The irony of giving up a highflying
career in chemical
engineering to launch a business
producing organic clothing is not lost
on Natalie Britton.
Natalie led a team which shipped
chemicals around the world and
earned a good salary, but there was
something missing. "I knew I wanted
to do something positive that would
have a small environmental
footprint," says Natalie, who lives by
the sea at Broad Haven, near
Havefordwest.
That positive something was to
launch, in partnership with her best
friend, Laura Speake, a high-quality
range of children's clothing made
from pesticide-free cotton fabric.
The pair met when they worked
together in Cardiff and their
friendship grew to the point where
they were bridesmaids at each other's
weddings.
Thailand beckoned for Laura when
her husband relocated there with
work and Natalie fulfilled her dream
of living in Pembrokeshire when her
husband had the opportunity to have
his own ophthalmology business in
Haverfordwest.
Despite the thousands of miles
between them the friends realised
that, with the help of new technology
and a global market, they could run
a business together.
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For Laura, also an engineer and a
mother of two children under the age of
five, it was the frustration of having a
limited availability of clothes produced
from an organic source that confirmed
there was a niche in the marketplace.
"There's plenty of choice now when
buying organic food, but when it comes
to organic clothing there is so little
available," she says.
Laura has always been very creative
and interested in design, but her real
driver for launching the Nalan Collection
was the need to do something positive to
help preserve the planet for her children
and their children.
"Natalie and I believe in great design
that has a small impact on the planet and
a positive influence on its people," says
Laura, who had worked as a mechanical
engineer for a multi-national production
company.
They have secured a certified source of
cotton for the organic range, but global
supply is very limited.
They hope that demand for their
products will boost global production of a
crop currently in very short supply.
"Organic cotton is a limited resource,
but if people demanded it, it would drive
more production by this method," says
Natalie. "This would help farmers in the
fields who currently have to use chemicals
that are detrimental to their health and to
the environment."
The cotton is sourced from farms
certified by Control Union Certifications
(CUC), an organisation formerly known as
SKAL International. This body offers a
global one-stop shop for a wide range of
certification programmes.
Organic cotton is grown free of artificial
pesticides and fertilisers which protects
farmers against exposure to these
chemicals.
Not only can organic cotton be much
softer than conventional alternatives,
making it ideal for babies and toddlers,
but it allows consumers to make ethical
buying choices too, says Natalie.
"When you buy this product you know
the farmers have had a fair price for it
and that they haven't had their water
sources polluted by chemicals. It is also
reassuring for parents to know that they
can dress their children in clothes made
from natural products."
They haven't compromised on design or
colour. Their bright and bold designs
feature motifs including butterflies and
tractors and the range comes in three
fabric colours - cream, crushed
strawberry and a complementary creamy
blue. "The colours are more ice cream
than sorbet," says Laura, who has
responsibility for sourcing, design and
management. Natalie runs the sales and
marketing side of the business from a unit
at Pembrokeshire College.
Pembrokeshire has been a huge source
of inspiration to her. As a child, her
husband had holidayed in the county
every summer and when he and Natalie
visited together for the first time she fell
in love with it completely.
"We came down here every weekend,
but I realised that I had to make a bigger
leap," she says. "We wanted a better
quality of life and we made the right
decision by moving here."
The Nalan Collection is available online
at www.nalancollection.co.uk
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