Giving Back

Restart Africa

 

We are presently supporting Restart Africa in Kenya, a wonderful orphanage giving

a loving home to 110 vulnerable children. We take out suitcases of donations each time

we visit and Lucy (Aspiga’s founder) and her childhood friend have started volunteering.

 

Economic Empowerment

 

We are proud that over the years we have given much-needed loans to some of our small suppliers

enabling them to build workshops and buy crucial tools and machinery to grow their businesses.

 

In 2016 we gave a loan to the owner of our belt supplier in Kenya, so he could expand his business and build a work

shop. Before they were working on tables under trees so it was impossible to work in wet conditions.

 This has made a big difference to his business as he is now able to take on larger orders.

 

We provided our Kenyan sandal supplier with with a loan to enable her to buy an expensive piece of equipment to cut the soles of the sandals.

Previously these had to be cut individually by hand. Not only has this saved time but it has also allowed the company to take on much larger orders

from both ourselves and other companies. In 2019 we also helped fund a lifesaving operation for her newborn child.

 

Aspiga especially loves to work with and support women. Our main sandal supplier is a woman who set up her

business 10 years ago when she was just 23 years old. She has worked with us ever since. Many of our suppliers' female

workers do piecemeal work in their own homes, which enables them to look after their young children at the same time.

 

We also source our gorgeous, colourful sandal bags from the Elimu Sewing Project in Kenya which supports young women

from vulnerable backgrounds to pursue a 2-year training program which equips them with income-generating skills and a sewing trade.

 

Maasai tribe

 

Indigenous design is rooted in sustainability. Whether it’s contemporary or traditional works, Indigenous artists today approach their

creation process in the same way that their ancestors did: with a mutual respect for nature and the world that they live in.

As a result, their pieces are innately eco-minded.

 

We are proud to work with individuals from the Maasai tribe, who supply us with their unique and truly wonderful jewellery.

The jewellery is crafted in their rural communities usually out in the open whilst looking after their

livestock in their homestead with their young families.

 

WaterHarvest

Water harvest is a not-for-profit charity who provides grant funding and technical support for water-based

rural development projects in India. They believe that rainfall is an incredible, sustainable source of water that should not be wasted.

So they construct a number of modern water harvesting structures that capture the sporadic rainfall during

the monsoon season and store it for use all year round.

 

For every non-organic cotton garment sold, we have donated £1 to help provide

life-saving water tanks for the most deprived communities in Delhi and Jaipur. This means for every t-shirt sold, one family in

India will be provided with clean water for a week. These tanks known as 'Taankas' collect rainwater and provide families with

year round clean water at their doorstep. These tanks save lives and with your support, we can help these

forgotten families take their first step out of poverty.

 

India has been hit very hard by coronavirus. There was a lock down very early on which resulted in millions of migrant workers

leaving the urban areas (where they work) and returning to their villages, which put even more pressure on the rural areas.

Naturally, the communities who had a decent supply of water (like those who have been part of our programmes) were much

better able to survive these difficult times.

 

The funds donated by Aspiga were used to provide a family with a water harvesting tank in the Thar desert, and provides enough

safe and clean drinking water for the family to enjoy.

 

So far this year we have donated a total of £1,200!

Find out more about their work at: www.water-harvest.org, or watch a video on the tanks here.

NHS Charities Together: COVID 19 Appeal.

 

Your support throughout lockdown meant that we were able to donate all if the profits from the

Happy Cropped T-shirt and 15% of the profits from the Georgie Cotton Top and Maxi Tiered Skirt to the Joint NHS Charities Together: Covid 19 Appeal.

From this initiative we raised over £3,300 for this charity which is set up to provide support and help,

to all the amazing workers in the NHS and those wonderful people who have volunteered during these terrible times.

 

In particular, this is dedicated to the wonderful nurses and care workers who have lost their lives

while working to save the lives of others.

Crisis this Christmas Appeal

 

In December 2020 we will donate all the profits from our Happy T-shirts to the Crisis this Christmas appeal. Crisis supports thousands of homeless people,

this year they will be securing housing in hotels and student accommodation as well as organising hubs for food, clothing and gifts.

 

We will also be donating 10% of the profits we make from our Alpine Merino Wool Sweaters in December and January to Crisis.

 

 

World Wildlife Foundation

All proceeds from our 'Bamboo Dinosaur Socks' go to the World Wildlife Foundation to help protect endangered species.

 

 

Black Lives Matter

 

On the 25th May, we were horrified to learn that George Floyd was suffocated

by a member of the police force in Minneapolis. Sadly his death was demonstrative of a much wider global issue of systematic racism.

As a fair trade fashion brand, we do not tolerate prejudice and inequality and we always try to support marginalised communities.

 

On the 2nd June 2020 we donated a small portion of our online profits of the day to 3 BLM charities.

This totalled at a donation of $100USD to the Black Lives Matter Global Network, the The Bail Project and the NAACP.

 

Loving Humanity

 

Both our founder Lucy, and Aspiga proudly give a small donation of £5 every month to Loving Humanity;

a non-profit organisation created to support refugees and now the health and wellbeing of girls and women.

 

Loving Humanity provides, at cost, ready-to-ship micro-factories that produce washable and disposable sanitary products to those in need.

By providing sanitary products they are restoring personal dignity where it’s been lost—in war zones, refugee camps and slums.

Their factories are staffed by refugee or vulnerable local women who, through their work, find or rediscover their self-worth.

 

Every £5 donated helps to keep 10 girls in education, transforming their lives and helping them to learn, work and live with dignity!⁠