I’d like to introduce you to Natural Suburbia’s new sponsor, Eco Dreams.
Here’s more about their business.
Hi,
I’m Justine and I run Eco dreams with my twin sister Laurene. Eco dreams is a website specialising in reusable menstrual products. Eco dream started out on Etsy under the names Green cycle pads and Butterfly cloth pads. When I was 15, I started sewing cloth menstrual pads to send to disadvantage schoolgirls in Africa, they miss up to 20% of their education due to not having access to affordable menstrual products. I enjoyed the creative process of making cloth pads, from choosing the fabrics to designing the pattern and finally adding on the snaps. When I turned 16, my sister and I opened our Etsy shops Green cycle pads and Butterfly cloth pads. After a year we decided that we wanted to move on from Etsy and create our own website, so Eco dreams was born on the 20th June 2014.
We wanted to create a website that only stocked the best reusable menstrual products on the market today. This is what largely sets us apart from our competitors. We are the only website of its kind, we are extremely picky when it comes to the products that we stock. They must be animal testing free, have no harsh chemicals, be as natural as possible and made ethically and as environmentally friendly as possible. We favour products that are made in the EU and made by artisans and work at home mums. We also try to do as much as possible on site to reduce our environmental footprint, all of our beautiful hand dyed fabrics are died on site by Laurene and all of our cloth pads are made by us on site.
We are constantly coming up with ways to be environmentally friendly, such as, all of our packaging is biodegradable and our business cards are made out of recycled paper, all our fabric scraps get bagged up and sent to individuals for crafts or they go to a nursery for the children to make collages out of them. I think that a business should not just be there to make money it should give back to the community too. At the very heart of Eco dreams is giving back to the community,we have a non-profit project called AMPS for Africa which we run with our partner in company Emilla (AMPS stands for alternative menstrual products) we assist members of the public to donate cloth pads to girls in Africa by linking them up with the organisations that will distribute the pads to the girls and give them help and support via our Facebook group.
Natural Suburbia: What is your creative process?
Eco Dreams:
It all starts by looking at my fabrics, I pick up the ones that call to me that particular day from my fabric stash then it’s a case of finding a matching fleece backing and cutting all the pattern pieces out.
I usually listen to music while I’m working too. After I’m done cutting, it’s off to the sewing machine to sew up all the pads. The last step is to add the snaps! Then I box them up in storage boxes ready to be listed on the website each Friday.
Natural Suburbia: What do you enjoy most about your business?
Eco Dreams:
It has to be talking to my wonderful customers, I get to see a part of womens’ lives that is usually kept secretive and shrouded in taboos. I get to hear stories of women right through adolescents to menopause.
Natural Suburbia: Are there any new exciting products you would like to tell us about?
Eco Dreams:
We were the first UK stockist to stock the Lily cup compact, an innovative collapsible menstrual cup. Lily cup compact is the world’s first collapsible menstrual cup that can fold flat, fitting neatly into its protective case. Collecting rather than absorbing your menstrual flow, it respects your intimate balance and doesn’t cause the dryness often associated with tampons. Lily cup compact is made from medical-grade silicone that is so soft, you won’t even feel it when it’s inside. It offers up to 10 hours of hassle-free protection, day and night. What’s more, because Lily cup compact is reusable, it is both eco-friendly and cost-effective.
We are constantly adding new products to the range and there are always exciting things going on so if you want to know what new products we are bringing in follow us on our social media pages.
Eco Dreams Links:
Eco Dreams is offering Natural Suburbia readers a 10% coupon code:
The coupon code is natural, it expires on 8 February so it’ll be running for a week. The discount is 10% off for all orders. There is a little bar saying enter coupon at check out it’s exactly the same as any checkout system for larger websites.
Thank you Justine and Laurene for sharing about your wonderful business here and for offering a coupon code for your lovely products.
If you are interested in becoming a sponsor on Natural Suburbia, you can contact me on lindadawkins@mweb.co.za
