Production Stories: Making For Change

When I started my business one of the founding principles was that I wanted my products to be made well (whatever that meant). After five years in business I am getting closer to defining what this means to me; high-quality materials that are sustainably sourced (see my linen post for more on this) and where possible I want to also have a positive social footprint.

This is where Making for Change comes in, I have been working with them for three years and like any manufacturing relationship it has been a slow process. But I am now pleased to say that almost all of my kitchen textile range is now stitched by the Making for Change team and I am aiming for 100% of my textiles to be manufactured by social enterprises within the next year.

Making For Change is a social enterprise run in collaboration with the London College of Fashion. The programme is run from HM Downview Prison where the women of the prison can apply to be a part of this innovative training and commercial manufacturing unit. Through taking on commercial projects the organisation is able to fund training for the women, allowing them to leave prison with a formal qualification, a portfolio of projects and hopefully a chance at a fresh start, most importantly the women are paid for any commercial work that they undertake.

Having met some of the women involved in the project and hearing how the work has improved their mental health and well-being I am committed to continuing to work with projects such as this one to ensure that on their way to you, my products put something back into the world.

Making in this way is the future of my business so I would love to hear about any projects that you think I should turn my attention to and I’m also very happy to answer any questions you might have about the production of any of my work just leave a message in the comments or send me an email!