Breakfast & Beyond - Episode 4:
Vicki Jones of Sand & Palm
Vicki Jones - surfer, clothes designer and founder of sustainable swimwear brand Sand & Palm - is my guest for Episode 4 of Breakfast & Beyond. Over breakfast we discuss her journey of setting up Sand & Palm, which took her around the world gaining experience within the activewear fashion industry before settling on the North Cornwall coast. Vicki’s timeless designs are made using fabric created from regenerated ghost fishing nets and other plastic waste; she makes her swimwear from a studio in Newquay, and during our conversation Vicki shares the 360 approach she takes to running a sustainable business, the social and environmental impacts of fast fashion, why slowing down our consumption starts with reflecting on our own pace of life .. and much more.
“People enjoy having an item with a story and background to it, rather than just buying something that’s meaningless and therefore they’re more likely to throw away.
When you’re wearing something that’s been made especially for you and it’s made by someone you can identify with, that makes a difference”
To hear Vicki’s story, do join us for Episode 4 of Breakfast & Beyond… listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher & Tune-In
Breakfast: recipes, producers & growers …
Rhubarb Overnight Oats (see recipe)
Marinated Spring Veg on Magnolia Petals (see recipe)
Asparagus Dip (see recipe)
Local vegetables sourced via Fruutbox
Seeded Sourdough from Baker Tom’s
Milk from Green Cow Dairy and Trewithen Dairy
Butter by Trewithen Dairy
Lemon & Lime Marmalade (see recipe)
Tamar Valley honey, sourced via Green Cow Dairy
Freda’s peanut butter, sourced via Colwith Farm Shop
Rhubarb Jelly made by Gathered Botanicals
Coffee by Lars & Margo
Tea by Tregothnan
Cornish Rapeseed Oil by Simply Oils sourced through Purely Cornish
Olive oil via Fowey Valley
Apple juice from Tamar Valley Apple Co-operative
Rhubarb, purple sprouting broccoli, wild garlic, stitchwort & mint from the garden and hedgerows here at Botelet
Linking up: referenced in Episode 4 …
Marazul - Cornwall-based sustainable clothing brand, stocked in Sand & Palm
Waterhaul - Cornwall-based company making sunglasses from regenerated ocean plastics, stocked in Sand & Palm
University of Falmouth - where Vicki studied for a BA in Illustration · Prince’s Trust - training & business support for young people
Healthy Seas - non-profit organisation collecting ghost fishing nets & passing them on to be repurposed · Carvico - creating fabric from regenerated plastics
Triodos - ethical bank used by Sand & Palm
Documentaries - Seaspiracy and River Blue
Fashion Revolution Week - 2021 theme ‘Rights, Relationships and Revolution’
Wearing cropped trousers by The Organic Lab, top by Seasalt
Sustainable living issue: what we wear
Vicki founded Sand & Palm with the specific intention of creating a slow, sustainable clothing brand - in contrast to the tide of fast fashion that has swept many of us along for the past few decades, causing significant social and environmental problems in its wake. A snapshot of statistics that we discuss in Episode 4:
The fashion industry is the second largest polluter in the world, after oil (National Geographic)
Nearly 70 million barrels of oil are used each year to make the world’s polyester fibre, which is now the most commonly used in our clothing. But it takes more than 200 years to decompose (Forbes)
The average consumer bought 60% more clothes in 2014 than in 2000, but kept each for half as long (World Resources Institute)
Sustainable Development Goals
The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are 17 targets representing a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030. ‘Everyone is needed to reach these ambitious targets. The creativity, knowhow, technology and financial resources from all of society is necessary to achieve the SDGs in every context’ (UNDP). Translating these global objectives to tease out their relevance at the individual and small-organisational scale can inspire us to connect with these important global themes and consider what we are doing - and what more we can do - to make a contribution that supports our own work and wellbeing along with benefiting other people and the planet.
In Episode 4 our discussion referenced the following Sustainable Development Goals:
3 - Good health & wellbeing - the processes Vicki uses for creating and dyeing her clothes have been deliberately adopted as a contrast to modern clothes manufacturing techniques where the majority of production takes place in sweatshops located in the global south, and where human rights and the local environment are often compromised
6 - Clean water & sanitation - whether hand-dyeing or using factory dyes for her fabrics, Vicki chooses non-toxic colours and minimises the amount of dye used through the printing techniques, in order to reduce the impact on water
9 - Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure - the fabrics that Vicki uses to create her swimwear, made from regenerated ocean plastics, are becoming more commonplace within the fashion industry, creating a circular loop so that discarded plastic is re-used along with minimising the fossil fuels required to create new fabrics
12 - Responsible consumption & production - Vicki promotes responsible consumption and production through considering the environmental and social impacts of each stage of her clothing brand, from fabric to packaging. The items she creates are made to last through the timeless designs, durable stitching and fabrics. Customers are encouraged to keep, value, re-wear and look after their items in contrast to promoting an ethos of fast, disposable fashion
14 - Life below water - by utilising fabrics made with regenerated ghost fishing nets, Sand & Palm contributes towards the ‘cleaning up’ and repurposing of discarded ocean plastics
15 - Life on land - Vicki is conscious of choosing fabrics that respect biodiversity. With her loungewear range, she uses organic hemp fabric that is a more sustainable choice than cotton
Vicki’s story of founding and evolving Sand & Palm has also been written up in Volume 12 of Drift Magazine, with images by John Hersey.
Episode 4 Supporters
Episode 4 is brought to you with the kind support of two fantastic businesses that are based here in Cornwall but that reach way beyond the Cornish borders: Horizon Inspired and Lars & Margo. Details of both, including discount codes for listeners of Breakfast & Beyond, are given below. Enjoy!
Introducing Horizon Inspired …
Joey Hulin, founder of Horizon Inspired, offers support and inspiration through her meditation courses, nourishing retreats, soulful poetry and mindful living books.
Joey has created two self-led online meditation courses so you can participate at your own pace, which means they are perfect for fitting in busy with lives:
The 6 week Discover Meditation Course – this beginner course explores various paths, practices and philosophies
The 30 day Journaling & Meditation Course - offering you the chance to reconnect to your own inner guidance and calm
From a personal perspective, Joey was my own first meditation teacher – helping me to bring greater clarity and presence into my life – and her calm, poetic, wise and humble meditations have been particularly helpful to me over this past year of lockdown, and remain a constant source of grounding for my day-to-day.
Joey is offering an amazing 50% off her online courses for listeners of Breakfast & Beyond. If you too would like to join Joey, and learn techniques of meditation and journaling, you can access the 50% discount code the website: www.horizoninspired.co.uk/breakfast Thank you to Joey of Horizon Inspired!
Introducing Lars & Margo …
Lars & Margo are small batch coffee roasters based very near to us here in Cornwall. The beautiful aroma of their beans being ground in the morning is my perfect kick-start to the day, and I loved using their Ugandan single estate in our coffees as we recorded this episode.
Lars & Margo carefully select their beans from a network of farmers and co-operatives, and seek to bring speciality coffee to a wide audience in the most ethical and sustainable way possible, dealing directly with farmers to ensure they receive a fair price.
They have a fantastic selection of whole or ground beans available online, and if you’re in Cornwall you can pop into their lovely roastery in Liskeard to watch the process in action and pick up refills – they were even brave enough to welcome all three of our small and very excited kids, and taught them how to roast! They’re basically very lovely people who make great coffee.
Lars & Margo are offering 10% off their coffee to listeners of Breakfast & Beyond, just head to their website www.larsandmargo.co.uk and enter the discount code ‘BREAKFAST’ – all capital letters - as you check out. Thank you Lars & Margo!
Podcast recording: behind the scenes …
Thank you for listening!
Thank you for listening to Breakfast & Beyond: Conversations from Cornwall on Sustainable Living. If you enjoyed listening I’d love it if you could subscribe to the podcast, rate it, and share episodes with friends and family who you think would enjoy them. You can listen and subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Tune-In or wherever you find your podcasts.
I’d love to know your thoughts - please join the conversation and get in touch by email tia@botelet.com or instagram. Thank you and I look forward to sharing the the next episode with you!
The Breakfast & Beyond podcast is hosted at our home Botelet Farm in South East Cornwall, where my husband’s family have lived and farmed for over 150 years, and three generations still share the farmhouse today. Set in a peaceful valley upstream of Fowey, we welcome visitors to stay in historic cottages, and there’s a yurt for those who love to immerse themselves in nature.
