Who made my towels / clothes or bags?
Conscious mindful shoppers are wanting to know more, reading labels and questioning the system.
We want to introduce you to our makers, showing you some behind the scenes and process it takes from start to finish. These are the people who are responsible for producing our towels, clothes and bags that you have so kindly purchased from us. It’s It is all about creating a community and being transparent and open. We want to create mindfulness and consciousness when shopping and knowing so you know where your item you have purchased has travelled from, and the stories that have lead them there.
We are real people behind our brand who care dearly about the environment. After all you are supporting a product that has been thoughtfully created, ethically sourced and crafted by people who are passionate about what they do and work in safe secure environments.
They are people from different backgrounds, cultures, religions - working to make beautiful sustainable and conscious items.
Meet our team
Turkish towels - HASAN is28 years old from Diyabakir , and has been working for 10 years with the same company. Hasan I work with very closely. Ekrem is his helper and they are pretty much like brothers (even from the same city).
Hasan is passionate about his job, he explains it as “I love everything that this job brings, I like meeting new people, where our customers and clients come from, learning new things about colours and weaves”
The cotton is grown in Denizli and Urfu and handpicked.
Each towel is individually loomed on a “ karatezgah " old machine loom and takes around 40 minutes to be loomed and then checked by the 10 employed factory workers. The towels are then taken home to the village, where their wives soak their hands in water and hand tie each tassle. The factory workers who are all men, work from 8 - 5pm everyday and get a monthly salary. The factory is in Kirsehir just outside of Ankara.
Crochet bags - MAHMUT + ONDER
Mahmut is 46, he has his own family business which sells a mix of cotton ropes, synthetic sailing ropes and a whole bunch of strings and things. He has owned his store for the past 30 years. The cotton is produced in Denizli. One crochet bag takes fisherman + villagemens wives 2 hours to make. Each crochet bag is carefully and slowly handmade and created with love and care.
Clothing - TAYYAR USTA
Tayyar Usta is our head tailor. He is 56 years old and has been working since the age of 15, he has his own atolye / atelier that employs two other men called Emin and Hacibe. He has been working in his own studio for the past thirty years. He does not speak a word of English and takes on as many jobs as he can. He is extremely hard working, kind and loves drinking hisTurkish tea.
Our clothing collection is made from reclaimed fabric, meaning it’s a fabric store that buys back end of the run fabric from big orders. By using reclaimed fabric we are not adding to the excessive landfills that continue to grow each and every day . Textile factories often miscalculate and manufacture excessive fabric which adds to unused fabric meterage and lands up in excessive over flowing landfills.
Our core values
Individuality / We work on very limited and small runs, to eliminate wastage. Each towel is hand selected and checked for imperfections or untied threads or tassles.
We work closely with Hasan and Ekrem (Turkish towels) We go into their small showroom and choose colours that we turn into a one of a kind collection. Each towel is touched and selected carefully with love. The towels that we cannot sell are then returned back to the workshop in Istanbul.
Customer service / We offer you the very best timeless sustainable items and service. We simply love hearing from you on all platforms and will do our best to reply to your emails within a few hours, definitely on the same day. We always strive to make you the happiest customer. We want you to know that we appreciate you and the time you take to write us mails, send us love notes on our blog or for your constant support on our instagram. We also would love to know how you have found your product so please let us know, it makes us very happy.
Packaging + materials / All towels and crochet bags are 100% pure Turkish cotton. Moroccan bags are ethically sourced from Marrakech from a friend and are made from palm reeds.
Clothing is made in a small Atolye / Atelier in Istanbul using reclaimed fabric cotton.
Our cotton printed bags are re-usable, and our plastic courier bags and postcards are both recyclable too.
S U M M A H X
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