Braintree Eco Blog

The Fellowship…

admin — Sun, 13 May 2012 06:18:00 +0000

Braintree has had some very exciting news recently! As you may or may not know, we have been a member of the Ethical Fashion Forum for a year now, but recently we have been included into their Fellowship Category, for innovation in sustainable fashion! How exciting is that! So we thought we better let you know what this all means …

The Ethical Fashion Forum is the industry body dedicated to a sustainable future for fashion. It is a non-profit organisation and it aims to help and support fashion companies, like us, that are trying to make a change in the way the fashion industry works, and the way people buy clothes. The Ethical Fashion Forum wants to make it easy for fashion professionals to integrate sustainability into what they do. Being a member means we have access to a support network that allows us to build our business in the most sustainable way possible. We are super proud to be a member, and now we have been included into the Fellowship we couldn’t be more chuffed!

So what is this Fellowship all about? Basically, the Ethical Fashion Fellowship is a united force of 500 innovators in fashion and sustainability. The community consists of people and businesses that are innovating sustainability in the fashion sector, or have the potential to do so. The people included vary from entrepreneurs and individuals with innovative ideas, as well as start-up businesses to large retailers who have integrated environmental practices into their ethos. There are also colleges and student fellowships that will be integrated into the community, so that young ideas and new minds are bought into the fold.

It’s all pretty cool isn’t it! We are proud members and love being involved with an organisation that can help us on our journey to sustainability. You can find out more about it and more about what we do here:

http://www.ethicalfashionforum.com/

World Fair Trade Day…

admin — Fri, 11 May 2012 23:09:13 +0000

Tomorrow is World Fair Trade Day, where fair trade is being celebrated in more than 70 countries across the globe. The World Fair Trade Organisation (WFTO), who has pioneered Fair Trade for more than five decades, have been leading the celebrations. There’s plenty going on near you, just hop onto Google and find out what is going on in your area. Fair Trade is one of those great organisations that make us proud to be part of this planet, a positive and tangible contribution to the fight against poverty, climate change and the current economic climate. A third of the world’s population live on less that £1 a day and Fair Trade is set up so that trade in the poorest parts of the world is fair, must benefit the most vulnerable and delivers a sustainable livelihood by developing small and disadvantaged producers. Millions of businesses around the world support fair trade and this has allowed the growth of this community; let’s hope it gets bigger and bigger and keeps up the good work!

The Weekend Has Landed!

admin — Thu, 03 May 2012 22:47:15 +0000

So, it’s the Bank Holiday coming up and who wants to place bets that it’s going to rain! The weather recently has left little to be desired, we at Braintree HQ have been shivering away, trying to keep warm to no avail. But lets not fret and lets not moan. We must all make the most of the long weekend coming up, come or shine. So here are some lovey ideas for the best way to spend your Bank Holiday Weekend, what evert the weather!

Car Boot It… Head to your local car boot sale, such a fun day out rooting through other peoples discarded treasure, and who knows what you can find! From tiny treats to great big surprises the old school way to spend Bank Holiday Monday is definitely in your local airfield! And it also great for the planet and instead of old things being chucked away into landfill they are going to a new home. Why not try the other side of the table and set yourself up selling your unwanted thing! You can make a quick back while you at it, then spend the rest of Sunday afternoon in the pub. Happy days!

Night at The Museum… Everyone must remember as children, the school trip to the big museums in London, seeing the huge dinosaur bones and that great big whale, and being mesmerised by the flying machines hanging from ceilings and the famous wax faces that look so real. So why not create more memories this weekend by taking your little ones out to see the big museums. These are the type of days that they will remember for ever, and there is no better time to do it that these holidays. London can be big, London can be scary, but the museums really are special. From dinosaur bones to crown jewels… here are our favorite ones…

The Natural History Museum
Madame Tussauds
The Planetarium
The Science Museum
The Tower of London

Down the Local… And if you don’t have little ones that you need to entertain, then what better way to spend bank holiday weekend, by going down the pub. Here is a list of our top 5, whether you’re looking for a food, wine, ale, music or all of the above:

The Fisherman’s Taven ; Tayside, Scotland, was converted into an inn from a row of fisherman’s cottages in 1827, and they have been serving fine ales ever since/ So much so it is the only Scottish pub to be in every issue of the Good Beer Guide.

The Barton Arms – Birmingham: Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin and Enrico Caruso used to drink here when performing at the Aston Hippodrome, and its flamboyant Victorian Architecture makes it one of the most spectacular pubs in the land!

Blisland Inn, Cornwall – The landlords nickname is King Buddha, because of his big belly and zen nature, and he collects his ale from the local brewery in handmade barrels. Meals are cooked by his wife and are plain and hearty. It really is great pub fair.

The Swan, Essex was saved from closure in 1996, and it is one of only two pubs to have won the Camra’s pub of the year completion twice. It has all the ingredients of an ideal British pub, low beams, roaring fire, decent garden and a wisteria frontage. The most perfect way to spend Bank Holiday Monday? We think so. Let’s hope the rain hold off!

So whatever you get up to this weekend, whether your car-booting it, exploring what London has to offer, or just relaxing in a pub with your best friends, we hope you have great time and work isn’t too painful on Tuesday!

Bombastic Bamboo!

admin — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:29:50 +0000

At Braintree HQ, we know that Bamboo is a serious wonder fibre! We have been working with the stuff for years, and it seems a lot of other people are starting to catch on. Bamboo is being hailed as the ‘Timber of the 21^st Century’, and its uses range from a pair of Braintree Bamboo Socks, to a fully load-bearing structural beam , and let’s not forget the 1500 plus uses the lie somewhere in-between! There are new technologies in place that are allowing Bamboo to begin to compete with current wood products in the Western Market, and the Bamboo market is said to currently be worth around £6.24 billion. The developing world is beginning to embrace this material, and China currently produces more that 80% of the world’s bamboo. China have always been big bamboo producers and are successfully capitalising on this new ‘wonder fibre’. Bamboo certainly is emerging as the miracle plant of the 21^st century, with its uses being so diverse! From wood flooring and landscaping (you name it bamboo can be used), to paper, clothing and even food! The most wonderful thing about bamboo is it needs no pesticides; it is amazingly resilient and needs minimal water. Bamboo also grows at an incredible rate, meaning it is highly renewable, therefore sustainable. In fact, where bamboo is grown in the wild, one can see the bamboo stalks actually shoot up in a 24 hour window! Amazing! From an apparel point of view, bamboo has additional advantages – it’s twice as absorptive as cotton and can move moisture and odour away from one’s body at twice the rate of conventional cotton. Depending on how it is manufactured, bamboo can be effectively used in a variety of products. Bamboo can produce some of the softest and most desirable fabrics that can rival silk and cashmere. It’s even being coined ‘ecoKashmere’ because the hand feel is so incredible. We know this only too well here at Braintree, as our brilliant bamboo socks and garments only need to be touched once to leave you convinced! We’re quite proud to say – we work with an amazing plant and will continue to, so that you guys can get your hands on some bamboo for many years to come!

Spring lambs!

admin — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 22:39:46 +0000

We are in the midst of Spring and what a wonderful season it is! It is so magical to see new life popping up everywhere, from the first pink blossoms on the trees that line our local streets, to the sprinkling of new flowers that start to shoot up over every hillside! Even grey old London seems to get a new lease of life, as evenings get longer and the sky seems bluer, even if it is still a bit chilly! The promise of the warm summer months are just around the corner and it is so lovely to feel the warm sun on our backs after the cold and dark winter months. Everyone must have childhood memories of going to the local farm to see the lambs and new baby chicks and ducklings! Such magical memories seeing the baby creatures , and getting to hold and feed them, if you were lucky! Hilary was lucky enough to go home over Easter, to gorgeous rural Pembrokeshire, where her family own a couple of sheep, and have some new baby lambs! Sadly, one little lamb lost its mother, so her family have been having to bottle feed the little one round the clock! She’s not so little now though and is growing up so fast. It’s great to see Hilary in her Braintree Sail La Vie Top, proof it can be worn in town and country! So if you don’t have much planned this weekend, try heading down to your local city farm and see if you can catch some of the new baby animals, it’s such a lovely day out that your children will cherish their whole lives! Failing that, why not hop on your bike, or don your best walking shoes, and go and explore your local park to see what new life is springing up all around us! Don’t let those April showers stop you!

Moment of Darkness…

admin — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 22:28:03 +0000

So Earth Hour came and went and what a special moment it was! We were so glad to see loads of you getting involved, and to hear about all the amazing ways in which the whole planet was doing their bit! Hilary was up in Brighton for the weekend, and she went along to the rather fab, torch lit walk along the seafront, which had a fantastic atmosphere, with Zumba classes and live Samba music! With everyone holding their own little candle, and cheering each other on, it turned into a rather magical evening! Sarah got involved by hosting her very own candle lit barbeque in her garden! All the lights in her house were out and her and her friends partied on, lit by candles and tea-lights, until the early hours of the morning. Rachel got a rather great snap of the Houses of Parliament in complete darkness! Its hard to tell with no lights on, but the bridge to the right is Westminster Bridge, and the great black expanse is where the beautiful building normally stands! So strange to see London in such darkness! The Earth Hour website is great if you want to have a look at what else was happening around the world, with lots of people uploading their pictures. It such a lovely reminder of how we are all the same with the lights of, no matter where we are in the world, and we have to look after our home! Here’s our pick of the most dazzling shots (below) – The Great Wall of China, The Sagrada Famillia in Barcelona, The entrance to the famous Luna Park in Sydney, and the Empire State Building in New York. It really is amazing to see such iconic landmarks without their neon glow! Such a great event, and thanks for getting involved! Now don’t forget to log on to our I WILL IF YOU WILL CAMPAIGN, where Braintree HQ is pledging to go veggie for a month if you sign up and complete your own Earth Hour Challenge. Get involved!

Stitch and Purl…

admin — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 11:29:55 +0000

Many months ago, we had a wonderful email for one of our loyal customers, Mrs Kath Hitchings - who was loving our Braintree stripey socks! She emailed us to tell us about her awesome guerrilla knitting, which we think is just marvellous and quite right too, to go about town making everything that bit more lovely! She sent us some great pictures, and it made us feel all warm and fuzzy in the office! Her antics have even led to an appearance on the Alan Titchmarsh Show’ as part of National Knitting Week and The One Show!! She is a pioneer at reusing and recycling, knitting from chopped up old garments, or battered old socks, so everything gets a new lease of life, unloved clothing gets to go on a new adventure! This is such a wonderful pastime, we thought we would delve into it a little more and see what else has been knitted up out there in that big ole world! ‘A tree undone’ was a beautiful idea, where an artist brought a tree to the Burning Man festival and wrote a pattern explaining how leaves should be knitted and, together with the festival goers, knitted thousands of leaves. They were not bound so they could unravel in the wind… Dave Cole’s grand scale ‘knitting machine project’ - used two cranes and telephone poles as needles to knit a giant American Flag in the courtyard of the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art - Pop Art at its best! And in the UK you can find your local group of Guerrilla Knitters – log onto http://knitthecity.com/ – you can see some of their amazing work and even get involved! It is stuff like this that makes the world seem not so gloomy after all.

EASTER EGG HUNT!

admin — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 23:34:05 +0000

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I Will If You Will…

admin — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 12:18:44 +0000

So this weekend is Earths Hour, and we think this is such a special idea, we really want you to get involved! So whatever you are doing, please get in touch with us and let us know your plans and ideas. Here are Braintree we will be getting involved, Sarah will be having a BBQ outside with her housemates, and it will be lit by tea lights and candles instead of blazing lightbulbs. Hilary will be in Brighton over the weekend, where they are holding a candlelit walk along the coast. All the homes and shops along the seafront will be turning their lights off as the walk progresses so it should be quite a spectacle and rather magical! If you are in Brighton over the weekend, make sure you get in touch to share your stories! We will all be going veggie for a month if 50 of you get involved with Earth Hour communities, so pease ACCEPT OUR CHALLENGE! There are plenty of celebs out there doing their bit, just punch Earth Hour into youtube and you will find out what is happening! Supermodel Miranda Kerr is pledging to host a free yoga class if 500 of her fans partake in their own challenge, and London hipster band The Guillemots are hosting an acoustic, candlelit gig, live and unplugged at Londons Village Underground nightclub. Very cool!

Movie star and model, Isabel Lucas has pledged to plant 100 trees if 100 people plant one each and Norwegian polar explorer Borge Ousland (the first person to complete a solo expedition of the North Pole without re-supplying) has pledged to pull a 200kg sleigh across the inner-city of Oslo, if 15,000 people promise to park their cars for three days. So there is all sorts going on, so GET INVOLVED!

There are also tonnes of amazing recipes for ideas of what to cook on the night, so you can enjoy your lovely veggie dinner, lit by glowing candle light. WWF have received the support of celebrity chefs from around the country. With menus from the likes of Valentine Warner and Ching-He Huang, you are bound to find something to tempt you.

The Earth Hour website has tonnes of great tips on how to spend the hour, whether you will be having a candle lit dinner for two, or hosting a roaring, flamed lit party! They have some great tips so get online and have a look! And make sure to tell Braintree what you will be getting up to! We really want your stories and pictures! Email us at info@braintreehemp.co.uk or braintree@aol.co.uk, and we will post your stories along with ours.

Earth Hour Update…

admin — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 22:00:03 +0000

We’ve recently blogged about the Earth Hour event that’s happening this Saturday, but you can now go ‘beyond the hour’ with WWFs ‘I WIll If You Will’ campaign – You can tell people what you are willing to do to encourage them to set sustainability goals. It’s all done through YouTube, where the world’s biggest action for the environment is coming together! At Braintree we’ve pledged to give up eating meat for a whole month if 50 people join The Earth Hour communities. We know that the environmental pressures created by producing meat are unsustainable at current levels, so we thought it’s a good thing to demonstrate to ourselves and others that we don’t need meat as much as we think we do – we can enjoy veggie food just as much! So watch this space for tasty veggie recipes and Please accept our challenge!

Read more and get involved here…