Why we have a smaller catalogue now

If you've been following us for a while you may have noticed we have reduced what we sell. The background to this is:

• We sold our retail store in January 2024
• We want to focus more on developing our own products
• We have made our product criteria even stricter than before

At our shop, we had over 700 products. This was pretty epic but also took up a lot more space, resources and could lead to more waste and expiring products. 

There are many products we use a lot, which can't be sourced from anywhere but China; most of the bamboo items, water bottles, dental products etc. So now, we just won't be selling any items, however useful they may be, that come from that far (unless Lucy sails them back herself!).

Our stricter criteria

Here is how we decide on selling something now:

1. Does it solve an issue where people can't get this item plastic free, or sustainably?
2. What are the UK made options, are they within an affordable price range, can we as a brand afford to sell them?
3. If we can't get something made in the UK, is it available from a nearby European country, or northern Africa?
4. Despite the final product being made in the UK/EU, where are the raw ingredients from? Eg, a bag can be made in the UK but the fabric could come from China. In this case, we wouldn't sell that bag.
5. Is the product made from truly biodegradable and natural materials? We don't want anything which can't fully return to nature.
6. Sometimes the packaging is the one area which is trickier, which is where we look at the problem that the product is solving. Lucy has a new blog post up about an example we currently have which is not plastic free, but unique and important in other ways.

What's in the pipeline?

Lucy has been working with suppliers in Türkiye to source organic cotton, thread and labels from GOTs (global organic textile standard) plantations and factories. This will lead to our own cosmetic accessories. She will also be heading to Portugal to see what the supply and options are like there, as this is very close to the UK.