It's all very well making lovely beds. To be honest, that’s the easy bit and the bit that we know the most about.
Harriet and I have always said that we wanted to do things a bit differently. From day one we set out to make our Secret Linen Store a fun place to work, a store that makes and sells amazing textiles, and a business that does good things for people and the planet.
In the early days we worked hard to grow our reputation, product range and team. With that in place, obviously ever-evolving and improving, we are now in a position to give back and that’s exactly what we are doing. This makes us very happy indeed.
Here’s a bit about our chosen charities and how we are helping.
Our National Charity: Choose Love
An amazing organisation, founded in 2015 after a small group of celebrities took to social media to help misplaced people in Calais. The charity grew from there as Help Refugees and changed its name in 2021 to Choose Love. To date (Feb 2023) they have raised over £80 million for displaced people worldwide.
Why Choose Love? We wanted to find a charity that helped people that don’t have homes and nice beds, as we do. We met with Choose Love, liked them a lot and especially loved their colourful and positive approach to a problem that quite honestly seems far too big for anyone to tackle.
We are supporting Choose Love in two different ways. First, by donating money. We have sales and promotions like most other stores... we sometimes pledge a percentage of sales from these promotions as a one-off donation.
Secondly, by exclusive designs, we have launched a small collection that we are selling with 100% of profits going to Choose Love. You can browse the full collection and bring some joy to your space here.
We have donated almost £40,000 to date, you can see where this money has been spent here.
Our Local Non-Profit CIC: Sussex Seabed Restoration Project
Harriet and Molly grew up in Selsey Bill, surrounded by the sea, swimming after school with their grandma and marvelling over the slippery kelp that found its way to the shore there. Seaweed with all of its lovely shapes and natural patterns has also always been an inspiration for design and pattern for Molly.
When we discovered that seaweed plays a crucial role in the ocean's ability to absorb greenhouse gases, and that seaweed is better at absorbing CO2 emissions than trees are, we jumped in our metaphorical boat to see how we could get involved. Not only is seaweed good for the planet, it’s also super important to our seabeds for creatures to live and feed. A shocking 97% of seabeds along the South Coast have been destroyed over the last few decades.
Sussex Seabed Restoration Project, founded by Steve Allnutt, is working hard to put the kelp back where it should be; between Selsey Bill and Brighton on the south coast. We have chosen this project as our local community interest company and will be doing lots to help where we can.
We are supporting Steve firstly by donating money. The Sussex Kelp Restoration project is crowdfunding. We have kicked off with a donation of £250 and we will continue to help with further donations.
We will also help by raising money for this project with sales on our site of our Selsey, Brighton and Sea Green 100% Linen bed linens. When you make your bed with these designs, you will be helping the seabed too. So far we have been able to donate more than £650, and will continue to donate every single month.
We also aim to get involved ourselves. All our staff live along the south coast, and by giving our time we can help too. We have a lot to learn about seaweed, and I’m sure we will get a bit wet along the way... but we’re looking forward to every splash and are even more excited about learning about all the good that has been done. You can find out more about Steve and the Sussex Seabed Restoration project here.
You can help the kelp too here.
Goods for Good
Despite our best efforts, we do end up with surplus product that can't be sold on the website. However, we are determined that this stock does not go to waste and so we have partnered with this fabulous UK charity that works globally with other charities to make sure that these items end up in the hands of those that need them. Read more about Goods for Good here.
By choosing us, you are helping these amazing charities too and for that we say thank you so much from the very bottom of our duvet covers.
As always, do get in touch if you would like to help.
Molly and Harriet
