Warm up your winter bedroom with this burnt orange fair trade and organic duvet cover
This icy winter just seems to keep getting colder, so why not add a touch of warmth to your home with this beautiful burnt orange organic and fair trade duvet cover? Currently on sale at a reduced price at Biome Lifestyle, this stylish and comfy double duvet cover is 100% hand woven, with each thread hand set on the loom by workers in Bangladesh. Workers are paid a fair wage for their products, with fair and safe working conditions, so by purchasing this you are helping marginalised workers secure fair pay and build their own future and invest in their own communities. Because the cotton is organic, you are also ensuring that the planet’s resources are not damaged by toxic pesticides (as non-organic cotton is a pesticide-heavy crop). The beautiful burnt orange colour is achieved by combining three different colour threads on the loom, giving each of these lovely soft duvet covers a richness of texture that will complement any bedroom – and add a bit of warmth to these cold winter nights. Matching pillowcases are also available (and are also currently on sale!) so why not treat yourself? And best of all, you can sleep easy under your organic and fair trade duvet cover knowing that your purchases are helping others and the planet at the same time.
This organic cotton eco-friendly roll up bed is perfect for guests this Christmas
If you’ve got guests coming over Christmas but aren’t sure where to put them, why not invest in this eco-friendly roll up bed? Taking up minimal space but unrolling into a comfortable sleeping mattress, this eco-friendly roll up bed was designed in England and made in Kerala in India and will have your guests sleeping easy. The production factory in Kerala is fully accredited to SA 8000 – this means that workers are guaranteed fair wages, the right to fair bargaining powers and ensures that child labour is not used, so you can be sure no one was exploited in its production. As well as being kind to people, the bed is kind to the planet – it is handmade from high-quality, hand woven and organically grown cotton (so no toxic chemicals were used!). The organic cotton is then dyed using environmentally friendly, natural colourfast dyes. (The bed cover is 100% organic cotton, the filling is man-made). Big enough for an adult to sleep on comfortably, the eco-friendly roll up bed is perfect for camping or putting up guests, and rolls up to a compact size for easy storage and is also relatively lightweight, so easy to carry if you want to use it when you travel. Best of all, even the most eco-conscious among us will be able to rest easy knowing that their eco-friendly roll up bed has been produced in a way that is both people-friendly and environmentally-friendly.
Love the planet with a Katharine Hamnett organic cotton tote bag
Ever since she encouraged us to Choose Life in the 80s, designer Katharine Hamnett has been passionate about political and environmental causes – and she remains true to those beliefs with this stylish Katharine Hamnett ethical bag. An oversized tote made from 100% organic cotton, this Katharine Hamnett ethical bag is big enough for everything you need – whether it’s to use for all your groceries (and reduce your plastic bag consumption) or just to carry round your everyday essentials in style. The bag is available in pink and black or black and white, and further sealing its eco and ethical credentials, it is printed in the UK with water-based, eco-friendly inks that will fade after the first wash to give it a fantastic, vintage look. Katharine Hamnett is one of the first – if not the first – to bring us slogan t-shirts (she famously wore an anti-nuclear t-shirt to meet Mrs Thatcher). As one of the UK’s most influential designers, the fact that she is putting the weight of her name behind a campaign to raise awareness of injustice in the clothing industry is helping drive demand for organic cotton. This helps small farmers – who earn up to 50% more for their goods when they are organic, as this massively reduces production costs – and the environment, as non-organic cotton is one of the most chemically intensive materials to produce. So you may have grown out of dancing to Wham!, but you can still enjoy some vintage cool with this chic and eco-friendly Katharine Hamnett ethical bag.
Simple TOEst boots – eco-friendly footwear
If you’re a fan of Ugg boots, but you’re not that happy with the idea of wearing sheepskin, you will love these super comfy TOEst high knitted boots from Simple. Ugg boots have been a celebrity favourite for years now, and have raised the bar for comfortable footwear – but for many people, wearing sheepskin is an ethical no-no. If this is true for you, Simple TOEst boots are the answer to your – and your feet’s – prayers! Practical, durable and as comfy as a pair of Uggs, these TOEst boots have the eco-advantage in that they are made from hemp (coated in beeswax to make them more water resilient) with a hemp/organic cotton blend knitted shaft to pull up or down, depending on the look you are after, making these adaptable as well as eco-friendly. Stylish and contemporary, Simple TOEst boots use hemp because it is the ideal fabric for footwear – a strong, durable and breathable fibre that is also eco-friendly because, unlike non-organic cotton – which is a chemically-intensive fabric to produce – hemp doesn’t need chemicals and intensive farming procedures to produce. This means that as well as being kind to your feet, Simple TOEst boots are kind to the environment – so why not treat yourself to a pair? They’ll certainly make walking around doing all that Christmas shopping a bit more bearable.
