Hello Beate,
I worked for Amnesty International in the 1990s and spent a lot of time thinking about the rights of people to raise their working conditions. I was concerned about what I read about conditions in the garment industry and that was one of the triggers for thinking about how clothes could be made without having a negative impact on the people and places involved in their making.
Thankyou for replying to my email, if possible could you answer these questions for my feature please.
- What made you interested into sustainability?
Initially I bought six Shetland sheep and then started thinking about what you could do with the fleece. Farmers were complaining that it wasn't worth shearing as the wool price was so low and I wondered whether there were ways to add value. Of course, I found out that it's not that easy to add value! I was lucky to meet Nicola very early on - she was brilliant at thinking how to make knits that are unusual and beautiful right from the start, and this is what made the idea of using our own wool viable.
- How did you start Makepiece?
I try to keep the inputs really low - grass feeding in summer. using our own hay to over winter the sheep with not too much additional feed (as that has more road miles etc) and control pests by rotating grazing strictly. Shetland sheep are also recognised as conservation sheep that have a lower impact on land in general.
- How do you make sure your farming is sustainable?
To make beautiful things with as low an impact as possible
- What is your companies philosophy?
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