Our Suppliers
We have carefully chosen our range from local suppliers where possible and these are their stories ...
Anoint Skincare
An artisan, family run skincare company founded on the belief that nature knows best. The team at Anoint are passionate about Essential Oils and their therapeutic properties and handcraft their range of gentle skincare in small batches. Ingredients are all natural and skin nourishing.
Anoint follow a packaging philosophy of ‘reuse or recycle’ and where ever possible use glass, tin or cardboard rather than plastic.
Based in Kerikeri in the beautiful Bay of Islands in the far North of New Zealand.
Bento Ninja
A family run business founded by Noriyo Epps when she grew tired of her two boys coming home from school with broken plastic lunch boxes. To solve this problem Noriyo (who is originally from Japan) developed a fabulous stainless steel bento lunchbox system with her husband.
The name 'Bento Ninja' comes from Japan. Bento means food container in Japanese, and a Ninja is a Japanese spy who is swift, changeable and strong.
Noriyo is very passionate about our environment and has lived up to the Bento Ninja name by expanding the plastic free range to become the first stainless steel clothes peg brand in New Zealand and has added items like chopsticks, sporks and plates. Noriyo continues to grow the Bento Ninja range and we are very excited to see what comes next!
Boa
"What I am doing is only dealing with the tiniest fraction of waste but I really believe that if lots of people make small changes it will add up and have a positive impact on the planet.” - Hilary Jacomb
Hilary handcrafts beautiful, eco-friendly and functional homewares under the Boa brand, a business that she developed after teaching herself to crochet in her first year of university. Her original designs are a modern take on a traditional craft, and use only repurposed materials: discarded fabric off cuts from the clothing industry that would otherwise be destined for landfill.
The Body Crystal
Established by Barbara Corish & Family in 1998 and very much a family business to this day. 100% Kiwi owned and operated.
Proud supporters of World Animal Protection NZ and Sea Shepherd NZ, located in the town of Palmerston, in New Zealand's South Island.
The Green Collective
Based in Nelson, New Zealand. A small town with big dreams to help you live more sustainably. Since 2014 The Green Collective has proudly conducted months of research, testing and reviewing to create their inspiring and colourful product line.
Working with as many local companies as possible (in Nelson and in New Zealand), 'Reduce, reuse and recycle' has always been one of their motto’s. Add 're-purpose, re-fresh and re-create' and you start to get a sense of how they see the world and it’s possibilities.
Lanies
This small natural skincare business is run by beekeeper and keen gardener of edibles, Sarah. When her twins were young one suffered from eczema and not wanting to put steroids on his little body, Sarah used some of her own beeswax, honey and herbs to make her first balm. After some trial and error the Essential Herbal Balm was born which Sarah uses every day to help keep eczema at bay and to soothe shaving rash, boo-boo's and cuts.
Initially gifting her balm to family and friends, the balm proved so popular that Sarah created the Lanies brand - a portmanteau - combining the letters from her three boy’s names. Sarah makes all the products herself and is dedicated to small batches of handmade products from her own spray-free herbs, beeswax and honey. No unnecessary nasties, ingredients or packaging.
As well as Lanies, Sarah and family also run a lifestyle block in the Waikato, New Zealand.
Little Mango
Created by Sarah, mother to three boisterous boys and lover of all things natural. With the birth of her first son, Sarah instantly started looking at everything she was putting into and onto her body. One of the biggies was deodorant. She tried EVERYTHING out there and nothing worked.
Sarah started making her own and soon discovered an effective formula. After five years of trial and error and testing, Little Mango was born allowing Sarah to share the world of natural living with others and offer an alternative to the chemical standard. We hope you and your family love the Little Mango range as much as we do.
Mcginns Madefresh
New Zealand has many wonderful ingredients and Jo from Mcginns Madefresh loves to showcase them. Every ingredient has been considered, and batches are intentionally kept small, so that when you purchase a product you know you are buying something that has been carefully and freshly prepared.
Mcginns was hatched after the birth of Jo's son, as she considered for the first time how chemicals commonly found in personal care products could effect a rapidly growing body. Soon followed research and development and production of an entire range of skin care products. Over the years Jo's range has grown to include Facial Serum, Sunbalm and now Solid Shampoo and Conditioner Bars.
Meals In Steel
The Meals In Steel dream began as a nightmare when their son was diagnosed with leukemia in 2004. As a family, they changed the way in which they lived, with a new view and focus towards a cure for their child. They immediately turned to research and collected information on a number of organic and Bio-grown super-foods and products. They even looked to past generations for guidance on the natural products used to cure their illnesses as children.
The research turned to knowledge and the knowledge turned into a passion to share. The business started from scratch importing, manufacturing, packaging and creating recipes and formulas for alternative healthy foods and lifestyle products. The results for the entire family were life changing and their son is now healthy and working within their growing business.
My Vita Bag
According to The World Counts, 5 trillion plastic bags will be consumed worldwide this year. That's 160,000 a second! My Vita Bags are combating these statistics with their range of organic cotton bags.
Cecilia Clavijo is CEO and founder of My Vita Bag and is a mum to three gorgeous boys who challenge her thinking and actions with their innocent questions and observations. They serve as her constant reminder of the things that give life meaning and that are worth protecting.
Cecilia hopes that My Vita Bag will help New Zealand and the planet become a better place for our children to live in today and for many years to come.
Panna Soaps
This is not your typical story. Based in New Brighton, a seaside suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand. Panna Soaps was born out of a dream that Annamaria Berta had one night in 2014 in which she was making soap. This was an awakening and Anna has been working hard ever since to make that dream a reality.
In the beginning soap making was an escape from reality as Anna had been suffering from depression following two tragic family losses. Making soap has given Anna much more than she could ever have dreamed of, all of a sudden she had new goals, new friends and lots of love from people just as passionate about the environment as she is. Most importantly Anna discovered the truth that no matter what, life is beautiful.
nil
We know how hard it can be getting back into the workforce after having a baby or even just finding a job that works around you and the kids. Life can be a juggle at times and then you add work in there ...! It can feel like everything’s falling apart. At nil all employees apart from one are mothers. They know what it’s like trying to find work that ticks all the boxes. So they decided to create an at home workforce.
At nil all parts of the business are touched by mummas wanting to contribute to a sustainable idea. 11 amazing mums are employed all around New Zealand who make Beeswax Wraps and Vegan Food Wraps in their homes. nil uses the traditional Outwork Model to enable these women to provide for their families and empower them. Every week they send out a box with the special wax recipe and organic fabric to the mother’s homes. With work coming to them, the lovely nil ladies don’t even need to leave their home to work. From here the amazing mothers can decide when they want to work and it’s completely on their schedule.
These mummas do such an amazing job! nil feels extremely lucky to have them all. So every time you buy a Beeswax Wrap, Vegan Food Wrap or Fire Starters, know that it’s been hand-made by one of nil's mothers. Once they are finished they send the products back to nil HQ. Where the amazing nil warehouse team packages them up and sends them out.
Along with nil we love the idea that we are helping mothers get back into the work force and it’s on their terms. They don’t need to schedule sports practice, play date, family time or just day to day life errands around a job. With our support they schedule their work around themselves and their families.
Paradigm Associates
Are a sustainable communications, design and print business committed to creating better futures for our communities and this extraordinary earth.
Paradigm specialise in what they loosely describe as ‘public interest’ work. Areas of special interest are: environment and sustainability, social justice, public health and the arts.
Where they do commercial work it is because those businesses also share their values. As foundation members of SBN (Sustainable Business Network), they have always believed business could and should do better. Now as others see the importance of sustainable business, they are proud to have helped lead the way.
PATCH
Was born when James Dutton noticed that while trying to protect his son’s wounds his skin was in fact reacting badly to a common wound covering, causing it to swell and turn red.
James was shocked to discover that there is an array of chemicals that lurk in common plasters. Ultimately the wish for a wound care product that wouldn’t cause nasty skin reactions that also served as a way to help heal the wounds is the reason for the creation of PATCH.
Learning that an ever-growing number of the population react or are allergic to the current wound covering solutions only propelled the business to where it is today.
Zerobag
Creator Aaron Jones, an architectural designer by trade, thought of the idea while living in London in 2008. Appalled by the ever-increasing plastic pollution in the city, he set upon finding the perfect lightweight, long life, quality reusable bag that could fit in his pocket. The original Zerobag™ was launched in 2009 and was made in New Zealand from recycled parachutes.
A shortage of out of service parachutes led Aaron to develop Zerobag 2.0 which launched in 2018 and is made from 100% certified recycled plastic bottles (rPET) material. A portion of each Zerobag sold is donated to Sustainable Coastlines in an effort to further protect our environment from plastic pollution.