Greeting card, gift and stationery company, Caroline Gardner is collaborating with Waitrose & Partners on a range of tote bags, the sales of which will raise funds for the Meningitis Now charity.
The new bag collection, which feature Caroline Gardner’s distinctive designs, comprises two foldaway pouch totes that are made from recycled plastic bottles as well as two large shopping bags made from juco, a blend of jute and cotton.
This follows on from the publisher’s decision to go ‘starkers’ on its cards, swopping cellowrap for a patent-pending InFold tri-fold corner tab that grips the card with the envelope with a peelable sticker applied to the reverse of the card. https://www.pgbuzz.net/caroline-gardner-undresses-its-cards-and-commits-to-fashion/
Coming into affect in October, the publisher predicts that once it works through to all its ranges, the companywide change to using the InFold will save the use of 11,000 plastic bags every day of the week.
In tandem with its measures to eradicate single-use plastics, Caroline Gardner has worked with Jutexpo, (one of the world’s leading suppliers of eco-friendly reusable bags), to produce the range of shopping bags for Waitrose.
The new pouch totes are made using Jutexpo’s HALT process, which turns post-consumer plastic into a soft, durable fabric called rPET (recycled polyethylene terephthalate). “It’s fantastic that each bag is made from 3.5 recycled plastic bottles,” confirmed Caroline Gardner, co-founder of the business.
HALT bags are the first to have certification to the Global Recycled Standards (GRS). This latest tie-up with Waitrose follows Caroline Gardner’s collaboration with Jutexpo and John Lewis & Partners for a HALT bag in April of this year. (https://www.pgbuzz.net/john-lewis-is-working-towards-nakedness-from-october/)
The new collection is now on sale in Waitrose stores costing £4 for the pouch bags and £6 for the large juco bags with 40p from the sale of each pouch bag and 50p from the sale of each large juco bag being donated to Meningitis Now.
Meningitis Now is a cause very close to Caroline Gardner’s heart. The company’s co-founders Caroline and Angus Gardner chose the charity over 16 years ago, having had a personal experience with the illness when their then 15-month-old son Sebastian contracted meningococcal septicemia. Fortunately he recovered and the family looked to help raise awareness through fund raising on behalf of Meningitis Now.
Over the years, Caroline Gardner has also raised over £170,000 for the charity through the sale of Caroline Gardner Christmas cards.
Top: Waitrose & Partners has collaborated with Caroline Gardner on the new range of eco-bags.
