SOMETHING REMARKABLE
The edit
Discover Ethos
at Christmas
Showcasing brands that don't cost the earth.
Our values
At Discover Ethos we pride ourselves on working with brands who share our ethos for sustainable and transparent business. Each brand featured in this years' edit fulfil one or more of our sustainable values; including being cruelty free, vegan, handmade, plastic free or partnered with a charity. Shop consciously this Christmas from our curated selection of brands below:
Acaso is a London-based brand, founded by the partnership between two Illustrator/Print and Graphic Designers. After experiencing working in the tech market, the duo decided to embrace yet another creative journey by launching an online brand inspired by modern obsessions - accessories, customisation and technology - Acaso brings together a sophisticated colour palette with unique, simple and stylish designs.
Each design is creatively made, using both hand painted and digitally art processes, choosing from a colour palette specifically selected for the brand. For the print process the brand partners with a print company based in Hampshire, United Kingdom. All cases are made to order from high quality recycled polycarbonate material and printed using an in-house, environmentally friendly sublimation process. All products are shipped using minimum recyclable packaging approved by Intertek.
Bushbells – founded by mother and daughter duo – Jax and Ann, is a community based organisation that produces bright, vibrant, comfortable clothing made from Kenyan kikoys and fine cottons and profits have built two schools from scratch. They started Bushbells to help a widowed tailor, Sammy, find more work – in order to support himself and his three young children. The kikoy clothing that Sammy and his team produced provided the funds to build classrooms.
Bushbells’ whole ethos has always had community and sound sustainable practices at heart. Four tailors means that the production line is limited, ensuring no waste. Colour runs are short and when they’ve run out, another order is then placed. Keyrings, ladies’ shorts, patchwork pullons, shirt zip bags and water bags are all made from off-cuts. Leather belts are made to order – also avoiding unnecessary waste. Enoch, their leather and bead-worker they’ve known for over 25 years. They upgraded his shop in 2021. They encourage slow fashion (wait for something you really want) and to buy less and buy better. The tailors use their feet for ‘pedal power’ - to work their trusted Singer machines, so they are not dependent on electricity and packaging is in sugar cane bags and recycled tissue.
ERTSUL is a young jewellery brand seeking to create beautiful and unique handmade jewellery with sustainability as a priority. All of ERTSUL’s pieces are completely handmade by self-taught jeweller, Charlie, in his studio in West Norwood, South East London. ERTSUL uses only recycled silver, slow and sustainable small-batch processes and avoids any animal products throughout the handcrafting process (unlike most jewellers, who often use leather tools and animal fat-based polishing compounds).
ERTSUL started off making a range of minimal, handmade and timeless silver jewellery with organic features, but is working towards creating more unique and interesting pieces which reflect various values and ideas, such as the belief that we must rescue and nurture our forgotten bond with nature, the planet and each-other. At the moment ERTSUL is still selling simple items on Etsy , but the new website will be live soon. For now, the best way to keep up with ERTSUL is via Instagram @ertsuljewellery
Only Enso
Only Enso: Home Fragrance inspired by Japan 円相
Each Only Ensō item is hand poured and packaged in small batches in Birmingham, UK. All of their products are vegan and cruelty free, their wax is paraffin free 100% natural soy wax and their fragrance oils are high quality, so you don’t need to worry about inhaling any bad toxins. The wicks are eco-friendly cotton, the labels and packaging peanuts are biodegradable, and the wax melt packaging is recycled and recyclable.
They package each candle in a reusable linen bag and each candle comes with a plantable seeded dust cover, so you can use your empty jar as a plant pot to grow flowers when the candle is finished. Only Ensō products are heavily inspired by Japan and you will notice that all of their scents are linked to Japan in some way. Their name is inspired by the ensō circle (円相) which is a sacred Zen Buddhist symbol which is used in Japanese calligraphy. The ensō circle represents the circle of life, the beginning and end of all things and the connection of everything in existence. It is a symbol of simplicity, harmony and infinity. Ensō artists use the drawing of the circle as a meditative exercise, a time to stop striving for perfection and let the mind be free to let the body create. Every ensō circle is unique, just like us.
Rhimani
Rhimani offers bright, beaded jewellery that supports the protection of endangered species. We are a proud patron to the charity Tusk. Our items are handmade using glass and sterling silver.
Find Rhimani at the Bournemouth University Christmas fair (6th December) and the Oxford Brookes University Christmas fair (7th December)
Sacha Beee
Sacha Beee make sustainable bespoke jewellery. Each piece of jewellery is one-of-a-kind and handmade in the UK.
Their aim is to be completely zero waste and they do this by ensuring packaging is recycled and recyclable. Any plastic sent with supplies is taken to plastic recycling schemes and any scrap metal from making jewellery goes to a jewellery metal recycling scheme. We aim to source all materials as responsibly as possible so run a Jewellery Recycling Scheme called BeadCycle. Customers can send old jewellery to us in exchange for a voucher and we use this to create new pieces in order to close the loop.
Find Sacha Beee at the Bournemouth University Christmas fair (6th December) and the Oxford Brookes University Christmas fair (7th December)
Tula + Tye
Tula + Tye is an independent sustainable unisex loungewear brand that creates conscious, cosy and colourful tracksuits ethically-made from recycled materials and eco-friendly dyes.
In summer 2022, the brand launched its summer collection – ‘the dopamine drop’ using its very own hyperlocal production model; Three-Mile Threads™. The new initiative means that all the clothes were crated from scratch by carefully selected suppliers within three square miles in Leicester, UK.
The Three-Mile Threads™ supply chain starts with Recover™ yarn being knitted into fabric - a mixture of recycled cotton from factory offcuts and recycled polyester from plastic bottles. The pieces are sewn together in small batches by a family-run factory, dyed with eco-friendly non-toxic dyes, and then embroidered, labelled and dispatched using recycled, recyclable or reusable labels and packaging.
The new process is the brand’s attempt to ensure an ethical supply chain with a low carbon footprint that champions local businesses and British manufacturing, particularly given controversy around garment workers’ wages and conditions in Leicester factories. Tula + Tye is on a mission to change the reputation of the city by taking it back to its roots and harnessing its years of expertise and resources.
Zephyr
At Zephyr we make sustainable bespoke jewellery. Each piece of jewellery is one-of-a-kind and handmade in the UK.
Zephyr Jewellery was founded in 2020 by owner and beachcomber fanatic Natalie Houlston. Natalie handpicks all of her sea glass for her handmade jewellery from beaches across the world and often finds shades of greens (that were often previously glass bottles all the way through to blues, purples and reds. This is the most sustainable kind of jewellery you can find as all pendants are recycled!
These pieces are then hand tumbled and drilled to be made into sustainable and recycled jewellery. These beautiful pieces come on chains ranging from gold and silver plated all the way through to sterling silver and 14k gold. Gift Vouchers are also available to gift to friends and family this year. Find Zephyr at the Bournemouth University Christmas fair (6th December) and the Oxford Brookes University Christmas fair (7th December)
Kera is a vegan candle company founded in 2019 by Anu, an Indian-born Londoner with a slight obsession with candles. Anu started Kera with the hope of bringing together her heritage and her passion for living a sustainable life. Inspired by her childhood growing up in a small farming village in Kerala, India, Kera aims to encapsulate the simple, eco-friendly way of life by using non-toxic, biodegradable ingredients and materials that are reusable and planet-friendly. The candles are based on traditional Indian scents and ingredients, and are made from vegan-friendly soy wax.
Only Enso: Home Fragrance inspired by Japan 円相
Each Only Ensō item is hand poured and packaged in small batches in Birmingham, UK. All of their products are vegan and cruelty free, their wax is paraffin free 100% natural soy wax and their fragrance oils are high quality, so you don’t need to worry about inhaling any bad toxins. The wicks are eco-friendly cotton, the labels and packaging peanuts are biodegradable, and the wax melt packaging is recycled and recyclable.
They package each candle in a reusable linen bag and each candle comes with a plantable seeded dust cover, so you can use your empty jar as a plant pot to grow flowers when the candle is finished. Only Ensō products are heavily inspired by Japan and you will notice that all of their scents are linked to Japan in some way. Their name is inspired by the ensō circle (円相) which is a sacred Zen Buddhist symbol which is used in Japanese calligraphy. The ensō circle represents the circle of life, the beginning and end of all things and the connection of everything in existence. It is a symbol of simplicity, harmony and infinity. Ensō artists use the drawing of the circle as a meditative exercise, a time to stop striving for perfection and let the mind be free to let the body create. Every ensō circle is unique, just like us.
Rhimani offers bright, beaded jewellery that supports the protection of endangered species. We are a proud patron to the charity Tusk. Our items are handmade using glass and sterling silver.
Find Rhimani at the Bournemouth University Christmas fair (6th December) and the Oxford Brookes University Christmas fair (7th December)
Sacha Beee make sustainable bespoke jewellery. Each piece of jewellery is one-of-a-kind and handmade in the UK.
Their aim is to be completely zero waste and they do this by ensuring packaging is recycled and recyclable. Any plastic sent with supplies is taken to plastic recycling schemes and any scrap metal from making jewellery goes to a jewellery metal recycling scheme. We aim to source all materials as responsibly as possible so run a Jewellery Recycling Scheme called BeadCycle. Customers can send old jewellery to us in exchange for a voucher and we use this to create new pieces in order to close the loop.
Find Sacha Beee at the Bournemouth University Christmas fair (6th December) and the Oxford Brookes University Christmas fair (7th December)
Tula + Tye is an independent sustainable unisex loungewear brand that creates conscious, cosy and colourful tracksuits ethically-made from recycled materials and eco-friendly dyes.
In summer 2022, the brand launched its summer collection – ‘the dopamine drop’ using its very own hyperlocal production model; Three-Mile Threads™. The new initiative means that all the clothes were crated from scratch by carefully selected suppliers within three square miles in Leicester, UK.
The Three-Mile Threads™ supply chain starts with Recover™ yarn being knitted into fabric - a mixture of recycled cotton from factory offcuts and recycled polyester from plastic bottles. The pieces are sewn together in small batches by a family-run factory, dyed with eco-friendly non-toxic dyes, and then embroidered, labelled and dispatched using recycled, recyclable or reusable labels and packaging.
The new process is the brand’s attempt to ensure an ethical supply chain with a low carbon footprint that champions local businesses and British manufacturing, particularly given controversy around garment workers’ wages and conditions in Leicester factories. Tula + Tye is on a mission to change the reputation of the city by taking it back to its roots and harnessing its years of expertise and resources.
At Zephyr we make sustainable bespoke jewellery. Each piece of jewellery is one-of-a-kind and handmade in the UK.
Zephyr Jewellery was founded in 2020 by owner and beachcomber fanatic Natalie Houlston. Natalie handpicks all of her sea glass for her handmade jewellery from beaches across the world and often finds shades of greens (that were often previously glass bottles all the way through to blues, purples and reds. This is the most sustainable kind of jewellery you can find as all pendants are recycled!
These pieces are then hand tumbled and drilled to be made into sustainable and recycled jewellery. These beautiful pieces come on chains ranging from gold and silver plated all the way through to sterling silver and 14k gold. Gift Vouchers are also available to gift to friends and family this year. Find Zephyr at the Bournemouth University Christmas fair (6th December) and the Oxford Brookes University Christmas fair (7th December)