The eco-worriers: Meet the women who want to save the planet

We love the planet

Meet the women who add a touch
of green to everything, from underwear to jazz

By Fiona Mccarthy Updated: 16:55 BST, 26 March 2024











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Sara Simmonds

With almost a decade's experience in luxury fashion as a menswear buyer for Harvey Nichols, Sara struck out on her own in 2006 to launch a savvy jeans collection called Sharkah Chakra (meaning ‘hand-make life'). The fairly traded cotton, sourced from farmers in West Africa, is hand-dyed with natural indigo and woven on wooden selvedge looms by co-ops in rural India and then hand-cut, hand-tailored and hand-finished in Italy. The pockets feature exquisite one-off embroideries and inside the jeans is the name of the artisan who helped to make them. ‘It's the antithesis of sweatshop manufacturing - we are helping to keep these traditions alive while creating a fabulous-fitting pair of jeans that you can be proud to wear,' she explains. ‘It's about luxury without exploitation, creating something with a sense of individuality, timeless design and true quality.'

Prices from £195, sharkahchakra.com, tel: 01392 662990

 


Hilary Blume

Hilary Blume, recently made a dame for services to the voluntary sector, gives new meaning to the power of one. She has been working in charity for 40 years, establishing the Charities Advisory Trust in 1979, and the Good Gifts Catalogue in 2003: ‘The life of a family in a rural Indian village can be transformed with as little as a £15 gift of four chickens,' she says. She works her motivational magic at home too - this year, she arranged with the RHS for the first time to give away timber, paving stones, plants and trees to community organisations and schools following the Chelsea Flower Show, and recently organised the planting of 45,000 oak saplings around the countryside through Trees for Cities and the Tree Council. ‘I always look for easier, fairer ways to do things - instead of seeing a huge problem, I like to chip away at the edges. I've always believed that if everybody could help just three other people, we'd have a great world,' she says. ‘Everybody, everywhere, deserves a better life.'
charitiesadvisorytrust.org.uk,

tel: 020 7794 9835

 



Joanna Ketterer

Joanna's delicate, delightful silk and cotton underwear draws adoring ‘oohs' and ‘aahs'. She set up Luva Huva in 2005, having become frustrated at being unable to find special, one-off knickers. With a degree in textiles from the Surrey Institute of Art and Design and a love of beautiful designs, she came across some vintage floral fabric one day at a market and realised it would make great lingerie. She started selling her designs to friends and then set up shop at festivals and markets around her home county of Suffolk. ‘I use a variety of end-of-line, remnant or offcut pieces of silk, satin and cotton that would otherwise go to waste, and every garment is handmade in the UK,' Joanna enthuses. She sells to boutiques as far afield as Los Angeles, New York and Luxembourg. The next collection will include eco-friendly fabrics such as ‘bamboo and soy, which are breathable, recyclable and feel so good next to the skin'.Prices from £20, luvahuva.co.uk, tel: 07917 533988

 


Helen Mudie and Kate Millbank

One Eco Home's Helen and Kate want us all to enjoy beautiful design with an environmental conscience. ‘Our idea is to show that being "eco" can be really chic and you don't have to sacrifice style or quality,' says Helen. Using Kate's background in environmental architecture and Helen's interior design expertise, they have developed a rigorous assessment process - from checking a supplier's use of natural and renewable materials to the fairness and safety of its working conditions - to vet a product before it is stocked. As a result, One Eco Home's website boasts everything from curvaceous carved Forestry Stewardship Council-approved garden love seats to chandeliers made from recycled champagne glasses, jelly moulds, soft Welsh blankets and modern bathroom armoires. ‘We want to provide pieces that can't be found anywhere else, that are beautiful in their own right and have a wonderful story behind them,' enthuses Kate. One Eco Home also offers an eco design service.oneecohome.co.uk, tel: 020 8835 0101

 


Ellie Bradshaw

Chefs Rick Stein, Mark Hix and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall are already raving about the way Cornish Sea Salt pops deliciously with flavour on the tip of their tongues. MD Tony Fraser - a forester based in Africa for 20 years, but in search of a new direction in life - heard there had once been an Iron Age salt works off Cornwall's Lizard peninsula and went to investigate. ‘There was no magic recipe for starting a sea-salt harvesting plant. We started from scratch,' explains marketing director Ellie Bradshaw. Three years later, with a new eco-friendly plant only eight miles from the turquoise sea - and innovative techniques that minimise the impact of production on the surrounding geologically sensitive environment - Cornish Sea Salt has arrived. ‘We want it to be as pure and natural as possible, from the taste to the way we produce it. That aim drives what we do on a daily basis,' enthuses Ellie. cornishseasalt.co.uk, tel: 01326 554720

 


Ruthie Culver

Songstress Ruthie Culver loves nothing more than mixing sultry jazz ballads with self-penned ditties about ethical shopping - Elton John is already a fan. Yet Ruthie makes crooning with a social conscience feel positive rather than drab and worthy.‘I grew up in a family who grew their own vegetables and recycled - being a responsible citizen was an everyday part of life,' she explains, ‘so it makes sense that this responsibility should extend across all aspects of my life today.' For the publicity shots for her forthcoming debut album, Refashioned, she wore a dress designed by top eco couture house Junky Styling, and chose to make the cover from recycled cardboard printed with vegetable inks. She recorded the tracks at Europe's only solar-powered recording studio in London's East End, and is giving fans the option of low-carbon-footprint downloading. The album will be released on 30 September, celebrated with a concert at Pizza Express Jazz Club, Soho, London.ruthieculver.com

 


Rosie Ames

Rosie runs Green Union, an online directory and wedding planning service for all things green when it comes to the big day. With a background in design and floristry, she has established a directory of trusted suppliers, from ethical dress designers and organic cake makers to eco stationers and fair-trade jewellers, and provides wedding-planning services for those in the Southwest. ‘It's not true that you have to be rich to have a green wedding - in fact, if you source food and flowers locally and seasonally, it's always going to be cheaper,' Rosie says. She's full of great ideas - ‘instead of a tacky plastic marquee, try tepees made from sustainable birch poles and canvas, or walk to church instead of taking a car.'
Later in the year she will launch an ‘ecochic' wedding boutique on the site, sourced from ethical UK and fair-trade suppliers.greenunion.co.uk, tel: 01769 550580

 


Fiona Parkhouse

It was while searching for a natural deodorant for her daughter Samantha (pictured right, aged 12) that Fiona, an ex-marketing executive for Estée Lauder, was inspired to create her own all-natural skincare collection for teenagers, called Amie (meaning friend in French). ‘I wanted something natural but affordable, that would simply start them off with a good cleansing routine,' explains Fiona. The result of two years' research with a cosmetic chemist, Amie is an all-UK made, paraben- and chemical-free capsule collection of two cleansers, a moisturiser, exfoliator and eye-make-up remover that boast over
95 per cent natural ingredients (such as may blossom, elderflower, orange blossom and sweet almond oil). ‘Our faces are our calling cards, especially for teenagers - if they don't feel confident about their skin, they don't want to go out. It's vital they feel good about themselves.'Prices from £4.75. From Boots stores and boots.com, Waitrose, Superdrug and amieskincare.com

 


Carole Harvey

Former Boots executive Carole teamed up with partners Rachel Gravett, Dr Glyn Edwards and Professor Keith Harrison to establish Natural House, the UK's first certified organic household cleaning range. ‘The more we found out about the hazardous ingredients in everyday cleaning products, the more we realised there was a need for a healthy, harmless alternative,' she explains. All ingredients, grown without pesticides or genetic modification, can be traced to source and are safely manufactured, the packaging is sustainable and the chemical-free range is UK-made. Natural House's Purisaki Detox Pflaster Fake programme for the home includes liquids for washing dishes, surfaces, bathrooms and windows, plus organic soap flakes, ‘just like grandma used to use', and room aroma kits. As Carole points out, ‘There are so many pollutants in the world, why bring more toxins into your home if you don't need to?'From £4.70, from natural-house.co.uk, tel: 0115 960 4038

 


Michelle Mason

As a graphic designer and illustrator, Michelle Mason has always been conscious of creating responsible designs using safe and sound materials. At her graduation show at Chelsea College of Art & Design, she donated 30 per cent of her takings to Friends of the Earth. Whether it has been her screen-printed bags (exclusive to London's Southbank Centre) or bold, bright lampshades on eco-certified unbleached cotton (‘digital printing saves on excessive use of water'), hand-finished by artisans in the UK, Michelle tries to work with traditional craftsmen rather than mass-produce overseas. ‘Keeping things local makes for a better product because I know the quality is right,' she says. Her latest design, the Stella rug (right, inspired by a piece of antique lace), made from sustainable 100 per cent wool felt, was a happy accident when experimenting with designs in another material, and she loved it so much she launched it straight away. michellemason.co.uk

 


Oliver Paul and Helena Doy

For Oliver Paul and his cousin Rob Paul, launching the Suffolk Food Hall last year on the family farm near Ipswich, with its mix of small producers, café and garden centre under one roof, was a huge leap of faith - but it quickly began paying off. ‘We want it to feel like an old traditional market town, where you can walk along with your basket and interact with the producers, ask for advice, taste new things and have some fun while doing your weekly shop,' he enthuses. Helena Doy, a young artisan baker, is one of the four ‘anchors' (alongside a fishmonger, butcher and cheese specialist) to the hall's success. ‘Having worked front of house in hotels for ten years, I wanted to do something for myself, so I trained as a baker and started wholesaling breads locally, using all organic flours,' she explains. For Oliver, quality is essential - ‘We have cut out the middle man so customers can be assured of a product's traceability and freshness. It will be local, seasonal and organic wherever possible, and it will always be hand-picked by us so customers know it's good.'Suffolk Food Hall, Peppers Lane, Wherstead, Ipswich, Suffolk, tel: 01473 786610, suffolkfoodhall.co.uk

Photographs: Charlotte Murphy