I have read and been inspired numerous times by the women entrepreneurs in the Woman and Home magazine, you know, those brave go getters who start a business with £6,000 and do something that they really love, and earn a living from it. So now that I'm currently in the menopause I have decided to do just that. If you can get past the night sweats and temper tantrums, it's actually a really nice time of life.
So, my idea was to help people who suffer from hot flushes (UK) / flashes (USA) the natural way. There are some amazing creams out there but I needed something to sleep in. I contacted my cousin in the Philippines to see what they slept in; after all, it's a
moist, hot country. I discovered that they sleep in Pineapple based materials. Wow!
I would never have thought of that. I do love Bamboo fabric of course and I have a few garments from a superb company called BAM (www.bambooclothing.co.uk). If you have not heard of them, you are missing a treat.
Having researched where bamboo is grown, I contacted a company in China to see if they could make the bamboo fabric. I connected with a lovely lady named Emily. She guided me through the process of designing and purchasing the material which is to be used by us, Kavu Clothing. Below is a picture of Emily's factory in China.
When I first saw this picture I was over whelmed by the scale of the manufacturing. Emily's factory has various Eco awards for their materials, which I love. I continued to research the various materials and their wicking abilities (the ability of the fabric to draw moisture from your skin, thus keeping you dryer) and discovered that Bamboo is a genius fabric. It is grown using no pesticides, it is not sprayed with any chemicals and it uses 20% less water to grow than organic cotton. It really is a wonderful plant.
I decided to mix it with another wonderful material called Lyocell. This is made from the bark of Eucalyptus trees which again are incredibly fast, efficient growers in China.
My new magic mix material is being produced as I attempt to write this post. It will then be dyed using the Pantone colour system. I had to chose 4 colour for my initial trials. After speaking to friends and family, I soon realised that everyone wanted a different colour to sleep in. We all have our favourite colours and choosing 4 was going to be challenging.