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Made to Order Fair-trade and Organic Workwear

Does your organisation want to purchase “bespoke” polo shirts, t shirts, hoodies or aprons made with Fairtrade certified, or organic cotton?  If so we can help.

As Fairtrade licensees we are specialists in manufacturing Fairtrade and organic certified clothing. We enjoy working hand in hand with our teams in India to ensure your orders are great quality, delivered on time, hassle free.

Perfect for larger orders of 500 plus we manufacture for you Fairtrade certified bespoke polo shirts, t shirts, hoodies, aprons and sweatshirts. Delivery is around 14-16 weeks from our two Indian factories.

Fairtrade Fashion and Farmers

Fairtrade certification Mark for Cotton

Fairtrade certified clothing can be fashionable, fitted, baggy, traditional, stylish, durable, warm, cool, colourful, neutral. The list is endless.

The farmers who produce the cotton are the key focus in the cycle of manufacture.  The whole chain, farmers, spinners, weavers, dyers, sewing, embroidery and printing can be traced.  Every single part of the cycle must be a licensee with their own FLO number.  

In a nutshell – Ethics plus everything else!  A perfect combination.

Complete trace ability. Completely do-able. No excuses.

  • we offer advice on the correct knit and weight of fabric for your garment
  • pantone dye the fabric to the colour specification you give usMade to order clothing organic
  • arrange for “lab-dips” of the fabrics and colours for you to approve
  • create a sizing set of the garments so you can check and approve
  • every stage of production is always approved by our customer
Fairtrade Cotton for our T Shirts India

Here we are spending time with the cotton farmers in  – proudly showing us their organic cotton plants.

Cotton grown by Pratima Organic Growers Group

 

Contact us to discuss your project.

Telephone 01908 511051

Please Note: We are a corporate clothing and supplier specialising in company uniform, unfortunately we are not able to assist with fashion enquires. 

Your Brand

Over the past few months the world has been turned upside down in a way that we have never seen before in our lifetime.  During this time the business world has seen winners and losers and will continue to do so over the coming years. 

At Impact Trading and Cotton Roots we have seen this as a time for change and reflection.  It has helped us look at new opportunities and ways to grow and one thing that is definitely clear is that British and ethical manufacturing is becoming more and more important to our customers. 

This has paved the way for us to help new ethically led fashion brands start up in an easy and cost effective way by introducing the ‘Your Brand’ section to our Cotton Roots website. 

A catalogue of organic cotton and recycled fabric unbranded stock garments that can be branded with the customer’s own label, embroidery and print

Each garment is priced to include the professional sewing in of a label, this can either be supplied by us or by the customer.  They can then opt to add on embroidery or print to customise the garment. Orders in the ‘My Brand’ range can start from as little as 50 mixed garments which makes it a low cost start up investment.

If you would like to browse the range of ethical clothing in the range please visit our website, if you would like more information or a quote please contact us on 01908 511051 or email emily@cottonroots.co.uk.

Chic Upcycling – Coffee Sack Aprons

We have been making bespoke aprons at Impact Trading and Cotton Roots for a few years now and it’s lovely to create new and exciting designs, but as a company that strives to be ethically and environmentally driven we wanted to find something that is normally considered a waste product that we could re-purpose into something new and beautiful. 

After some searching and a shout out on Facebook we were able to source some old coffee sacks which we brought back to HQ and gave to the design team.  What they came up with superseded all our expectations, two aprons, one which is lined and one which is cross backed and finished to an amazing quality.

We loved them and couldn’t wait to show people on our social media channels.  We love that they all have a variety of prints on them and no two are the same.

If you would like more information or would like to make an order please get in touch on 01908 511051 or sales@cottonroots.co.uk

Feel Good Accessories

At Impact Trading and Cotton Roots we have a huge range of eco-friendly, Fairtrade, sustainable and recycled clothing which organisations and businesses buy from us and often brand.  As well as clothing we also offer a range of accessories which have ethical certifications. 

Recycled caps and bags which are made from organic or Fairtrade cotton. We also have options for hat, scarfs and bath towels, which come in Fairtrade and organic options. Lanyards made from 100% bamboo and dyed with water-based inks which are comfortable, strong, durable and naturally antibacterial.

All these items can be branded with print or embroidery to fit nicely in to your organisation or business as well as giving you the feel good factor.

For more information and quotes on these please contact us at sales@cottonroots.co.uk

Amazing Grains

We recently embroidered some of our Fairtrade Organic aprons for a local bakery in Olney called Amazing-Grains.  Knowing that Olney was the home of the hymn Amazing Grace we were interested to know more about the bakery and its name.

Gareth the owner was made redundant after a 30 year career in IT, he realised that his heart no longer belonged in the corporate world.

Over the years, extensive travel had opened his eyes to the fact that most other countries held bread in high esteem unlike the industrialised products passed on as bread for the lowest possible price in the UK. So after dabbling in food distribution, Gareth decided to address this issue by learning to bake “real bread”, using good quality ingredients, and an honest approach. Sales began with friends, then from the local pub, to deliveries 5 days a week, all produced from a 30 Sq ft kitchen in a tiny 2 bed cottage in Emberton, just outside Olney in North Buckinghamshire.

Now baking 4 days a week from a converted workshop in East St in Olney, Amazing-Grains produces around 300 loaves a week, using only natural ingredients, time and no processing aids, to produce breads with a flavour, second to none.

The name of the bakery was based on the hymn Amazing Grace written by the curate of Olney, John Newton and published in 1779. It is one of the most recognisable songs in the English-speaking world.

We love supplying aprons to local businesses and particularly to one that has such an interesting story. You can find about more about Amazing Grains HERE

Crafting Aprons – Britain & Bangkok

I loved this video.

Sometimes with our team working and designing aprons for our customers it’s like going back in time.

People marking patterns, adding eyelets, cutting, sewing, measuring. 

We are in the British countryside rather than Bangkok but the similarities are there. We manufacture aprons for Michelin Chefs, TV Chefs, high street restaurants, artisans, people with enthusiasm for quality and design.

Design team seep in discussion – apron concept and design and manufacture for customer

Our people love fabric.  Hording at home and a treasure trove of new fabric arriving daily to our workplace.  New designs for customers and a pride in what we create.

pride noun (SATISFACTION) ​ B2 [ U ] a feeling of pleasure and satisfaction that you get because you or people connected with you have done or got something good

Crafting an apron from YellowStuff Bangkok

Change Your Shoes

I have become addicted to YouTube.  Second only to The Guardian and The BBC website. How come the internet can become so addictive?  I am reasonably confident that in the future I will not look back, sigh fondly and think “I’m so pleased I looked at the news incessantly”.   However……YouTube is the new thing for me.  We are developing our own channel and while meandering around the eclectic, sprawling, enlightening, frightening, unpleasant, inspiring range of videos,  I came across this one – Change Your Shoes.

There is an app to support it so that I could go on a virtual march to Brussels. At the end of the campaign there will be a petition asking EU policy makers to prioritise regulating the shoe industry. When we purchase clothing, shoes, food, anything really, it is so easy to just not even think about how they were made and who made them. Sometimes we want to close our eyes and shut down our curiosity because the whole world seems such a crazy, barbaric, place and it can feel overwhelming.   Especially if you watch as much news channels as I do – the bad stuff gets all the headlines.

But I can make a difference.  Watching this video made me feel positive.  Because it reminded me – if I ask a few questions when I buy things, is this local produce when I eat in a restaurant? Who made these shoes and what do you know about them? How were these handbags made, who made them?   Its not enough that they look or taste beautiful – who made them, how they were treated, what they are made of, has an influence on how beautiful they really are.

What Daisy Did is a local company who really do know who make their handbags.  I have a bag and a purse and two of my friends following Christmas have bags and my niece a purse.  These bags really are beautiful inside and out – whenever someone says “I love your bag Susan” I immediately launch into the sustainable, ethical, story behind each of them.

Here at Cotton Roots our range of Fairtrade clothing and textiles is also beautiful and fascinating to me. I adore knowing where the cotton came from – Pratima Organic Growers Group in Odisha India, that Sreeranga has organised our order for us, that Armstrong Knitting Mills spun the cotton for us, that Suvastra made the items for us.

Our new delivery of Fairtrade tea towels and Fairtrade shopping bags thrill me.

Sign up for the virtual march to Brussels on the app here

New – Fairtrade Certified Shopping Bags

Yes! We have added to our Cotton Roots  Fairtrade range of  products.

With Fairtrade Fortnight fast approaching I thought to myself – shall we take the plunge and have some shoppers made for us – and decided Yes!  It’s is always exciting to me when we take that jump and add that extra item to our range.

Our bags will be plain and ready for us to print for our customers with their design.

Cotton Shopper

The Cotton Roots shopping bags will be made of 100% Fairtrade certified cotton and will be organic cotton as well.  We have had a number of requests from some of our customers for a while now, so we will stock bags 37cm x 42cm with a 65cm handle.

When customers want Fairtrade certified bags at a specific size, we will be able to make them to order.  If ordered in larger quantities we will be able to reduce the price.

Fairtrade & Organic bags made to order for customers

The cotton for our new Fairtrade certified bags is grown by Pratima Organic Growers Group in India.  Sreeranga has organised the swift manufacture of them so we receive them in January – in plenty of time for Fairtrade Fornight – more information here.

T Shirt Fairtrade desiged by school childrenIn previous years primary schools have ordered white Fairtrade certified t-shirts and children have designed pictures to be printed on the front.

We hope that this year our shopping bags might be suitable and we may even offer tea towels.  Mmmmm – I am thinking – shall we take the next jump and stock these too?

 

Hanslope Wallaby at Work! What?

Our premises are on the beautiful Rose Lane Farm in Hanslope.   A stunning place to work.

We see hares, a little owl nest in the neighbouring tree, buzzards, kites, rabbits, mice, frogs, and sky larks,  In fact Roy Courtesan takes great care to leave space clear within certain fields for the skylarks, and maintains paths for ramblers.

We approach work on a long drive through wheat fields.  But today there was a visitor to the fields.  A group of ramblers spotted a albino wallaby in the top field!  Hanslope village has a wallaby.

Here is the video they took.  http://bcove.me/mpjqr9vb  (Sorry about the advert for the first few seconds I couldn’t get a video without it).

Hanslope Wallaby

Well.  I am excited to say the least.

I have dug out my binoculars and sent a text to the rest of the team.  Tomorrow we will have a break from work and go wallaby watching.  After you only live once, and this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.  Yup a wallaby at work – not a wally.

Can’t wait.

Go green with these apps

Put your hands up if you are trying to live a little bit greener. Okay, you can put them down now! At Cotton Roots, we are certainly trying to live life sustainably, but knowing what to buy, what not to buy, what to eat, what not to eat, how to dispose of things… these can all leave you scratching your head from time to time. But did you know your phone can actually help you go greener? 

The internet is full of articles about sustainability, which is great for when you’ve got the time to read them, but when it comes to your daily lives and your busy schedule, sometimes you might need a little reminder. Now there are apps available that can put actionable challenges right at the tips of your fingers, no matter where you are. Since smartphones arrived in our lives, there’s a world of possibilities  to help you embrace a sustainable lifestyle. From reducing your carbon footprint, to protecting the environment, here are some of the best apps for green living:

JouleBug

Joulebug “make sustainable living social, simple, and actually fun.”

This app rewards you for being sustainable, and with rewards comes more encouragement to be more sustainable! You can download the app and earn points every time you make a sustainable decision, like biking to work instead of driving. You can earn badges and pins and compete with your friends on Twitter and Facebook to do your environmental part. The badges get more difficult, and more rewarding, as you earn more points. Each badge comes with visual, informative content that provides the knowledge and motivation you need to make small but significant changes in your daily habits. Not only that, it also helps you save money and cut down on your carbon footprint.

  • Earn pins, badges and points for discovering new ways to go green
  • Buzz every time you do something sustainable – every time you Buzz something, you’ll be helping the planet. JouleBug measures the impact for you, all you’ve got to do is Buzz it.
  • Compete in challenges to see who’s the greenest
  • Join communities to learn the latest on sustainability near you
  • Share how you are making a difference

8292958010_e3d456a22c_ocredit: Gonzalo Baeza/ CC BY

UNEP Carbon Calculator

This app allows you to calculate your impact to the environment. Greenhouse gases have some of the worst effects on global climate change. The UNEP Carbon Calculator lets you calculate how much CO2 is given off when you travel i.e driving to work, taking a train or flying somewhere. Users  can then convert their personal carbon footprint for journeys taken by air, train or road. They will then be shown the equivalent area of a particular ecosystem (such as a tropical forest) that can absorb this amount of carbon dioxide.

Green Retail 

The Green retail app is perfect for small shops and retailers as it helps save on water, energy and waste. Once downloaded, the Green Retail App will give small retailers videos, practical tools and advice on how to be more efficient. The retail sector has the potential to make huge efficiency savings and this app helps them realise savings where they can and to make their businesses more efficient. It includes quick guides to:

  • Energy Saving
  • Water Efficiency
  • Reducing Waste
  • Managing Waste
  • Sustainable Procurement
  • Storing & Handling Goods

RIPPL

Rippl is a free mobile app that helps you make simple, sustainable choices by delivering weekly green living tips. Each tip is designed to help transform your habits, save you money and help you live a greener life. We often set out with the best of intentions such as taking reusable bags for food shopping, or switching off the lights when they aren’t being used but sometimes we forget, and Rippl is your reminder! RIPPL includes:

  • Free green living tips to help improve your day-to-day habits
  • Ability to set goals and track your progress to show your impact
  • Science-based recommendations for proven ways to help grow a healthy environment
  • Opportunity to suggest your own tips to the community and share your success with your friends

The Recycle App

The recycle app gives real-time reporting and recycling for local authorities. Can you never remember which week is green bin or black bin? Then this is the app for you! It also allows you to set collection reminders, so you’ll never forget to recycle and it gives you a real-time map of “Recycling & Waste Points” within your local area.