WEBA Awards

Although I was obviously disappointed not to win the Ethical Entrepreneur of the Year in the WEBA awards on Thursday, I had an amazing evening and met so many women from ethical businesses around the UK. Everybody was incredibly kind and I had a queue of people at the end telling me that they thought ours was the best video of the night! You can watch the video here
I left feeling very proud of my achievements, despite not winning, as I can't ever remember receiving so many wonderful comments about our work before.

Many congratulations to Solitaire Townsend from Futerra Communications who carried off the award on the night.

Hopefully, through being a finalist in the WEBAs, I can continue to inspire the ethical fashion entrepreneurs of the future. In fact, this week we are taking on a new placement student, Lydia Squire, who has just graduated from Derby University. She will be working with us to gain a deeper knowledge of ethical business practice and to put the skills she has learnt during her fashion degree to practical use. So many of the students and graduates who have worked with us have now set up their own ethical fashion labels and it really is a privilege to be in a position to be able to inspire and encourage the designers and makers of future years.

Derby University Student Fashion Show

A few weeks ago I attended the Derby University final year Fashion Show and was really impressed by the collection of Lydia Squire. When I looked through her portfolio I found that she had an interest in ethical fashion and had undertaken some ethical work placements as part of her degree. As a result, she came for an interview today and will start a work placement with Pachacuti for the summer, followed by part-time work for the next year while she undertakes further studies. I have always seen the provision of work placements as a key part of Pachacuti’s work as it is vital to encourage the next generation of designers to work more ethically if we are to create a more sustainable fashion industry.