Our Values
We pride ourselves on our progressive values and our central message is one of equality and fairness. We reject all prejudice and discrimination against anyone for reasons of race, religion, sex, sexuality, wealth, gender or disability. In other words we believe that as human beings we are all equal, and as such we all deserve a decent, secure and fulfilling life, with equal access to opportunities in education, employment and participation in society. We believe that we should all play by the same rules with no special privileges for the well-connected or wealthy.
On social media we aim to produce a healthy and lively debate on political, philosophical and social issues but will never tell anyone which political party to vote for in an election. Our products generally depict the radical movements and figures of the past and present with a particular emphasis on left wing values. However, this should not be taken as an endorsement by ourselves of the movement or person depicted, their actions or the consequences of their actions.
Our Products
We are a small family business, conceived and based entirely in the UK, but with inventory also in the US. We design and promote all our products ourselves and source them almost entirely from rural areas of the country. Though we use several suppliers for our products, these all operate under one roof i.e. they do not outsource the core manufacture of our products, thereby cutting down on the environmental damage caused by unnecessary shipping. To maintain our own high ethical and environmental standards we ask our suppliers questions to ensure that they too conform to sound principles, whether this is in the form of the employment of disabled people, solar panelling on the roof or recycling of any waste fabrics, cardboard, chemicals etc or if that is not possible, responsible disposal according to current legislation.
Our products are all designed, printed, cut, sewn and packaged in the UK. We use unbleached natural panama cotton for our products wherever possible, which requires less energy, less steam and fewer chemicals to produce than bleached fabrics and in 2019 we made the switch to all organic cotton. Our products are then printed with eco-friendly water-based inks, which have virtually no impact on the environment.
The bulk of our cotton is grown in the US and woven in Pakistan at Sapphire Textile Mills which has an excellent environmental and ethical track record, supported by an SA 8000 certification. SA 8000 is a globally accepted independent standard that demonstrates a workplace’s commitment to social accountability and ethical employment.
Our magnets, coasters, badges & key rings are all made entirely in the UK by a company which follows standard health and safety and employment legislation. Our cards are printed in the UK on recyclable card and using environmentally-friendly water-based inks. We use recycled envelopes.
All of our tea towels are now wrapped in 'belly bands' made of recyclable card, each one tailored to the specific design. It's only a small step, but we hope it makes a positive difference compared to how things used to be done with plastic. Please bear with us while we introduce this card packaging across our ranges.
Our Partners and Staff
We use recycled mailing bags for an environmentally friendly solution. All our staff recycle and re-use packaging as much as possible, a policy which has been continued by our fulfilment partners Eirios, based in Monmouthshire, Wales.
Our US fulfilment partners are based in Pennsylvania state. We've visited them, met a bunch of their staff and checked out their cool warehouse! Like us, they are a family-owned business with fair employment practices, and provide decent wages and healthcare benefits for all their employees in the US.
We vet all our suppliers to ensure that people working for us receive a living wage. Anyone working directly with us is either employed on a freelance basis or on a living wage.