Milly & Sissy

Milly & Sissy produce a range of unique powdered beauty products where you simply need to add water to activate them.

Milly & Sissy was founded by good friends Milly and Sissy who both have a passion for animals and the environment. Milly has had a career working in the health and beauty industry and has lived abroad in Asia and Europe. Sissy lives in the Midlands with her family and growing number of animals which includes sheep, guinea pigs, dogs, cats and horses. Combining their passion and talents they were able to create the Milly & Sissy brand. They are always looking for ways to improve our way of living that will have as minimal an impact on the environment as possible. They believe that every single person can make a difference based on the small changes that we can make to our lifestyles.

Their aim is to try and reduce our negative impact on the environment.

Brand Story: Bambu

Bambu was founded by Jeff Delkin and Rachel Speth. For nearly 20 years Bambu’s mission has been to reduce the use and reliance on plastic by providing people with beautiful, non-toxic products made from nature. Bambu produce a range of affordable and earth-friendly products for the kitchen and home such as utensils, bowls, straws, trays, cutting boards and many more. All their products are both distinctive and contemporary and made from renewable materials.

Bambu’s products are made in China where all materials are sourced locally. They also work with local woodworkers, weavers and stitchers to hand make their products. Bambu’s products are handcrafted so that they are safe and durable that will last and can withstand even the toughest use.

Brand Story: FLUX

FLUX was founded in 2017 by Paige Fashoni. FLUX’s mission is to allow women to ‘re-think their periods’ by making functional underwear for periods, leaks and stains.

Every pair of FLUX looks and feels like normal underwear. Their underwear is reusable, washable and has been designed to completely replace disposable tampons and pads.

FLUX underwear is designed in the UK and made ethically all over the world. Their underwear is made by two family run manufacturers with over 50 years’ experience. In total, 70% of Flux’s underwear is made in China and the remaining 30% is produced in the UK. The factories that FLUX works and partners with undergo extensive audits, they are also ISO (International Organisation and Standardisation) and BSCI (Business Social Compliance Initiative) approved.

Brand Story: GoodWeave

GoodWeave’s vision is a world that is free of child labour. Established 25 years ago, GoodWeave consists of an award-winning team of business-minded experts and advocates for social change dedicated to ending child labour, forced labour and bonded labour in global supply chains.

GoodWeave primarily operate within the rug industry but have now expanded to home textiles, apparel and fashion jewellery.

They work to lead an overall reduction in child labour as well as the freedom and education of these children. The holistic approach that they have aims to heal and educate children who have been exploited, whilst also underlying the root causes.

Brand Story: Nomads

Nomads is a contemporary Fairtrade clothing brand in which everything produced is made with natural and organic fibres. Along with this, Nomads celebrates great design and traditional artisan techniques.

Nomads’ mission is to prove that it is possible to live a stylish, sustainable life by creating high quality and long-lasting clothing. They also wish to increase the awareness of the need to shop responsibly.

Nomads has been creating ethical and Fairtrade clothing for over 30 years. Its founders Duncan and Vicky met in India where they fell in love with the culture and decided to invest in their first selection of Fairtrade handicrafts. This was the starting point for their now lifelong relationships they have with the artisan producers and Fairtrade factories in India. They now design and create contemporary clothing that is 100% ethically produced and celebrates artisan skills. Nomads strives to use the best quality natural fibres and environmentally friendly processes with their clothes designed to last.

The Fashion Industry’s Response to COVID-19

The world is currently facing a pandemic, and this is having a huge effect on the people who make our clothes.

Retailers have had to close their doors and encourage their customer base to order online. None the less, the desire to buy new clothes appears to have decreased due to the Coronavirus making us focus on other aspects in our lives.

It is worth noting that there is potentially a positive amidst this crisis that we are learning to care for the clothes we already own better, more and more people are opting to mend and make clothes and also adopt a mindset of longevity when it comes to our wardrobes; suggesting an encouraging step to end overconsumption.

However, the halt in manufacturing has meant that the most vulnerable, lowest paid people in the fashion supply chain are feeling the worst effects. IndustriALL, the global trade union has reported that millions of garment workers have lost their jobs as a result of the virus and have no access to social or financial safety nets.

Fashion Revolution Week 2020 – Our Brand Spotlight

2020 marks the seven-year anniversary of the Rana Plaza disaster. The Rana Plaza factory was a five-story building that housed garment factories for big global brands. In 2013, the factory collapsed killing 1,138 people and injured 2,500 more people; many of the victims were mostly young women.

From this the Fashion Revolution movement was born. The people behind the Fashion Revolution movement have called for an overhaul of the fashion industry and strive to make sure exploitation of people comes to an end and ensure that production methods respect our environment.

Taking place from the 20th – 26th April, this year’s Fashion Revolution Week will once again encourage millions of people to come together to campaign for systemic change within the fashion industry.

20 Years of Natural Collection

Natural Collection is 20! Can you believe it?
In 1999 we started as a mail order catalogue delivering a selection of products we felt benefited people and the environment and sought to find products from suppliers with integrity and vision and who aimed to create products with social and environmental consideration.

Now in 2019 we have over 6,000 items ranging from fair trade fashion, organic groceries to plastic free beauty ranges. We thought it would be great to look back and see what has changed in the last 20 years.

Back to School? – But not all children are so fortunate

The summer holidays have started, and almost as soon as they do you’ll start seeing all sorts of ‘Back to School’ messages, promotions and things to buy. When I was at school nothing beat the excitement of the long, long summer holidays, at the beginning it seemed like they would go on forever and school became a distant memory very quickly. I used to get very annoyed to see back to school promotions in shops sometimes only a week after school had broken up, and they became even more depressing as the seemingly endless summer holidays were coming to a close, I didn’t need to be reminded of this fact! But it’s easy to take school for granted, whilst it may have seemed like a chore to go to, many children around the world don’t get this same chance and would love to have the same opportunities. For parents it’s also easy to take it for granted that your child will have the chance of a good education and the opportunity to go on to further study for find a job after this. This is not something the Dalit people of India can expect.

Suma Product Recall

Suma Organic Bolognese Pasta Sauce 340g VF191 Barcode: 5017601034391 BB Feb 2020

As a precaution Suma are recalling their Organic Bolognese Pasta Sauce due to the possibility of glass contamination.

Please return any jars with the BB Feb 2020 to Natural Collection for credit.

Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

For queries please contact 01422 313871 email qc@suma.coop