In the autumn of 2023, we were introduced by Diane Richardson, founder of and inspiration behind Sseams, to Adam Robertson, who together with Nina Falk, created the Kalopsia Collective in Dunfermline as a textile artist collective back in 2012. Its mission was to collaborate with others who shared their own values and mission adding new insights and skills as they went.

The response was highly supportive which led them to expand the work they did to manufacturing for third parties, launching the KC Manufacturing service in 2016. Its remit was to improve their clients’ material efficiency and product sustainability efforts with an emphasis on stock and material re-purposing.

Operating as a registered social enterprise, Kalopsia supplies a range of clients from start-ups to luxury brands with high-quality, ethical and sustainable accessories and apparel from their standardised product collection.

Keen to help them expand even further we looked at ways to support them in their enterprise and identified the absence of a button-holing machine as a key obstacle to widening their product portfolio. Naturally, as the leading maker of natural material buttons in the UK, we were sympathetic to their plight. So, we were invited to join the collective by supplying just such a machine. Keen to help the UK manufacturing sector succeed, it was an offer we couldn’t refuse.

So, just before Easter 2024, we arranged for a fully reconditioned button-hole machine to be sent to Dunfermline, ready and primed for the tasks at hand. We are all delighted with the result and are really looking forward to following their new-found success in the months and years to go.

We would love for you to get in touch with Adam at KC who would be super-keen to support your sustainable manufacturing needs. He can be contacted via email at info@kalopsia.co.uk

Just a quick note to let you know that we will be exhibiting at the Textile Forum in a couple of weeks again. We met so many old and new friends and customers at the last event back in September last year that we just had to be there again. So, make a date in your diary for Wednesday 13^th and Thursday 14^th March 2024 and head off to One Marylebone, NW1 4AQ (same place as last time). The nearest tube station is Great Portland Street. Entrance to the event is entirely free, so no excuses.

Events like these are a great way to meet many people in a very short time. We can get to know our customers and their needs much better, while they can see for themselves all the exciting things we are working on at our factory. How can you resist the invitation?

See you there!

Greenwashing’ is on the rise it seems and has been criticised by some as merely being a PR or marketing stunt used to increase sales by promoting the companies’ green credentials among which are a number of high-profile global fashion concerns. Hardly surprising they do so, however, given that in the UK alone ‘ethical’ spending (i.e. spending based upon ecological or ethical reasons) amounted to over £120bn in 2020 – and is constantly rising.

Thankfully, consumers are getting wise to the practice and are exposing the greenwashing claims and token gestures advertised by their authors.

For those brands and designers who take green issues seriously, it is quite a problem as this demands a deep-dive into their entire supply chains – from the origin and materials of their fabrics to the policies of factories which make up their garments.

But, when it comes to buttons, we, at Courtney & Co., are here to help. Unlike many of our peers, we only make buttons from natural, sustainable, bio-degradable raw materials. We also use Oeko-tex 100 standard dyes throughout, bio-degradable packaging and other natural media such as walnut shells, maize husks, porcelain, pumice and wooden pegs and cubes to matt and polish our buttons. (Our use of chemical, non-organic materials is kept to an absolute minimum throughout).

So, if you are keen to promote your green credentials, we are here at your side, doing what we do best so that you can do the same.