One off clothing – GoodOne

It has got to be good – made from hand-picked recycled textiles.

See their website at www.goodone.co.uk

keith

[from the Guardian 10/2/07]

Mung beans and Fashion (don’t mix!)

For years it has been difficult to buy fairtraded fashion that is relevant to western consumers. I guess this is because of the inevitable conflicts between the core skills and craftmanship that are the mark of small producers in developing countries and the fickleness of the clothing sector in the developed one.

It is definitely easier now and there is a sufficently developed marketplace to (hopefully) sustain new entrants. Jane (no surname given) is the founder of ThinkFairTrade and she has a collection of 5 garments on her site. Together with a lot of information on the business, the suppliers and the background to her setting it up.

Commenting on her cloths as opposed to her business is outside of my core competencies so have a look and make up your own mind! I picked this up in the current issue of The Ecologist. And the mung bean reference is from her home page!

think! make stylish and desirable fairly traded clothes for women who have never been near a mung bean in their life

keith

Craft Brewery

Way back when myself and Martina (my wife) lived in Telford, England we used to go to a small pub called the Coalbrookdale Arms. It had 9 pumps (from memory) and they were divided between 3 permanent beers in stock and 6 “guest” beers that were changed every single week. The regulars in that pub savoured their pints!

I remembered that pub today as I listened to a podcast from Steve Hindy in the Brooklyn Brewery craft brewery in New York. He loves what he does and tells a tale of ups and downs as himself and his co-founder struggled to get the business on its feet. He also talks about how the business connects strongly back into the community they are based in.

If you listen to podcasts then try this one.

http://www.venturevoice.com/2006/04/steve_hindy-brooklyn_brewery.html 

keith

Ooooh. Coffee and Icecream

This has got to reach into your heart (or stomach) if you are a foodie. Kieran Murphy runs an icecream parlour in Killarney, Co Kerry and he has a superb blog going since February 2006. See it here: http://icecreamireland.com/
He is passionate – and gives it loads in his posts. Take this one for instance

“2. Why do people order take-away espressos? I’m happy to serve anything to-go, but where are you going to take 1 oz of espresso? How far are you going to get? Will it not be cold before you get there? Wouldn’t you rather have it in a warmed cup, down it in a few seconds (after all, it is called “Espresso” i.e. “fast”), and be on your way?”

Informed opinion – that always works well in blogging

keith

Terracycle – a worm slavery :-)

The best kind of recycling is when goods are taken after being used by consumers. Terracycle is a business in America that is passionate about this – with its core product being a plant food made from solid food wasted that has been “wormed” and then packed in reused soda bottles.

Their site contains a lot of information on the founders, the others involved and why they do what they do.

Great to see – making a commercial business out of something this different is not easy.

keith

[thanks to Colin from afutureofme for the tip on these]

Passion..

..is what these two businesses have in common.

One is based in Ireland, one abroad. One makes chocolate by hand, the second commissions others to make clothes for them. Both are run by women (co-incidently I think) and both are passionate about what they do.

Cocoa Bean Artisan chocolates is Sarah and Emily – sisters who are based in Limerick. I have been eating their chocolates for nearly a year now and have sent feedback to them twice. Both times I got a response from them. Nice one. Their website is on V2 (at least) and it works for me – it conveys their love of what they do.

People Tree is an English based business that is fairtrade fashion. Clothes that look good for which the makers are paid a fair price. Safia Minney is the the founder and she runs a blog – http://www.peopletree.co.uk/safia/. I would love to read a blog from Cocoa Bean in the same way I can read the one from People Tree. It helps me connect with the reason for the business and the vitally important people behind it.

This stuff is important to me. Small businesses and their founders deserve support – especially ones who focus on things that are important to them and who find themselves (by accident or deliberately) outside of the mainstream because of that.
My kids will hopefully grow up with that in their heads – be passionate about what you do, do it well and enjoy yourself while doing it!

(This post was originally written for my Pure Play blog in May 2006)

Intro and expectations

This blog has been started by me to share items of interest that I come across in the area of ethical consumerism. This has been a subject of interest to me for nearly 20 years and I am still working to cope with some of the challenges that it throws up for me.

My use of this blog is going to be passive – so it will not get a lot of time from me in cross-linking to other blogs or any of the other activites that successful blogging would be associated with.

However if you have an interest in small, passionate companies run by people who give a s**t then subscribe, bookmark or in some way come back from time to time.

I run a business focused blog at http:/keith.bohanna.com and that tells the story of an online start-up that I am a co-founder of – http://www.dbtwang.com. That service will launch in July.

keith bohanna