As part of our work to Reuse, Reduce, Recycle using Upcycled materials is probably the most environmentally friendly thing we do.
Everyone wants to use materials which would otherwise have gone in to landfill but obviously toys have strict safety legislation which righty restricts which materials you can use to make toys.
So any materials have to be safe and unused which is why both our organic baby comforters and our fair trade wooden toys are so brilliant.
The organic baby comforters are made in Egypt from organic cloth which is left over from the manufacture of organic baby clothes.
All fabric is made on a large reel and as you get to the end of it there is always material left over which is not big enough to be cut out for clothes. In addition there is always material which has been over produced or which has been less popular than hoped. This fabric had ended up in landfill but now it is made in to soft, organic baby comforters.
The fabric is hand sewn which makes it easy for these “scraps” to be used up. The design is simple but gorgeous and they are so little that they can be stuffed with organic cotton.
Our fair trade wooden toys are also made with upcycled materials but in a completely different way. As part of the process of growing tea a light weight tree called an Albesiya tree is planted to provide shade to the young tea plants.
As the tea plants and the trees grow bigger the trees use the moisture needed by the tea plants and so they are chopped down. Normally this wood would either be allowed to rot or be burnt for firewood as it is not suitable for construction.
The clever people at our fair trade wooden toy producer use this wood to make wooden toys. It means that the toys are lighter than most on the market, and they can dent more easily, but it is a great use of the wood.
