Going Beyond
Today I got great call out of the blue from the wonderful ladies at Beyond Skin. They were up from London and wanted to get together and discuss their fantastic vegetarian and vegan friendly accessories. I first had the pleasure of meeting the dynamic duo behind this super ethical label a month ago at London Fashion Week. The buzz around the Estethica section of the show was definitely echoed on their stand as I witnessed the "oohs and ahhhs" of visitors as I waited for my turn to have a nose.
Natalie(right) and Heather have created a luxury shoe brand that is totally free from animal products and kinder to the wider environment. Known by eco fashionistas for producing glam shoes that go the distance in both style and sustainability this season sees them branching out into distinctive bags and belts.
As they were visiting a boutique in my local area I arranged to meet them in one of my favourite nibble haunts Coffee Cake. My daughter Georgia was with me as she was on an inset day and we rushed from her last minute appointment at the hair dressers to our destination just in time to see the girls tucking into their drinks. Quick introductions aside and we got down to the business of talking about the virtues of going skin free. Natalie went into detail about the advantages of veggie suede and skins in their ease of use, ability to clean and how many new types of patterns and materials there were available to use. A committed vegan she explained how she wanted not only to provide an alternative to exotic skins but to open a debate on the industry. She is seeking transparency on exactly where these skins are coming from and how both the animals and the human workers involved were being treated. I was impressed by the knowledge and the enthusiasm that both she and Heather had for their products.
I stated to Natalie that I am a meat eater and a leather retailer and so couldn't be hypocritical about the use of skins. However I do seek to have as personal a relationship as I can with all of my suppliers and to know as much as I can about their practices and chains of manufacture. It was great to be able to have such an open and friendly discussion about our views even though we were coming to ethical manufacture from different places. Also I am very excited about Cerise UK stocking Beyond Skin because I value the importance of choice and welcome the opportunity to enable women to source such exquisite non animal based accessories. Not everyone will be wanting to live a full skin free life but even having a few pieces in your wardrobe is better than nothing so the easier this option is to find the better in my humble opinion.
Now if I could just stop drooling over their shoes.......