Guest post: Gecko Clothing Kickstarter

A strong advocate of the ‘No to Gender Stereotypes in children’s clothes and toys’ movement, and pro-organic I was really interested to read about Gecko Clothing’s kickstarter, hopefully getting gender neutral clothing manufacturing off the ground in a BIG ON STYLE way! With five days left to run I encourage you to get behind Gecko Clothing’s plans and offer your support; to give you some more background this guest post is brought to you by Gecko Clothing, check them out now!

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We are Gecko Clothing

We: are a husband and wife team endlessly aided by our 15 year old daughter, all-be-it begrudgingly these days, 5 year old son who’s enthusiasm for EVERYTHING more than makes up for the teens lack thereof and our smallest member, a toddling almost 2 year old. Think Von Trappes, but a lot less singing and organisation.

Gecko Clothing is what we do. Gecko Clothing is based on 4 founding principles. We create clothes that are:

1. Of funky & colourful unisex design;
2. That are ethical and eco-friendly;
3. Practical and hardwearing;
4. That don’t cost the earth.

Because we believe that EVERYONE regardless of age and gender deserve clothes that are:

1. Bright and colourful, that allow them to express themselves and stand out.
2. Fit for their purpose, whether than be soft fabrics perfect for crawling, or robust attire for exploring.
3. We believe that no person, animal, or our planet should suffer to bring us fashion.
4. Lastly we hope to continually strive to bring our prices down through the economies of scale

No more pink is for girls, boys must be tough and girls can’t play with dinosaurs and trains!

Our clothes will always be unisex because we are very passionate about campaigning to remove the gender labels in children’s products as they just perpetuate outdated stereotypes. We simply think all kids things should be unisex then girls and boys will be free without the reproach of society to like what they will. No more pink is for girls, boys must be tough and girls can’t play with dinosaurs and trains!

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We use organic cotton grown within a 40km radius of the factory that makes the fabric and the garments so the CO2 footprint is low. They are GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) registered which means EVERYTHING they do, right down to the printing dyes, cleaning procedures and packaging, has to be eco-friendly. They also buy the cotton through Fairtrade cooperatives supporting farmers with a premium price for their product.

We are a profit driven business which has put people off sharing our campaign. Our actions have a positive effect on society. The 2 things don’t have to be at odds. We don’t require donations to do our good. By manufacturing sustainably and supporting Fairtrade cooperatives all people involved in our process get paid fairly and treated fairly. So in effect, the more successful we become, the more people we can help without ever asking for a donation.

Kickstarter Campaign

Right now we have a Kickstarter campaign live to raise £13,000 by the 24th of June so we can manufacture 500 units of our nature inspired dungarees and 500 of our trousers of space and science (250 of each design). We have 5 days to meet our goal. If we fail we don’t get the money and nothing will be deducted from backers for their support. Please check us out and support in any way you can, we have some pretty awesome rewards you can grab from cool temporary tattoos and badges to our unique dungarees and trousers (which are run to ages 7-8, cut roomier for cloth bottoms up to age 2-3)

 

Good luck Gecko Clothing, love from Ang! x

Disclaimer: I read about Gecko Clothing via my personal networks and love the idea, this guest post is to raise awareness of something I’m interested in, it is not a sponsored post

Trespass Jada Ladies Waterproof Jacket Review

Why does it always rain on me?

I’m no stranger to the great outdoors; as you know we live in the rainy North in the land of the Fog on the Tyne and we don’t have a car so I’m reliant on decent outdoor gear to see us through the seasons. There’s nothing like waiting for a bus in the pouring rain after a long day at work, or worse still first thing in the morning seeing me spend the day soggy and miserable!

Trespass Jada Ladies Waterproof Jacket Review – The practicalities

My trusty red rain jacket is bright and fun but it doesn’t really cut the mustard as a waterproof. Being offered the chance to select a better jacket from the range on offer at Trespass was pretty much my ideal review opportunity! The women’s Jada waterproof jacket is ideal for those who need a decent jacket that looks good but goes the extra mile in terms of waterproofing. Coated with Trespass’ specially formulated Tres-Tex membrane it’s waterproof to an impressive 15000mm with taped seams, and that big number with all the zeros is the reason I chose it! I’ve worn it out all this week in the inclement weather and stayed warm and dry in comfort.

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Style and substance

I like to run in the rain so was pleased to see that the Jada has underarm ventilation zips which allows fresh air to circulate; it has a high breathability rating to boot and I like the slim fit and fab decent sized hood (this probably sounds odd, why would it not have a good hood?! Maybe I’ve always just bought crap raincoats but the hoods are always really small in them!)

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One of my favourite walks is down by the Farm and through the woods near us so the Jada rain jacket got a really good testing this week as we were out for a good couple of hours in the rain and the jacket really stood up to the weather, I was dry and happy which is more than I can say when I wear my usual jacket!

I have to say the best thing about the jacket after all the practicalities is that it fits a tall girl like me without me having to buy a bigger size (this is a medium and I am a size 12) – I can never understand why a waterproof would have short arms and it’s long been a frustration of mine that my red raincoat sleeves are at half mast so I get wet cuffs! Even better these have a handy pocket in the left sleeve to keep small essentials dry and close to hand.

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The Jada is currently retailing at £46.99 which is more than half price and makes this a bargain super waterproof!

Disclaimer: I received this review product as a complementary product, all views and opinions are my own

Mindfulness and Meadows

Having started working full time again I started doing two things that have been mutually supportive, firstly following the Marie Kondo prescription for removing unwanted and unnecessary ‘stuff’ from my life, and secondly practicing mindfulness with a greater focus recently; something I first explored with a CBT therapist when in recovery from postnatal depression I have gradually become more ‘practiced’ at meditation and managing my anxiety and depression with regular sessions. I decided to buy the Headspace app with extras in May, the free guided meditations are brilliant by the way, I just really like the extended app; a favourite is the guided meditation for going out walking, it focuses on movement, flow and really paying attention to how your body feels as you stroll.

I often take my lunchbreak now as an opportunity to walk, tune into the meditation and tune out getting some headspace and appreciating the world around me, I highly recommend taking just ten minutes a day to form a habit around this, whether sitting still or moving once you’ve been practicing for a while. Where better to work than from home in this respect?! All of these photos were taken on my travels during May and June and they are as sunny and joyful as my steadily improving mood! Taking in meadows, cycle paths and just relaxing in our ‘yarden’ I have started to really pay attention to my surroundings and notice my thoughts, paying them a little attention and then letting them go. I find I feel like a more relaxed parent to, if I am playing with J or enjoying her company and my thoughts drift I am much more adept at bringing myself back to just be present in the moment; if you’d told me I could live like this two years ago I would never have believed you, caught up in frantic thinking and worries!

I’m not going to write more, instead I just want to take some time to appreciate the photos and continue my mindfulness journey, if you’d like to know more, or have any thoughts on meditation and mindfulness I would love to hear from you!

Beachcomber Finds at Seaham

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Late last Summer we spent a week on the beach at Druridge Bay and logged our beachcomber finds - now I’m back with a part two, having spent the day at Seaham Harbour, famed for its seaglass.

Until the early 1920s Seaham was the location of the largest glass bottle-works in Britain and the waste glass from the factories was dumped into the sea, time and tide has transformed the waste shards into polished beads and people head down to the Harbour to collect the End of Day sea glass.

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Beachcomber Finds at Seaham

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The beach is beautiful with great rockpools too. We started a tradition when she was tiny to always make a ‘family circle’ with our footprints whenever we visit a beach, and then Joss sits in the middle for a photo!

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We are sea glass novices, although I ended the day with a keener eye, but we managed to gather a small handful of gifts from the sea.

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Now to think about a part two on displaying our finds!

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And finally we rounded off our walk with a visit to see ‘Tommy’ the WW1 sculpture installed last year, these photos don’t need any words

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Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall