EmmieJay was started in 2009 by Mary-Jane Sweeting, based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. It was born from a personal desire to buy well-made, beautiful clothing and accessories that allowed me to reflect my individuality. I also wanted to know that instead of lining the pockets of sweat-shop bosses my money could be having a positive impact.
Everything featured in the EmmieJay collection has been personally selected to meet our values, and we continually look for new ethically-minded designers to work with. Whether all these values are of importance to you personally or not, we think you'll still love the collection because everything is also chosen because it's beautiful and well-made.
We are passionate about the products we find, and excited about sharing them with you - we hope you find something here that you love too.
Here's a bit about the key values we ensure our business and all our products meet:
Low-Impact Fabrics
Bamboo and organic cotton are both fantastic alternatives to conventional cotton, which is full of chemicals and causes huge negative impacts on the environment and communities it's grown in. Not only are they better for the planet, they both feel much softer and are such a pleasure to wear.
Recycling
We love inventive uses of materials that would otherwise end up in landfill. Luckily more designers out there are feeling the same way, and more exciting products are emerging all the time. One of the newest trends in the fashion world is "up-cycling", essentially recycling but ending up with a better product than it started life as.
Fair-trade
We want to know that people involved in the production of our goods have been paid fairly. Therefore goods from abroad are all sourced from either certified fair-trade sources or via charitable organisations which organise co-operatives to provide work for poverty stricken communities. It's good to know we can help support people make their own way in the world.
Fewer Miles Travelled
A lot of our products are designed and made in the UK, or within Europe. This means we support businesses more local to ourselves, and also means the items haven't travelled as far. Where we have products sourced from further afield we ensure they have been shipped, not air-freighted.