Since Lucy and I started Cut4Cloth in 2004, organic cotton clothing has emerged from the fringes to become much more widely known and appreciated. Back then we had to explain to everyone what organic cotton was. “Can you eat it?” was the standard quip. Don’t hear that much anymore.

2009 was a vintage year.

We went to India twice to see our manufacturers, meet the organic cotton farmers and explore. We sent Adam, our photographer, along on the second trip. Hopefully, when his feet touch the ground, we’ll get lots of pictures up on the blog and in the catalogue – maybe even some video of it all. (Do people still use the word ‘video’? )

We donated 10K to our two charities. PAN UK (Pesticide action network) and the Cornwall marine strandings network, via our membership to 1% for the planet

We had a brilliant sample sale and gave the proceeds to an Orphanage near to one of our manufacturers, in India.

Some great people joined us, at Frugi towers,  in 2009. We now have an assistant garment technologist, Abigail, a graphic designer, Nathan, and ‘Doris’ AKA Derek in the warehouse!

Oh, and we also sold some amazing organic cotton clothes. The best yet. Thank you to all of our customers for your support, tweets, face-book comments, blogs, chat etc. etc. It’s just brilliant to get your input.

So, to infinity and beyond! 2010 looks set for even more adventurous and exciting. The Spring stock is arriving soon, and hopefully the sun will shine upon us all.

Thank you so much everyone. No really, I mean it. It’s a blast and it really feels like we’re achieving great things!!

Here’s to the future

Kurt

Working with 1% For the Planet enables us to monitor where every single penny of the 1% of our turnover that we donate to specially chosen grass-roots environmental project goes. And with well-established manufacturing links with India, it was kind of a no-brainer for Pan UK to be one of those projects.

We’ve been supporting Pan UK’s Growing Hope Project for the last 3 years, helping to fund many organic cotton farmers in Benin, West Africa to find a way to farm organically without having to use nasty chemicals and pesticides.

The clever guys (and girls) at Pan UK have developed a novel pest management tool for organic cotton. They’ve concocted  a food spray that attracts useful insects to cotton plants, who then munch the nasty little pests that find cotton plants so tasty. They’ve spent 2 years testing their nifty new spray, as well as training farmers when to use it, and have found it to be so successful that they can now start to wind down the project. Hurray!

But we want to continue supporting Pan UK’s excellent work. So, from now on, we’re going to be supporting them by funding Neem Oil-making machines.

Neem seed extract is one of the most effective bio-pesticides for the Benin organic cotton farmers. Neem trees grow wild all over the country, meaning the raw material is  free! Turning neem seeds into oil is a community affair, with all the local farmers coming together to collect the seeds and grind them up. But the grinding process is slow and hard work, needing several days to make enough neem powder to last the season. And this is where Frugi’s money comes in!

We are initially going to provide one machine for each of the 5 major organic cotton growing regions where Pan UK works. These mechanical grinders make making Neem Oil easier, faster and more efficient. Brilliant!

The other project we fund is a bit closer to home. Cornwall Wildlife Trust Marine Strandings Network brings together a group of dedicated volunteers, passionate about researching marine mammal strandings on our beaches.

Their untiring work is so important in helping us to understand how and why these deaths of dolphins and other beautiful marine mammals occur, so that some day, some very clever person might be able to come up with a cunning plan to help prevent strandings!

More on that project another time!