There are some serious bargains to be had in our summer sale, so don’t miss out! Breathable, comfortable, stylish clothes… for less!

This pretty Braintree dress featured in the Grazia opening party at the Sustainable Luxury in Fashion and Design show in Berlin last month. Though it was all part of the Merc-Benz Fashion Week for Spring/Summer 2011, you don’t need to wait that long for this frock because it’s actually from our Autumn/Winter collection. Bare legs with killer pink heels can wait – time to get the cosy boots and bamboo tights out. Oh, did I say bamboo tights? Something else to look forward to from our new collection and so much more! We’re super excited!

Well, this season’s Pure show has been the absolute best for us yet! We exhibited our Autumn Winter collection  for 2010/11 and people really loved it! It’s always so hectic leading up to a show and so it’s so nice when all that hard work pays off. We also sneak-previewed our Spring Summer collection for next year and got a fantastic response to that too! Our Autumn range is now available on the Braintree wholesale site.

Bits of coloured paper clogging up your hallway. The average household receives 224 pieces of junk mail each year. Half a million tonnes of unwanted mail is generated in the UK and it takes 3,300,000 trees to produce it.

Well, you can to help the environment and reduce the amount of unwanted mail that comes through your door with something like this…

There are lots of green organisations with artwork online that you can just print off. Some councils will even send you nice official looking ones, or you could get creative and knock one up yourself. Once it’s in place you’ll notice a huge difference. Of course you’ll still get the odd one or two coming through, but WHAT an improvement!

It’s Summer time, and the living is easy! And you can’t get easier then these exceptional hemp tees for men, available in seven colours (yeah, spoilt for choice eh!) Made from super soft hemp and organic cotton, they’re perfect for hot summer days. The fabric is breathable and  absorbent, which is just what you need in warm weather, but apart from all that they just look darn fine!

Imagine a paving slab that converts your step into green energy every time you walk on it…

Well, it’s been invented and it’s called the Pavegen system. These energy harnessing paving slabs can be inserted among regular pavement sections to capture the kinetic energy people spend just walking. Each rubber slab gets depressed by about 5 mm each time it gets stepped on, then the kinetic energy is converted into electricity. We think this is an AMAZING idea!

Following recent tests in East London, the Pavegen are now seeking investors and additional testing sites. Let’s hope someone comes along soon and gives them a nice big bag of cash!

Check out the Pavegen website for more info and news.

Here’s something cool, comfortable and classy for the lads – our 100% hemp shirt.  It comes in colours as fresh as a mountain stream… lemon, true blue, pistachio  or white… and the fact that it is all hemp makes it even more special because hemp is the master plant.

The short sleeves, absorbent, breathable fabric and  comfortable cut make this shirt bang on track for summer – whether on the beach, at a bbq, in the club or at a wedding, our 100% hemp shirt fits the bill!

95% of fruit and 50% of the vegetables in the UK are imported. In a way it’s nice that we can enjoy many foods out of season and at relatively low cost, but the effect on the environment is very high. Not only is the food transported to us from hundreds or thousands of miles away, but it’s often the case that rainforests are cleared for growing our imported veggies. Ouch, not good.

So it’s in the best interest of the environment to put as much enthuses in buying locally grown fruit & veg, even more so than out of season organic stuff. Doesn’t seem to make sense transporting asparagus from Chile, green beans from Kenya or strawberries from Morocco. Things in season are cheaper and tastier too!

Wanna get involved? Try the 100 mile diet

We would very much like to hear what our customers think about our products and services, so we’re calling for your FEEDBACK!

We want to know how we can improve on things and what we’re doing right. Send in pics of yourself wearing Braintree for a chance to win some goodies. We’ll feature some of the best comments and pics on our blog.

So, shout it out to we@braintreehemp.co.uk

WE’RE ALL EARS!

Sunday 18th July 2010 is the chance for everyone around the UK to get together with their neighbours and have a lovely Big Lunch, along with a million other people who will be doing the same up and down the country.

The aim of the event is to get people talking to each other, stoking up some community spirit! Getting people to discover common ground across age, class, faith, race and the garden fence, feeling closer, friendlier and happier!

The idea for Big Lunch came from the hearty peeps down at The Eden Project and what a great idea it is! The website is full of great ideas for a Big Lunch if you want to get involved, which can be anything from a few sarnies to a full-blown street party with DJs and a hog roast!

The Big Lunch site also has downloadable posters and flyers for people to promote their own Big Lunch.

We love this quote from The Eden peeps: Global warming needs human warming. The odd light bulb here and there won’t work. Ideas like The Big Lunch just might if we join up our efforts. Change the way we live, do the things we know we should, and we’ll leave the planet in a ripe state for our children, their children, and so on.

The Big Lunch really is a feel good movement and it’s organisers hope that this will spark a local annual tradition. Get involved…