One World is Enough Blog

No it's not a piece of installation art!

2011-11-22T14:09:00.001Z

No it's not a piece of installation art, these kids love our giraffes, so much so that they decided to take them on a tour of Cambridge! They caused quite a stir on the new guided bus, 'no livestock on the bus' the driver joked, at least we hoped he was joking!

They were very quiet ( the giraffes that was, unfortunately the same cannot be said for the children who were very excited at travelling with our hand carved wooden giraffes from Bali. Being hand carved each one is slightly different and has it's own personality!

So if you don't know what to get your loved one for Christmas then get them a Giraffe, they'd love one!

Click here to check them out

Check out our new introductory video!

2011-09-26T15:21:00.003Z

Peter has filmed this new video in the shop telling ethical shoppers all about One World is Enough, do you think the shoppers will be flocking in??
http://www.ethicalcommunity.com/eco-shop/seller-video/39/

St Giles Fashion Show

2011-09-10T16:20:00.000Z

This afternoon I was at the St Giles Fete in Cambridge organising a One World Fashion Show. It was all a bit chaotic but great fun! Once we got the band organised and borrowed a mic we were able to send our volunteer models up the outdoor runway!

We showed off our new autumn Collection with the models first wearing ponchos and then taking them off to show off some of our lovely blockprinted tops.

We try and do a few community activities around town so look out for us!

New Spring Designs are here!

2011-04-12T07:37:00.003Z

Have you seen our lovely new Spring Designs, perfect for enjoying sunny days with bright blue sky!

We've got long floaty dresses, short sassy dresses, a new casual stripey range and some new cool menswear.

click here to Check it Out!

or click here to read out latest newsletter

Fair Trade Fortnight

2011-02-28T15:31:00.002Z

It's fairtrade fortnight for the next two weeks 28th Feb - 13 March! As Spring hopefully takes over from the cold dark days of winter, it's time to think about where the things you buy actually come from, who makes them and under what conditions.

On the first day of fairtrade fortnight is great to know that despite the tough economic conditions, sales of fairtrade products increased by 40% to £1.1 billion, that's pretty impressive!

So make the change to fairtrade and remember it's not just for food, millions of people in developing countries work in the garment business, so buying fair trade clothes helps lots of poor people earn a better living. We believe that by paying the adults properly, we allow children to go to school rather than being forced by economic necessity to work.

If you are interested in knowing more about fairtrade fortnight check out the fairtrade foundation's website http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/

Diary from India Part 3

2011-02-01T22:56:00.001Z

Yesterday was the kite flying festival, I spent most of the afternoon on the roof flying kites with my Indian friends. We got our kites up really high, but the kites have got sharp strings which have a ground glass coating, you then try and cut down the other kites ( like in the book The Kite Flyer). It's really hard as you can't see any strings and you don't know where the other kite flyers are as there are people on most roof tops flying their kites. But my friend Himmet is really good and managed to cut down quite a few kites, but then we lost a few of ours too.

Then I bumped into my Scillian friend who has been living here as a Rajasthani man for the last twenty odd years. He's very interesting as he has a great insight into India and Indian people. He says that his Indian farmer neighbours are really rich as they sit around doing nothing all year and when their mango trees produce their mangoes they are too lazy to pick them and employ others to pick them for them. He says that we are poor as we are always working hard to live, but then we would look at the Indian farmer and think they are very poor as they don't have many material things, it does make you think!

I then spent some time with my friend David, we spent most of the time talking about his spiritual awakening, he seems very content and full of energy and very positive. He was in a temple in Nepal on Shivarati ( Shivas Birthday) when light started coming out of his hands as if he was a god come to life. All the Sadhas or Holy Men followed him round the temple listening to his words of wisdom. well that is how he described it, I wasn't there!

In between all this I've been visiting our producers and working on new designs for the summer!

Postcard from India Part 2

2011-02-01T22:52:00.002Z

Last night I caught the overnight mail train to the holy town of Pushkar where most of our suppliers are based. It was pretty good as you get your own bunk complete with pillow and sheets but I was crammed on my bunk with my day pack with all my valuables and a plastic bag with 20 Indian shopping bags I had bought in Delhi!

I slept so well that I almost missed my stop and had to be woken up by the very helpful ticket collector who ripped open my curtains to tell me we had arrived. So I quickly had to gather up my stuff and struggle out onto the platform. There were no signs telling me where we were and the station looked different as we had arrived on a different platform, so I did wonder if everybody wad playing a trick on me, well the train had thrown me by turning up half an hour early!

I found my way out of the station half asleep, still not entirely sure that I was in the right place. I dragged my heavy bag over the footbridge and everything started looking better, I started to recognise the station - I have been coming here for the last 14 years!

As I drove over the hills past the troupes of monkeys in the trees and the peacocks struting by the side of the road, my spirits lifted. I was back!

This morning I woke to the sound of the temple across the holy lake playing some rather funky music. Temples definately play better musuc than churches! Last night I had closed my shutters to stop get too much of a rude awakening, but the music still filtered into my room but at a soothing volume! When I opened the shutters I found a line of monkeys sunbathing on my balcony, it was lovely watching the Mummy monkeys fuss over their babies, they look and act so human!

It is still chilly here at nights, last night I had a knock on my door and the guys from the hotel had brought round three blankets in case I was cold, but I was nice and snug in my Himalayan sleeping bag, I even brought my own pillow as the pillows here are rock hard!

Postcard from India Part 1

2011-02-01T22:48:00.002Z

I have arrived in Delhi, they have moved the airport and it took forever to get into the city, I was giving the taxi driver a hard time about taking me on the tourist route, eg round and round in circles to get the fare up, but maybe I was being unfair, we'll see how quick it is on the way back, although apparently the brand new metro link might be working by the time I get back, but i'll belive it when I see it!

It is weird , I am staying in Paharganj, the same area that I always stay in but it looks very different as the Delhi goverenment decided to have a road widening scheme in time for the Commonwealth games, they did this by demolishing the fronts of the buildings on either side of the road, so now you can see doors three storeys up that used to open into hotel rooms but now open into space as half the hotel rooms at the front of buildings have been hacked off! I'll make sure I don't go to the wrong door if I need the loo in the middle of the night!

I went to the International tourist bureau at the station to get my train tickets, it is very nice, you get sofas and helpful staff rather than the long lines that you get in normal train stations. The bad news is that the fast train I wanted to catch doesn't run on Wednesdays so I am on the overnight mail train, it means that I get to Pushkar the next morning but it is cheaper and I save on a nights accomodation! So I guess I'll have to hit the ground running!

It is very chilly in Delhi, the temperature was 7 degrees when we landed at lunchtime, and is now cooler and as a hot country nowhere has any heating so I am quite looking forward to heading on to pushkar tomorrow night as being on the edge of the desert it is usually warmer!

Merry Christmas and a word about Christmas Deliveries

2010-12-23T16:54:00.002Z

Merry Christmas Everyone!

This year has been a busy year for us all at One World is Enough, particularly the Christmas Season. Everything was going very well, record orders were being kept up with, all orders were despatched within a couple of days of receipt and then the winter hit with a vengeance. We carried on the good work of despatching our orders ahead of schedule, but then we took them to Royal Mail expecting them to do the same!

It must be said that we have had a contract with Royal Mail to deliver our parcels for the last five years and they have been pretty good, until this Christmas. They were hit by a double whammy of record online shopping and record snowfalls happening at the same time. Lots of parcels were coming into their network and nothing was going out as their vans couldn't deliver to many parts of the country. This resulted in them being snowed under and a big backlog swiftly developed.

What they seem to have done is to put the backlog on one side to stop all the Christmas post being badly affected, this meant that some letters and parcels went through the system quite quickly, but those caught up in the backlog were only dealt with very slowly, we had a customer in Dundee wait over a month for a parcel to show up and one in central London wait for over three weeks.

So if you are waiting for a delivery please be patient, Royal Mail assure me that they are doing everything that they can to get the parcels to you by Christmas. We are unable to get any information from them about the whereabouts of any particular parcels.

We are reviewing our use of Royal Mail, our customers like us to support the Post Office and like the fact that our parcels arrive with the postman, can be left somewhere if they are out or be taken to the local post office, rather than a courier office miles away.

But if they can't deliver within a reasonable timescale then they are not fit for purpose.

One option is to track everything and have everything signed for, but this would mean higher postage costs and would mean that things couldn't be left if you weren't in.

Let us know what you think, in the past the standard post has served as well, but this year we have been badly let down and our customers are angry with us but we haven't done anything wrong. We are as cross as our customers whose orders haven't shown up!

Anyway do have a lovely Christmas and a peaceful new year.

Sign up for our newsletter ( it's very exciting!)

2010-12-03T14:12:00.002Z

Have you read our latest newsletter, it full of pictures of our latest offerings, news on what we're up to and even special discount codes! You can sign up at www.one-world-is-enough.net for your own copy or click here to read our latest copy

2010-11-24T14:52:00.001Z

Our brand new range of animal hats are in and selling fast, they are all handknitted by our lovely knitters who live around the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal.All are fleece lined for comfort and warmth.
They come in the choice of lion, panda, doggy, panda, cow or guinea pig and are avialble in adult and childrens sizes.
Click here to check them out!

Check out the results from our photoshoot

2010-11-24T12:43:00.006Z

Our lovely new things have arrived from Kathmandu and we've been busy photographing them with the help of our lovely model Anna. We've got some great new contemporary 'streetwear' for our younger and young at heart customers, we've got some great new ponchos and jackets as ponchos are really cool at the moment ( cool in a warm and cosy sort of way!)

We've also got lots of felt accessories and some great hats.

So if you are stuck for christmas presents then check us out, we have lots of original designs, all our things are fairly traded and hand made by our own network of producers in developing countries.

So help our lovely producers help themselves this Christmas

2010-11-05T16:16:00.003Z

Our New stock has just arrived from Kathmandu, we're still unpacking the big bales that arrived at our warehouse yesterday, sorting through it and getting it into our shop. We are organising a photo shoot and our online customers will soon be able to see our lovely new stuff, we'll let you know as soon as it's online!

We have a brand new range of hoodies and streetwear for our younger customers, hats, gloves, scarves, our fabulous slipper socks and lots of animal hats, gorgeous felt stuff and much much more!!

Our Website is back to full Functionality

2010-06-21T16:40:00.002Z

If you have been having problems getting onto our website, fear not we have upgraded our servers so now you should be able to get online whenever you feel the urge!

Too many people were trying to view our lovely things all at the same time, we did think about introducing appointments to view, to avoid the peaks and troughs, but decided this all sounded from authoritarian and really not very One World ( and not to mention completely unworkable!!).

So we've invested in new upgraded servers - so happy browsing and if you have any problems let us know, we value your feedback!

Our new Spring/Summer Collection is finally online

2010-05-07T13:33:00.002Z

We've finally finished photographing the first batch of our new spring summer collection, there is more to follow later!

It's all available to new through our website, but be warned it's been in our Cambridge Shop for the last few weeks and is selling well, so well in fact that we are already running low on some of our most popular lines. It is really hard to restock as well because the materials we use only come in small batches and when they're gone, they're gone.

So don't delay, get your new summer clothes today!

Become a One World is Enough facebook fan!

2010-03-13T12:22:00.002Z

We've just set up a new One World is Enough facebook page, I know we are a bit late to the facebook party, but better late than never! So if you likeus, like what we do and what we stand for and would like to keep up to date with our latest developments then become a fan, we've only got three fans so far so we need all the fans we can get, but then the page was only set up a couple of days ago! You can also use the discussion page to let us know what you think, talk to other One World is Enough fans

Click here to visit our facebook page.

It's Fair Trade Fortnight!

2010-03-04T14:53:00.005Z

It's Fairtrade Fortnight, a time to reflect on who makes the clothes we wear and the interiors we fill our houses with.
Fair Trade means that the people who make the goods get paid fairly for their work and have decent working conditions. Paying the adults fairly means that children can go to school instead of having to work.
We personally design and source all our own products and work closely with our producers in the production of our goods and, of course, all our products are Fair Trade.
So do the right thing and buy fair trade when you can!

The Fairtrade Foundation are organising a big swap for fairtrade fortnight, swap your normal purchases for fairtrade ones. click here to go to their website

Banish Away the Winter Blues

2010-02-16T12:15:00.003Z

I'm fed up with all this ice, snow, rain and greyness so I've decided it's time to banish away the winter blues.!
I've decided now is the right time to unviel our bright, colourful, fun streetwear collection. We've got bright stretchy rainbow tops, multicoloured bubble print tops, hindi hoodies, pixie dresses, recycled bottle fleece jackets and skirts plus much more..
Click here to have a peek
And don't forget our winter sale finishes on Sunday 21 Feb, so grab a bargain before their all gone! click here to visit our sale

Back in India designing the 2010 Spring Summer Collection!

2010-01-25T15:32:00.004Z

I've just spent the last couple of weeks in Rajasthan designing our new Spring Summer Collection for 2010.

I left Britain on a very cold snowy night at the start of January when the whole country was grinding to a halt, all the advice was ' Don't travel unless you have to', I didn't even think I'd make it to the airport, so I left the house with plenty of time to spare. However it turned out that the drive to the station was the worse part of the trip, the train arrived within a few minutes and I arrived at the airport with 5 hours to spare. I can honestly say that is a first, I am not know for arriving anywhere early!

When I got to Delhi I thought that I had escaped the cold, but no North India was suffering a cold snap too! My woolen fleece lined jacket that I had worn to the airport proved very useful! The Indian press were talking about little else than how cold and foggy it was!

Anyway when I got to Rajasthan it was a bit warmer and the skies were blue, so I felt a bit better! It was even better catching up with all the small scale suppliers that we work with, visiting their workplaces and looking at new materials and designs for this Summers collection. I was really impressed with all the lovely floaty printed cottons and hopefully you will be too when you see all our new summer designs, they should be arriving mid April, hopefully about the same time as the warmer weather!

But until then we have brought in some lovely warm winter knitwear and snug woollen jackets to keep everyone nice and toasty warm until the Spring time, oh yes don't forget our sale is still on, so bag a bargain before someone else does.

Flower Power in Cambridge

2009-12-08T12:21:00.003Z

Overnight our Cambridge Store has had an attack of flower power and been transformed into a felt rainforest! Felt flowers have drapped themselves around the shop fittings, garlands of felt flowers are drapped from every possible fixing and there are even strings of felt flowers hanging from the ceiling. They have even got onto our bags - check out our garland of flowers bag!

They are all the work of our new felters in Kathmandu, the amount of work involved in making the flowers and working the different colours together is breathtaking! Come in and have a look for yourself!

Fantastic Felt !

2009-11-28T13:13:00.003Z

When I went to Kathmandu back in September I began working with a new group of felt workers who were making the most amazing creations from felt.

Our first shipment of their stuff has now arrived; we have brooches in the form of flowers, ladybirds & butterflies, we have hairgrips in the form of flowers, caterpillers and felt bobbles and we have lovely felt bags, some featuring garlands of flowers then we also have single flowers and garlands of flowers.

New Shipment from Kathmandu has arrived!!

2009-11-13T15:53:00.005Z

Our long awaiting mid winter collection has finally arrived from Nepal. It's been a bit delayed this year as Dushain, the Nepali equivalent of Christmas came early this year, this is the time of year when all our workers go back to their villages to see their extended families. It is the only chance some of them have all year to visit their communities so we don't mind them going, but it does mean that the orders tend to get delayed. You see Nepal is not like Europe or America, there are not many roads so when you live in a remote village you catch a bus to the nearest point that the bus stops and start walking, some of our people walk for two or three days to get to their village! Then once they have made this Herculean effort they like to stay for a couple of weeks before doing it in reverse, so Dushain can cause a three to four week delay in our orders!

But all this makes us realise about all the things we take for granted in our home countries that people in other countries don't have. So forgive us that our order is a little late but it has meant our workers have been able to enjoy some time in their home villages and get away from the noise and traffic of Kathmandu.

But it's been worth the wait, we have handknitted ponchos, crochet tops, some great felt flower boquets, some hand painted tops and lots of lovely childrens stuff! We'll get it photographed and online asap.

But remember all our things are handmade by small producers so we only have small runs of any particular line and when it's gone it's gone! It is not possible to reorder mid season because of the lead times, once it arrives it'll be Spring!

Christmas Shop now open!

2009-10-31T16:11:00.002Z

I know it's only Halloween, but that means it's only six and a half weeks to Christmas! ( sorry to remind you!)
That means it must be time for us to open our Christmas Shop, full of lovely Christmas themed fair trade things from our producers around the World.
We have reusable carved wooden Christmas Trees with golden Stars ( see left), we have Christmas Tree decorations, baubles and plenty of hand made wrapping paper made from lokta, a herb that grows high in the Himalaya.
Click here to have to have a look for yourself!

New Winter Stock is on it's way

2009-10-23T14:36:00.005Z

Our new winter stock will be here soon! We've got a great collection of designer knitwear, felt flowers and bags and lots of Christmas Goodies.

I was out in Kathmandu, Nepal back in September designing it with our producers. Sice then they have been very busy knitting, stitching and otherwise being very creative and now, despite having a big festival to attend to, everything is ready to ship!

So keep an eye on our website and if you can come and visit our shops in Cambridge and Edinburgh, we'd love to see you!

But as usual all our things are made in short runs and tend to sell out quick, so don't hang around!

Post Office Industrial Action

2009-10-23T13:46:00.002Z

We are working closely with the post office to minimise any disruption to orders during the current industrial action, so far our deliveries have not been affected.
We have introduced a next day courier service for urgent deliveries, these are carried by private courier and so are not affected by the royal mail action.
If you do experience a slight delay in your order we do apologise but we are doing our best!

We love the Autumn!

2009-10-02T11:43:00.003Z

We love the season of mellow fruitfulness, the time to wrap up warm, go for long walks, kick your feet through the fallen leaves and the smell of roasted chestnuts.

Talking of wrapping up warm our Autumn collection is now in store and online! We design and source all our own collection of clothes, as we specialise in on trend fashion led fair trade clothes we always have something new innovative and ahead of the fashion curve!

The days when you had to choose between looking good and being ethical are gone, with One World is Enough you can do both!

Our signature jacket this season is the flowing charlotte jacket pictured left which retails for a mere £44.95. We also have some great ponchos which this year are staging a big come back!

One World on the Road

2009-07-17T11:19:00.004Z

It's pouring with rain, it's blowing a gale - it must be the festival season! This year we are taking the One World is Enough Roadshow ( ok festival stall!!) out to a few select festivals. The Cambridge Crew are going to the Cambridge Folk Festival - we'll be at the Coldhams Common site as it's only half a mile from our warehouse and we can go back if we've forgotten something! That's on from 30 July until 2 August, so time for the sun to come out again!

Then they're at the Greenbelt Festival at Cheltenham Racecourse from 28 - 31 August.

The Edinburgh Crew are also out and about their at the Edinburgh Tree Fest in Inverleith Park by the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh on July 18, so go and see them especially if it's wet and horrible! Then they are off to Fair Trade on the Fringe which is part of the Edinburgh festival that's on from 27 - 30 August in a large marquee in Edinburgh's Grassmarket, a lovely area of restaurants and bars.

So come and see us if you can and come and say hello, we love meeting our internet customers - we miss the personal contact!

We've got everything crossed that the rain will go away and the sun will come out again and it'll be a beautiful summer!!

Hurry Hurry our summer ranges are selling fast!

2009-07-11T16:00:00.003Z

Hurry Hurry we are selling out of many of our summer ranges, all this hot weather has boosted demand for our lovely cool summer clothes. So many of our ranges have either sold out or we only have a few left. On the endangered list are the eva and deborah wrap dresses, the annie maxi dress ( pictured) and the suzanne summer dress.

But don't worry we have lots of cool new styles coming out to replace them!

New Children's Clothes Collection is here!

2009-06-20T15:48:00.004Z

We've got lots of lovely new Children's Clothes just in time for the summer. We've got a new Mother and Baby Collection featuring Baby Boy and Baby Girl outfits. We've got bibs, baby play mats and even little booties. For Mum we've got a couple of lovely cotton maternity blouses.

We've got some lovely new girls clothes, including brightly coloured cotton dressses, trousers & tops. Then this year we have our best collection yet for boys. We've got some very cool shirt and short sets, trousers, 3/4 length trousers and matching sunhats all in explorer colours!

Summer Time, Happy people in their Summer Clothes

2009-06-12T14:44:00.001Z

I love the summer; sun, sea & pick your own strawberries!
No it is great to feel the weight lift off everyone's shoulders and see happy people in their summer clothes! Talking of summer clothes we have a great collection of summer clothes this year, if we say so ourselves! This year we have gone for lots of different lines but not so many of each, so we'll have lots of fast moving lines and there'll always be something new.
We've got lots of floaty sari silk skirts and dresses, we've got traditional blockprint dresses and skirts and some funky printed cotton tops and dresses. click here to see our lovely ladies clothes
We've got some new men's batik summer shirts which are proving to be a big hit and some great colourful children's clothes for both boys and girls.
We have also got a brand new Mother and Baby section featuring bibs, booties, outfits and even something for Mum!

Recycled Plastic Bottle Dresses

2009-04-10T16:05:00.004Z

I heard on TV that a department store were stocking new recycled plastic bottle trousers and everyone was getting very excited. We have been stocking our amazing recycled plastic bottle pixie dresses and V neck dresses for the last couple of years!
Can you keep a secret? We are getting some new lines in our recycled plastic bottle fleecey material, we're getting some traditional ponchos, some very cool Japanese Style Ponchos and the return of our fleecey wrap around skirts. They'll be in store in the next couple of weeks , but don't hang around if you want any, they are in short supply and sell quickly!
So how come we don't get on TV?
Debenhams must have better PR people than us, actually we don't have any PR people we do it ourselves!

Our Boat is coming in!

2009-04-10T12:06:00.001Z

The boat carrying our new shipment from India has not been hijacked by Somali Pirates as first thought! It is in fact coming in next week, we should get our new lines the following week and they will start to appear in Store from Monday 27 April. We have truly pushed the boat out this time and have over 40 new ladies lines coming in, plus a few mens and childrens clothes together with new cushion covers, hanging and other homeware.We will be starting to photograph it all with our new photographer Amelia, so look out for lots of beautiful arty pictures appearing on the web site with all our lovely new lines.A few weeks later we will be receiving our new Children's Collection, new lines of Men's Shirts and lots more craft items to brighten up your house. We'll keep you posted, why not sign up to our email newsletter to make sure you are the first to know!

New Cheaper shipping Costs

2009-03-17T16:28:00.002Z

In order to help you out, our lovely customer, we have managed to negotiate some better postage rates from the Royal Mail. We have therefore decided to pass this on to you in the form of lower starting rates of £2.95 for our standard service and £3.95 for our express service.
IN ORDER TO HELP OUR BEST CUSTOMERS WE HAVE ALSO INTRODUCED FREE STANDARD SHIPPING ON ALL UK ORDERS OVER £75.

So no excuses for not buying lots of lovely Fair Trade Stuff!

Spring is in the Air

2009-03-16T14:22:00.004Z

The sun is shining, the air is warmer, the daffodils are blooming, it's good to be alive! Our customers have come out of hibernation and sales are picking up after the snow and chilly retail climate in February!
We have been very busy, first I went off to Rajasthan in India where I went a bit mad, I was only going to buy a select summer range but I was blown away this year with all the lovely textiles and designs so I came back with three collections. Firstly there's a collection made from beautiful floaty sari silk, then there's a funky bold printed cotton collection and lastly we have a spohisticated blockprint collection.
I was back in England for a couple of weeks, checking up on how the team coped without me. Finding out they coped fine and as the weather was still a bit chilly I took the family to Bali! Not just for a holiday you understand, we were designing our new childrens clothes collection and needed some specialist input from the experts, my daughters Lucy and Emily! We also visited the Ruditas, a family of wood carvers and have ordered a fabulous new range of hand carved objects for the home such as our beautiful range of giraffes.
We have also got a great new range of batik shirts for our male customers, with men it is hard to get the design right, we try and design something a little different but not too wacky!

India

2009-02-02T13:32:00.002Z

I've just spent the last two weeks in Rajasthan, the weather was beautiful, lovely spring like days, not too hot, not too cold, so it was quite a shock coming back to England to the ice and snow. Also it was a big shock coming back to all the negativity, the country seemed to have collapsed while I was away ( if you believe the papers) sure sales are quite slow but they always are in January, it's not quite the retail meltdown they are suggesting!
Anyway, back to India. I was busy visiting our producers and working on our summer collection. We've got some beautiful clothes awaiting you in the Spring time, we've got some lovely floaty bold printed cotton dresses and tops, we've got classic blockprint designs and we've got a new collection of corduroy summer jackets to keep you warm when the sun isn't shining!
It's always great visiting our producers, they are very dynamic and creative and always have plenty of good ideas and new materials to work with. I arrive with our ideas and together we feed off each other to produce an exciting new collection, in fact this year we have surpassed ourselves and produced three different collections!
My belief is that our customers will stick by us through this difficult time, I realise that it is tough for everyone but it is worse for our producers if everyone suddenly stops buying their goods. We have therefore bought more than ever! This year we are continuing our strategy of having lots of ranges but not so many pieces of each one so that we can turn our clothes over quickly and always have something fresh! however that does mean if you see something you like then don't hang around, get it before it's gone!
I'm off again in a couple of weeks, this time to Indonesia to see our children's clothes, instrument and craft suppliers, so no doubt I'll be spending lots more money so lets hope that sales keep up or we won't have any room in the warehouse to put it all!
So keep an eye on our website, we'll put our new collections up as soon as they have arrived and we have photograph them!

New Year Sale Now On

2008-12-30T23:46:00.007Z

I'm off to India the second week in January to work on our new spring /summer collection of exciting new fair trade clothes. Then I'm back for a week or two before going to Indonesia in February to work on more Childrens Clothes, Instruments, Homeware and beautiful Craft items for the home.

In order to reinvest as much money as possible with our Fair Trade Producers ( who are also being badly affected by the Global Downturn) we are having a quick sale of end of line items. We only buy from small family or community based businesses in developing countries. This means that our stock is made in pretty short runs at the best of times, but in the sale you really do need to grab our great offers while they're there because when they're gone........they're gone!

Click here to see our great Ethical Clothes Sale Offers ( including Menswear, Ladieswear, Childrenswear and Streetwear

Click here to see our Non Clothes Sale Offers ( including Bags, Accessories, Candles, Lights, Tableware, Homeware, Craft items for the home and items from our One World Gallery)

It's not just our website that's having a Sale, if you are near Cambridge or Edinburgh then check out our shops!

Look out for our Lovely New Collections, we are always adding new things to our website so keep checking us out!

Have an Excellent and Peaceful New Year!

One World in Scotland is Now open

2008-11-15T13:17:00.002Z

Great news, our new shop in Edinburgh is now open and waiting to meet all our Scottish customers or maybody else who happens to be in Edinburgh! It's situated at 48, Home Street in the Tollcross area of Edinburgh. click here to see a map
It's been a long hard process but we got there is the end, it took more than a year to find a suitable premises. Then we had to fit out the shop to make it bright and welcoming and last week I drove a large van full of stock up there, it's a long way from Cambridge!
So now Scotland has it's very own Fair Trade Fashion Emporium! So come in and meet Colin and Cathy Campbell our One World in Scotland managers. The shop is open every day, phone the shop on 0131 228 2246 for opening times or email edinburgh@oneworldisenough.net

Our new Edinburgh Shop is finally opening @48 Home Street

2008-10-10T14:46:00.004Z

Our new Edinburgh Shop is finally opening within the next month. It's been a long and painful process but we finally got there. It'll be at 48 Home Street, Edinburgh EH3 9NA click here for a map. We'll be stocking all your favourite funky fair trade clothes, home ware, musical instruments and lots of interesting artefacts we collected on our travels.
The shop will be run by Colin and Cathy Campbell, so if you're in the area pop in and say hello!

One World at the Movies

2008-10-10T13:07:00.004Z

This week we've been inundated with people wanting our things to star in their movies. Our dolphin mobile ( left) will be staring in an ITV drama called collision out next year.
Then we've sent lots of our rainbow gear upto Gateshead where it'll be featuring in film that's set in the future where everything's bright and everybody is wearing rainbow - groovy!
So if you're planing a film I'm sure we've got a prop or a costume!
While I'm on the media theme, I was interviewed by the local Cambridge Community Radio Station the other day, if you want to hear me talking about us and about Fair Trade then click here.
Click on the mp3 link to listen to the show, we're about 10 minutes in if you don't want to listen to the Council Guy talking about Climate Change!

Now the good news - we've got a new collection of Funky Streetwear!

2008-10-06T11:45:00.003Z

We have the answer to the daily diet of bad news. It's the end of the world as we know it but cheer up, our new funky streetwear collection has landed and it's looking good!
We were worried that maybe we weren't appealing enough to our younger customers so I went to Kathmandu and sat down with our producers and came up with our funky streetwear collection. It features bold spiral designs and is for people who like to make an impression, fashion leaders not followers. They are very wearable but yet different.
We have hoodies with pixie hoods, hoodies with normal hoods, ladies hoodies, mens hoodies and even tops with no hoods at all. As well as our spiral designs we have rainbows, bubbles, hand painted tops and even a plain design or two!
Well hope you like them, we do!

Kathmandu - A New Hope?

2008-10-05T14:28:00.004Z

I've just come back from Kathmandu,it's an interesting time in Nepal. Prachandra the leader of the Maoist Rebels has recently elected as it's new Prime Minister. It's time to see if the Maoists can put their ideas into practice and improve the lives of ordinary Nepalis or whether they become just as corrupt as the politicians that they have replaced. Ordinary Nepalis I spoke to were keen to give them the benefit of the doubt and wanted to believe that this was a new beginning for Nepal. Let's hope they are right for Nepalis are lovely people and the country is beautiful, all they need to good leaders who are interested in the good of the country.
I have been busy, working with our producers on our new collections. Our producers were delighted to see me this year, in these troubled economic times our producers need our support more then ever.
This year we are going for a more mainstream wearable collection featuring more plain colours and classic designs. We are also getting a lot more children's wear. Our new collection should be in our shop in mid October and should begin being posted on the website around the same time. It always takes longer to get our things online as we have to photograph all our items first!

We've Moved ( but only next door)

2008-07-15T15:32:00.002Z

If you have ordered from us in the last few weeks and your order has taken longer than expected to arrive then we apologise, we have been moving our warehouse. We've only to a larger unit next door but still it's been a bit choatic, it's a bit like moving house but worse!
But we're almost there and now we have more space all our stock is stored in a more orderly manner so that we can find things quicker and therefore get our orders out quicker and more efficiently - well that's the plan!
In fact the timing all worked out very well, we got the keys to our unit a couple of days before 1.5 tonnes of new products arrived from the North of Thailand, just as well as our old unit was bursting at the seams and we had no where to store the new things!
So we are now at No 19 Ronald Rolph Court, not No 18.
So from now on we should be operating a faster more efficient delivery operation so thanks for bearing with us, it will all have been worth it!

New Free Tibet T Shirts arriving

2008-04-17T14:10:00.002Z

Great News, more Free Tibet T Shirts are due in next Thursday. After all the recent Free Tibet demos our entire stock of Free Tibet T Shirts sold out in a couple of days, we emailed our producers in Nepal who have been busy embroidering more. They are all made on an old fashioned singer sewing machine, all the embroidery is free hand, just controlled by eye, so each one is ever slightly different. To see our Free Tibet T shirts & our exciting range of Embroidered Fair Trade T shirts please click here
It's great that so many people are learning about the Chinese Occupation of Tibet, I'm sure we'll sell alot more Free Tibet in time for the Olympics!

Adventures in the North of Thailand

2008-04-09T19:34:00.003Z

I've just got back from spending a couple of weeks in the North of Thailand, visiting our suppliers around Chiang Mai and recruiting new ones to join our network of Fair Trade suppliers. This year we are increasing our range of design lead homeware and that is why I was in Thailand.
We have beautiful rattan trays, mango wood vases and a vastly increased range of designer candles all being made for us while I speak. We also have a new range of hand made designer side lights to add interest to any room, then we have a great range of top quality Thai incense and some beautiful handbags made from palm leaf, rattan and bamboo. Watch this space to find out more, as soon as our shipment arrives we will photograph it and put it online and bring it into our shop.

Remember we only buy from small producers, they do not produce high volumes so we keep only a small stock of each product and often when it's gone it's gone. However when one line sells out we bring in more to replace them to keep our shop looking fresh.

Tibet is on Fire!

2008-03-20T13:10:00.002Z

I am sure that you have seen the terrible images on TV, unarmed Tibetan demonstrators being chased round the streets of Lhasa by heavily armed Chinese soldiers. Tibet has been a long ignored breach of International Law, it is a poor country, there is no oil and China is the up and coming power that everybody wants to be friends with.
In 1953 the Chinese Red Army marched in claiming that they were liberating the country from the tyranical rule of the theocracy of the Dalai Lama and his fellow lamas. It could be argued that Tibet was very undeveloped and that the Dalai Lama's rule was not doing much to improve the daily life of the average Tibetan. However over the last 55 years the Chinese have pursued a policy of massive Han Chinese imigration into Tibet which has had the effect of making Tibetans a minority in their own country.
When we visited Tibet in 1996 Lhasa was already a Chinese city with a Tibetan core around the historic Jokhang temple. The core was a wonderful spirtual place full of Tibetan pilgrims many with their prayer wheels, who had walked for weeks on their pilgrimage to get to the Jokhang. The Potala Palace, the official palace of the Dalai Lama, had been restored and was a sad and empty museum full of Chinese Tourists who would dress up in traditional Tibetan Dress and have their photos taken. We were searched at bored Red Army checkpoints every few miles on the road to Lhasa, they were looking for pictures of the Dalai Lama, as to have one on your person was a serious offence ( in the eyes of the Chinese), we were alright we were foreigners, it was the Tibetans who were always asking us for Dalai Lama pictures who would pay the price. We had one magical moment in a monastry just outside Lhasa, an old Tibetan Monk came up to us very furtively and after looking all around to make sure the coast was clear he signalled for us to follow him. He led us through several locked doors, locking each one after him, until we reached a room full of Dalai Lama pictures, some only black and white photocopies of book covers with his photo on them. The old monk prostrated himself in front of the pictures and invited us to make a donation, how could we refuse!
The current protests in Tibet are the culmination of 50 years of being pushed around by the Chinese and the Tibetans have snapped. It is quite interesting to see how scared the Chinese are of the Dalai Lama, just a simple Buddhist Monk, who has managed to get so much press coverage and awareness of the plight of his people.
Show that you care about Tibet, support the Free Tibet Movement, wear one of our Free Tibet T Shirts and support the Tibetan Government in Exile.

One World Party Plan hit Isle of Man

2008-03-13T13:37:00.002Z

Sigrid Kneale our newest Party Plan consultant is introducing the Isle of Man to the joys of One World is Enough! She had her first party on Wednesday and it was a great success, she already has another 3 planned!
So if you live on the Isle Of Man and fancy hosting a party then give Sigrid a ring on 076244 59516, you get a free gift equivalent to 15% of the sales made at your party. Plus it's a good excuse to invite all your friends round for a good night in!
If you fancy becoming a consultant yourself you earn a minimum of 25% commission on the products that you sell. It's a great way to earn a bit of extra money, get out of the house and increase your social life. Plus you are your own boss so you can do as many or as few parties as you like, if it goes really well you could move onto a market stall or even a shop.
Our consultants earn on average £50 per party after deduction of expenses, so two parties a week will bring you in £100 per week, not bad for a couple of nights out! If you fancy becoming a consultant or hosting a party then click here for furthur details

Fair Trade Fashion Show

2008-03-13T13:18:00.002Z

If you weren't at the Royal Cambridge Hotel in Cambridge last Sunday then you missed a treat. The Natural Health Show put on a great Fashion Show featuring our new spring collection. Pictures coming soon!
If you are thinking of organising your own Fashion Show, then let us know. We can supply you with clothes on a Sale or Return Basis, if you sell them then you make a little bit to cover your running costs or for fundraising, if you don't simply send them back to us (within 28 days in good condition of course) and we'll refund you.
It's great for raising awareness of Fair Trade and it's a good laugh!

Spring is in the Air

2008-02-27T12:16:00.002Z

Spring is in the Air, the daffodils are blooming, it must be time for some new clothes for the new season. This year we have introduced a new range of Cool Funky Streetwear for our younger ( and younger at heart) customers.
We also have lots of gorgeous new ladieswear we have dresses and skirts made from silk sari material, we have a great range of handloom cotton dresses, skirts and blouses and we have an excellent range of tops and dresses made from recycled plastic bottles! They come from India where there is a big mountain of used plastic water bottles which are melted down to make a lovely soft material, which we use to make the clothes.
In case you didn't know it's Fair Trade Fortnight, there are lots of sales and promotions on at the moment showcasing the benefits of Fair Trade. Fair Trade is booming at the moment as people become more aware of global injustices and the conditions in which many things are produced. It is very encouraging that given this information more and more people are using their purchasing power to effect a change. How you spend your money is really important, you can make a difference.
At the end of February we are off to Thailand to visit our producers and to work on a new range of homeware. So keep checking our website for new and exciting products or if you are near Cambridge come and see our shop at 31 Bridge Street, by the Quayside and the punts.

Happy New Year

2008-01-14T14:31:00.000Z

Happy New Year, hope that you've got over the excesses of Christmas, we were very busy over the Christmas Period sending out several postbags a day of Christmas Presents. We felt like Santa and his little helpers!
January is quite nice, it gives us a chance to relax a little, but not too much! We are already getting our Spring Summer Collection together, we already have some pieces on our website, just in time for those lucky enough to escape to somewhere hot! So if you want cheering up have a look and see what we've got for you!
We have our fingers crossed that things won't be as bad in 2008 as the pundits are predicting. If it's bad for us you can guarentee that it will be worse for the poor people in poor countries some who are already surviving on very little. So please keep buying Fair Trade even if times are hard!

More News from Kathmandu

2007-10-02T11:33:00.000Z

Today I have been very busy, I was going to go to the Monkey temple this afternoon, but instead I spent the afternoon with my laptop trying to work out what to order. I've got some good samples for the youth market which has up to now alluded us.

Kathmandu is very different from the UK, the place is in a charming semi derelict state. Kathmandu's pinnacle with in the 15 th century when it was very rich , collecting taxes from all the baggage trains coming from China to India and back again. Unfortunately people are still living in the same houses which are now a bit knackered! Also as it is a valley there is a lot of pollution as the traffic fumes don't disperse very much. It is a very traditional society so holding hands between sexes is very daring ( it's Ok if you are the same sex, in India I have often seem soldiers and policemen holding hands - no they're not gay!)

Anyway to cap it all at six o'clock the lights went off for two hours, no it wasn't a power cut, it's called load shedding , there is not enough electricity to go round so each area is cut off at certain times in a preplanned rota! Anyway I went for a walk to a better lit area, I found a traditional Nepalese restaurant ( not a tourist one) and got a plate of Tibetan momos and a coke for 50p, not bad for an evening meal.

Yesterday we went for our trip around the valley, it got postponed the other day. It was great to get out of Kathmandu and into the countryside. Nepal is breathtakingly beautiful, we took a motorbike up through pine forests on dirt tracks to remote villages perched on the tops of hills. The most amazing things are the butterflies that are the size of small birds! It is such a difference having pure air in your lungs and being surrounded by green things, thats probably why I live in the countryside!

Nepal's going a bit mad at the moment, there's a petrol shortage and people are queuing for 5 - 6 hours to get 5 litres of petrol for their bikes or 10 litres for their car. You can see long lines, sometimes they go round roundabouts and block off the roads so that nobody else can get through. Then there are the Maoists; there was another enormous rally in the centre of Kathmandu that blocked all the traffic, we kept bumping into buses ( not literally!) that were covered in red flags ferrying supporters in from the countryside and today we had to stop as we tried to go up one road and they decided to start burning tyres, for no particular reason - the road only went up to a remote monastery.

We also visited the Nepal Botanic Garden which was quite nice but only really a collection of old plastic green houses and some nice woodland, apparently it's lovely when the Rhododendron flowers, once when we went trekking up in the Himalaya we saw the rhododendron trees blooming, it was amazing. My friend Prem spent most of the time collecting nettles with a set of large tweasers that he had bought especially for the job, apparently they make a good vegetable portion for Dal Bhat ( the traditional Nepalese meal of lentil curry and rice which they have twice a day every day! I'm getting a bit Dal Bhatted out at the moment!

I'd better go as I've producers to see, samples to check and material to get printed. All our new lines should be in store and online by late October.

Greetings from Sunny Kathmandu

2007-09-18T15:09:00.004Z

I'm out in Kathmandu working on some new lines for our winter collection.

It's an interesing time for Nepal, last year when I was here they were burning tyres in the street, as the Maoist insurgents were trying to pressurise the government to meet their demands. This year everyone in Kathmandu has been telling me that things are much quieter but since I have been here the Maoists have been flexing their muscles, since they have joined the government and nothing much has changed their popular support has been waning. Realising that they are not going to do well in the forthcoming elections they have been trying to get their demands met by the interim government before the elections. The maoist army who had been confined to special camps have been coming out and causing trouble and today there was an enormous demonstration of maoist supporters through the main tourist area in Kathmandu, all waving their red flags and sounding horns - it was quite impressive.

Whilst not commentating on the political situation in the country I have been very busy working on new lines for our you our valued customers. We've got some great new fleece lined jacket designs, along with some cool earflap hats, gloves and scarves. However realising that winters aren't as cold as they used to be we have some great new interseason stuff. We have some great new longsleeve tops and we are introducing a younger youth orientated range of hip designs including lots of funky hoodie designs.

As we use small suppliers and buy relatively low volumes we can get our designs back home pretty quick. We expect our new lines to be in the shelves in mid October so keep an eye on or website or even better come to our shop and try them on!

One World Parties

2007-08-30T13:48:00.000Z

To celebrate the start of the party season we have launched One World Parties, our new Party Plan business. It's the perfect opportunity to have a night out without leaving the house, having a drink without having to worry about getting home or just an excuse to invite your friends round!
So if you fancy having one of our consultants visit you and your friends and give you the chance to see, feel and try on our lovely clothes and giftware ( well maybe not try on the giftware, that would be quite difficult!) then email Catherine, our lovely Party plan co-ordinator. We have three types of party; Ladieswear, Childrenswear and Giftware.
If you love our stuff and are looking to earn a few extra pounds ( that's money not weight!) then why not join us and become one of our self employed consultants, click here for more info

Cambridge University Interview

2007-07-25T15:42:00.000Z

Yesterday the shop was full of Cameras, lights, a boom mike and a clapper board. The Cambridge University Social Entrepreneurs Society had come to film me as part of their trip around the country filming influential Social Entrepreneurs. We took up half the shop for most of the morning doing a wide ranging interview, covering us, how we started, how we developed, and my thoughts on Fair Trade together with any advice I would give on anyone wanting to become a social entrepreneur. As I said in the interview, ten years ago when I started One World is Enough, few people had heard of Fair Trade and none including myself had heard of social entrepeneurs, so it shows you how much has been achieved over the last ten years and how much there is still to do for the next ten years!
It will be appearing soon on You Tube, when it does i'll post the links on this blog( as long as I sound OK!)

New Shop opening in Edinburgh

2007-07-25T15:30:00.000Z

Hot on the heels of opening our Cambridge Shop we are proud to announce that we will be opening a second shop in Edinburgh. We are busy searching for the right property, but we will post the details as soon as they are confirmed!
We are looking for more self motivated people who would like to set up their own One World is Enough Franchise, for more information about our franchise scheme please click here
If you would like to work with us sell One World is Enough Fair Trade Products but are not ready to open a shop then we have our party plan and market plans

Where has the summer gone?

2007-07-25T15:16:00.000Z

What's happened to our summer? It seems to be tipping it down most days here in Cambridge! What weather to try and sell beautiful summery clothes! But our customers have been brilliant, as soon as the sun comes in they're in our new Cambridge shop snapping up our latest designs, if you haven't been yet then check us out!
click here for more pictures
Talking about the summer and the rain, it's the Cambridge Folk Festival this weekend and we'll have our stall there as usual on the Coldhams Common campsite so if you are going come and check us out. There are childrens entertainers every morning from 10 -2 and it's a great atmosphere, lets pray that the rain goes away !

Our New Shop is Finally Open

2007-06-08T23:06:00.000Z

After all the waiting our new shop at 31 Bridge Street, Cambridge is finally open. The lease took longer to sort out, the refit took longer than planned but finally we opened the door for the first time on Thursday, so if you are in the area, come on down, it's pretty cool , if we say so ourselves. It's down near the river, brave the hordes of young guys with clipboards trying to sell you punt tours, we're just around the corner from the quayside. As well as our usual mix of funky clothes, handmade crafts, instruments, homeware and interesting artefacts, we are introducing Baltic amber jewellery, beeswax candles made in Cambridge ( by one of the girls who works in our shop) and leather belts and bracelets.

Our new Indian Collection is in store already, we will be photographing it and putting it online, but if you want a preview come to our store! We also have a new collection of carvings, musical instruments, cute colourful children's clothes and frankly rather loud Men's Shirts coming in from Indonesia next week. It's all go at One World!

Sorry if you order has delayed in the last month but we have been really stretched trying to get the shop ready, we did the refit ourselves ( we can't afford shop fitters!). The good news is that we have employed lots more staff and we are getting broadband at our shop as well as at our internet office so we'll have a more efficient operation and better telephone support.

So keep checking out our website for new things that have just come in and check out our shop if you can! One Love!

New Shop in Cambridge

2007-03-15T13:19:00.000Z

We are all really excited, we will be opening a new shop in Cambridge. It's the old fat face shop at 31 Bridge Street, down by the quay side where the punts and cafes are - click here for a location map.
So start planning your perfect day out, a punt on the Cam, a good coffee then a gorgeous new outfit from One World is Enough, life can't get any better, can it? ( especially useful if you become detached from your punt and end up in the river!)
It should open around the start of May, the solicitors are drafting up the lease at this very moment. We will be concentrating on clothes, but will have a selection of our arts, crafts, home ware, instruments, handmade paper, gifts and lots of other interesting and eclectic things we collected on our travels, so come and see us!
So why get back into shops when all the other retailers are getting out of shops and going online? Well we like to be different and that is our big strength, we got online years ago and have a good online business, now we feel that the shop will complement our existing business. The shop will promote the website and the website will promote the shop, and our Sunday Market Stall will promote the two.
The shop will be an updated version of our old Mill Road Shop, a bit more hip and with an updated and improved collection of Clothes and Crafts. For our old customers who are always telling me how they miss us us on Mill Road, your prayers have been answered, the walk or cycle across town will do you good!
If you are interested in working for us click here for further details of job opportunities.

New Colourful Kids Clothes from Bali

2007-03-14T10:31:00.000Z

In February I took the family out to Thailand and Indonesia to see our producers. My two girls loved it although Emily ( age 3) is not too keen on spicy food, a big problem when you are in Thailand, so she ate nothing but white rice and omelet for three weeks, my wife was very concerned she wasn't getting her 5 fruit and veg portions but Emily looked very healthy and has not shown any ill effects of her restricted diet.
We first travelled to Bangkok then Chiang Mai in the North where many of our producers are based. We visited our shirt producers and have our ever popular unbleached hand spun cotton shirts back in stock, we have expanded our candle range, we have a lovely range of coconut scented candles, in the coconut husk, candles in bamboo sections, floating candles and many more goodies. Also we have a new range of wooden puzzles. All our new things are winding their way back to us.
We then flew onto Bali, where in contrast to the Spring like weather in Thailand, it was raining. When it rains it rains, no English drizzle here! Indonesia seems a little accident prone at the moment, when we arrived there were floods in Jakarta, a few weeks later there were Landslides in Flores , not to mention the mud volcano in Java that keeps ousing mud. Then there were the two ferries that sunk and the three air crashes! Let's hope that things improve, they have had their fair share of misfortune.
When we got to Bali, we left the Aussie tourists behind and headed up to Ubud in central Bali, here we visited our musical instrument maker who has just opened a new factory. It was not a factory in the sense of a British Factory, it was more of a compound, but it was amazing seeing large sections of tree, being cut up, de barked, turned and carved until they became Djembe Drums. The only machines were very primitive wood lathes, which spun the tree trunk while a man with a long blade on a pole cut the drum out of the tree trunk, everything else was done by hand. But the end product was a very professional drum.
We also spent a long time designing our new range of Children's Clothes, we have new dresses, shorts, shirts and trousers for ages 1 -10, so if you want your children or grand children to look cute and colourful then check out our children's wear, our new range will be here soon, keep checking our site.
We also have lots of balinese carvings coming back including an expanded range of carved elephants, giraffes and cats and more of our ever popular mobiles.

Lovely new designs from Rajasthan

2007-03-14T10:12:00.000Z

Sorry for not posting for a while, I have been travelling. In late January I travelled out to India to visit our producers in Rajasthan, I left the snow and ice behind and packed my summer clothes. When I got to Delhi it was freezing! You don't think of India as being cold but as I always forget the north of India has a short winter. I quickly caught a train to Rajasthan to see our producers, in the desert state it was still cold at night but quite spring like during the day.
In the last couple of years India has been booming, and the sleepy old town where most of our suppliers are based was getting bigger and tailors were now coming from all over India to work there. It's really good to see them doing well, all the wages are going up because there was lots of work for them to do, so they can afford all the essentials for their families. It's a virtuous circle because the more work there is coming in the more design inputs there are and the better the standards of the designs that we come up with. This year we have printed up our own material so that our designs should , more than ever, stand out from the high street, so if you want an ethical alternative to the boring shops you know where to come. Our new designs are on their way, keep checking our website as the new things go up as soon as they come in.

Why doesn't my order come in a nice new box lined with tissue paper?

2007-01-19T12:31:00.000Z

One World is Enough as an Ethical Fair Trade Business, is very keen to limit it's environmental impact. We have audited all stages of our business to minimise our environmental impact while still bringing you lovely things and helping our producers who living in developing countries generally feel the impact of climate change first whilst producing the least amount of carbon dioxide.
We sea freight our goods where possible, we use natural materials rather than synthetic in most of our designs, we use natural or environmentally friendly dyes where possible, we try and minimise packaging whilst properly protecting our goods and our producers work in clusters which minimise transportation costs and lead to better communication and sharing of best practice.
In England we use Green Energy in our warehouse and offices and we minimise our use of paper and recycle the paper and packaging that we do use. When we send you your order we try and reuse much of the packaging that the goods were shipped in and we reuse boxes from both ourselves and many local businesses. As well as protecting the environment it also helps keep costs down, so we can keep our prices as low as possible!
That is why we don't send our goods out in brand new boxes with ' One World is Enough' in big Red Letters on the side, mind you it would look good!

Peter's off to Rajasthan

2007-01-19T12:03:00.000Z

I'm off to Rajasthan on Monday to go and see our producers and work on our summer collection. As we are a small business working with small community based businesses in Rajasthan we can design and produce our collections very quickly. Big Retailers usually need 12 -1 8 months from design to getting their designs on the high street. We can do this in 3 - 4 months, this often means that we get the best designs first, in fact we often find that a product is more successful in it's second year, once the high street has picked up on it, than it was in it's first year! You will be able to see our new summer collections in early May, when the air is getting warmer and the flowers are blooming, mind you with climate change we'll soon have to bring our collections forward!

We are doing our bit to limit carbon emmissions, by sea freighting all our goods back to England, rather than flying them in, although it does take an extra 6 weeks. We also use natural materials, try and use natural dyes where possible and try to minimise packaging and recycling the packaging we are sent by our producers.

While I am away Patchara who has been doing our packing for the last few months, will be incharge of processing orders and answering the phone. So be kind to her as she's new to the job! Express orders may be a bit slow as we will be a bit short staffed during this time.

So I'm off to do my packing, musn't forget the sunglasses, lightweight cotton shirts ( One World is Enough of course!) oh yes and a thick fleece lined wollen jacket for when I get back to Heathrow. I hear you going to be having blizzards while I'm away! Cup of Chai anyone!

New Year, it must be SALE time

2007-01-19T11:34:00.000Z

Sorry I didn't post any articles during December we were just too busy, the orders just kept coming in and our hard working team kept packing and we got all our orders out in time for Christmas.
We had 5 times our normal level of orders and 3 times the number we had last Christmas, so were tired but happy ! It's great to feel that people are supporting us in what we are doing and it's great news for all our producers in developing countries who all work very hard to produce the lovely things we sell and thanks to you, through fair trade, they get a chance to make life better for them and their families.
Now we've had a good rest and some time away from the office it's Sale time again ! Our Sale goods are generally end of line and so we don't have many of each line in stock, so when it's gone, it's gone! So don't hang about, if there's something you want then buy while it's in the Sale!

Thank You, we love you all

2006-11-29T17:05:00.000Z

Thank you for all your orders, Fair Trade only works with your support!
We can design, import and the offer lots of Fair Trade Stuff for sale but Fair Trade only works, we can only support our producers, if you support us. It is really words not deeds that make the difference so thanks for voting with your credit and debit cards, we love you all!
It's great that so many people love what we do, please keep coming back and buying more as we are always having new things coming in.
Buying from small producers means that we only get our products in small volumes, so when it's gone its gone. So if you want something it is always good to buy it when you see it. All our products are limited editions!

The websites gone wobbly!

2006-11-29T16:52:00.000Z

Apologies if you've been looking at the website and it's been going really slowly or even worse it won't display the page that you want. It's just that we seem to have become really popular and everybody wants to look at our site and the poor servers are finding it hard to cope! Our Web hoster is putting in more capacity so hopefully this should just be temporary, please bear with us.

If you want to order and you are having problems doing so through the website please give us a ring UK 0845 257 3026 ( local rate) or 01223 413322 if you prefer or International 00 44 1223 413322. Saying that the phones went down yesterday, maybe it was too many people ringing as the web site went down! But that's been resolved so hopefully all is well.

We're getting buried under a mountain of orders

2006-11-24T20:45:00.000Z

I have to report that our website has gone mad, it won't stop churning out orders! The Christmas Rush is on, we were getting slightly concerned in October that everything was a little too quiet and our warehouse was looking a bit too full, but in November the flood gates opened!
Our packers have been working very hard to get your orders out to you and I'm glad to say that 98% are getting out on time, in fact it's only when something has gone out of stock that we are having a problem.
But we love being busy and we feel like Santa and his little helpers when we go down to the post office laden down with enormous sacks of parcels, unfortunately some of the old ladies queing up to collect their pensions don't seem so pleased to see us!
The down side to all this frantic activity is that, as all our things are handmade by small producers, things are selling out fast and there's no chance of getting any more by Christmas, when they are gone they're gone!
Our next big shipments will be in the Spring Time when we get our Spring/ Summer Collection in. We'll be getting a whole new collection of lovely colourful children's clothes, as well as our ever popular funky men's shirts and more gorgeous clothes for the ladies - keep checking our website, it's always changing!

It's here and we're getting it online as soon as we can!

2006-10-25T14:01:00.000Z

Our New Collection of Autumn/Winter Clothes from the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal has finally arrived. We are busy photographing it and putting it online as soon as we can, so over the next two weeks our new collection will be appearing on our website. So keep looking, we've got some lovely new things!

Unfortunately this has all coincided with half term, being a family friendly business we give our staff time off during school holidays when we can so, if you get the answerphone or your order takes a little longer to arrive than usual than that is the reason. Sorry but at the end of the day families come first.

We were delayed for a week because of Dushain, the 'Nepalese Christmas' when everybody goes back to their vilages for a week or two. Some of the villages in Nepal are pretty remote, involving overnight bus journeys and then several hours walking fromwhere the bus stops ( in some cases people walk for several days), so it's not surprising that they stay a while when they arrive.

Also Nepal is pretty volatile at the moment, I thought that this year after the momentuous events last spring that everything would be back to normal. Instead you have the seven party coalition government on one side trying to agree between themselves and on the other you have the maoists who are now wandering around the Kathmandu Valley demanding 'donations' from shops, hotels and other businesses. Whilst I was there a 76 year old man refused, he was taken outside and beaten with sticks.

I think that many of the Maoists aims of helping to develop the very poor areas in West Nepal that have been completely ignored by the politicans and increase the wages of the working man are very laudable. Unfortunately there is now a standing maoist army that needs to be fed, so rather than earn their own money the ex soldiers are now extorting money from the local people making themselves very unpopular.

New Autumn Winter Collection

2006-10-03T10:33:00.000Z

I've just come back from Kathmandu, up in the Himalayas. We were working on our Autumn/Winter 2006 collection, which should be here in the next couple of weeks. As we work with small scale producers we are able to turn around our clothing collections really quick and often we get the styles of the seaon in before the big retailers.
I sit down with all our producers and we explain to them the looks that we want and we work together on the design to get the clothes just right. I'm very excited with our new collection, we've got new funky designs of our best selling fleece lined jackets, chunky hand knitted scarves, lovely ear flap hats along with our ever popular slipper socks. As soon as it's in and photographed then they'll be on the web site.
We've also got lots more handmade wrapping paper, notebooks and lots of gorgeous felt bags.
All we've got to do is find some room in our warehouse to put our shipment when it arrives, we're pretty full with our latest handmade world musical instruments

Had a good summer?

2006-09-05T17:52:00.000Z

Hope you had a good summer, despite a very soggy August, I haven't heard much about a hosepipe ban recently! We went camping with the kids in Norfolk for a couple of weeks in August. It felt more like April or October with all the wind and rain but the kids enjoyed themselves anyway!
We did a couple of festivals at the end of August. We got to Greenbelt in Cheltenham to find that our pitch had turned into a quagmire, luckily we were relocated and even more luckily we found a pallet load of temporary flooring next to our new pitch. We wasted no time in laying a new floor! It turned out to be a wise move as the stalls next door were getting puddles forming inside their stalls, one even had to build a causeway out of other bits of flooring to get customers into their stall! Then there was the marquee that was flipped over by the wind right in front of our eyes. It was pure hollwood, about ten 4 wheel drives appeared about ten minutes after the event, blue lights flashing, sirens wailing, it was the Greenbelt emergency services. They are volunteers ( bless 'em) and this was the first time in 25 years that they had a real emergency to attend. They taped off half the field successfully preventing anybody getting to our stall, If there was a real emergency I would be helping them not complaining but all they were doing was taking the marquee to bits. Mind you after that Chris the tallest member of the crew stood holding onto the stall for the rest of the day, just in case!
Last weekend we went to the Waveney Greenpeace Festival which is a great little fair on an Organic Farm near Bungay in Suffolk. Looking at the wind and rain the day before we had been dreading it but it turned out to be a lovely day and we were in a wonderfully sheltered spot.The tall row of trees behind was swaying violently in the wind, stalls in the next field were being blown away but we had barely a gust.
You don't have to be mad to do this for a living....

Phew what a scorcher!

2006-06-12T13:24:00.000Z

After a very soggy and cold May, Summer is certainly here in style! We were starting to fret that all our lovely summer clothes would be staying in their boxes until next year. But since the Strawberry Fair, here in Cambridge, the Sun has carried on shining and I'm glad to say our summer collection is flying out. If you haven't seen our latest stuff then click on the links on our front page. But get them while they're in stock, all our producers are small business that can only produce limited amounts, so all our clothes are limited editions!

Our Boat is coming in!

2006-04-28T10:14:00.000Z

Great News, our boat is arriving on Sunday, laden down with our new stock from India. Our new collection is Hot, if I say so myself! I'm confident that it will prove to be our best yet, but it's not my opinion that is important but your's dear customer, as it's you who makes this all possible, you that ultimately help our producers lead richer lives.

So keep a watch on our website as the new stock will be appearing as soon as we can get the shipment unpacked and the new products online.

Reach Fair 1 May 2006

2006-04-27T14:07:00.000Z

Spring is in the air, the blossom is on the trees and the fields are full of fluffy little lambs. It can mean only one thing, it's the start of the festival season!

Our first outdoor event of the year is Reach Fair, at the small village of Reach just North of Cambridge. The fair is quite a phenomena, it is 800 years old and in its heyday it used to rival the Great Stourbridge Fair in Cambridge. These days it's a traditional May Day Fair but it does attract vistors from far and wide. There's a Fun Fair on the Green, Medieval Re-enactment and of couse the One World is Enough Super Stall!

Our other festival dates are

Strawberry Fair, Cambridge Sat 3 June
Big Day Out, Cambridge Sat 15 July
Cambridge Folk Festival ( Coldhams Site) 27 - 30 July
Greenbelt Festival, Cheltenham 25 - 28 August
Waveney Greenpeace Festival, nr Bungay, Suffolk Sunday 3 September

and you can always see us at the Cambridge Sunday Market on Sundays in the Market Square in Cambridge( as it's name would suggest!). If you are coming a long way please email or ring to confirm that we will be there and that we will be carrying the products that you are interested in.

We've been loading the Van today with lots of Summer Stuff for the Reach Fair. I've looked at the weather forecast and being a Bank Holiday, predicatably it is set to rain! But staying that out here in the Fens it's very hit and miss, as it's so flat it often rains in one village while in the next village it is dry, so don't be put off, just pack a brolley just in case!

Newspaper Interview

2006-03-30T14:09:00.000Z

This morning the local newspaper the Cambridge Evening News came round to interview me about my nomination as Social Entrepreneur of the year in the New Statesman Magazine Awards. It is nice to see that pople are recognising the work of One World is Enough in promoting Fair Trade and actually benefiting hundreds of craftspeople in developing countries. If you are interested in the nomination then click here for the full story.

I have been involved in Fair Trade for the last ten years and when we started One World is Enough nobody had ever heard of Fair Trade. Now most people understand the concept and more and more people feel that it is the right thing to do. Cambridge has even been declared a Fair Trade City by the Fair Trade Foundation.

Although we ship around the world we do have a large local following here in Cambridge, as we used to have a shop here and we still have a stall at the Cambridge Sunday Market.

Sometimes I get the impression that the national media is only interested in things going on in London so it's great that the local paper are keeping in touch with the Cambridge Success stories and that they wanted to profile me.

New Broadband Websites are ready!

2006-03-30T13:54:00.000Z

Our new broadband websites are ready, they have more pictures and less writing than our main www.one-one-world-is-enough.net site, so if you like looking at pictures more than reading articles then have a look. They are as follows;

www.fair-trade-clothes.co.uk

A new more visual interface to our clothes lines

www.ethnic-clothes.co.uk

Another graphical interface into our clothes site, this time featuring the more ethnic lines

www.fair-trade-wholesale.co.uk

Our wholesale site

You can still access these sites without broadband but they may take a little time to download. However they are just different ways of accessing our online shop, so if you are on a slow modem connection then don't worry you can still access our online shop through our main site www.one-world-is-enough.net . If you get confused then give us a ring, our different numbers are on our websites.

Happy Surfing and please email us to let us know what you think, running an internet business is a bit like living in a bubble, we never get to talk to our customers and we do miss talking to you!

New Clothes Website

2006-03-23T13:42:00.000Z

After yesterday's success in producing a new funkier wholesale website we've decided to give our clothes a fresher feel! It must be the bright blue sky and the daffodils slowly opening that's giving us renewed energy! Spring is in the air!
To see our new clothes website then click on www.fair-trade-clothes.co.uk but don't worry our old website is still up and running, the new website is to act along side it and being marketed slightly differently.

Our new Indian Shipment is now finally on it's way!

New Wholesale Website

2006-03-22T16:51:00.000Z

I've spent most of the day revamping our wholesale website to give it a funkier feel. I'm sure with our new look the orders will pour in! Click on the freedom trading link on the right and have a look. Let me know what you think. It's great to get feedback as running an internet company is a bit like working in a bubble, you never actually meet your customers as you would in a shop.

Actually it's great when I'm at the Cambridge Sunday Market as I actually get to talk to our customers. Talking of the Sunday Market I had a long chat on the phone to my friend Caroline who runs a toy stall and is launching a new website to promote it

We've got a new contract with parcelforce that's giving us cheaper prices on our international shipments. However we're trying to get our heads around them charging us volumetrically. We're trying to understand why we're being charged for 9.5kg when a parcel only weighs 3.5 kg. Beacause it's the volumetric weight of course!!?

New Stock From India

2006-03-21T21:29:00.000Z

We've decided to have a Blog to give you an insight into what we get up to in the One World is Enough Office. I hope that you find it interesting. I'm Peter, I founded One World is Enough with my wife, Laura ten years ago, these days Laura looks after our two lovely girls Lucy (4) and Emily (2) and I manage 'One World is Enough'. In the office I'm ably helped by Jo who processes the orders and does some of the web design work and Julie do does the packing and manages the warehouse.

I've been busy today sorting out the shipping of our new shipment from our suppliers in Rajasthan,India. I was there back in Februaury working on new designs for the summer. I took the family, they really enjoyed it. It's amazing how much the children pick up being immersed in a foreign culture, Lucy choose some things to bring back to show her class at school and Emily has been wondering around saying 'Namaste', which is Hindi for hello ( the literal translation is I salute the god within you). Amazingly enough we actually managed to get all the design and sourcing done! It seems like a distant memory now!

Well our suppliers have finished making the orders and it is all due to be shipped tommorrow. It comes by Sea so it should be here Mid May, a bit later than we hoped but saying that the weather has been so cold that people are still buying Winter Jackets. On our Cambridge Sunday Market Stall we've been doing a good business in gloves and scarves!