We have partnered with We Make Good to create our Irish Table Linen collection, as a social enterprise they believe in equality and caring for what matters most – people and the planet. They hire and train individuals from addiction, criminal justice and refugee backgrounds, providing them with opportunities to learn new skills and earn a fair wage, while overcoming barriers to mainstream employment. It's an opportunity to rebuild their lives while supporting their families. We were delighted to partner with them to produce high-quality, made in Ireland table linen that looks and does good. We caught up with Lucy Clarke Head of Operations to find out more.
What does We Make Good do?
A good way to sum up We Make Good is; We don’t hire people to sew garments, we sew garments to hire people. We hire and train people facing social challenges who have been supported to develop valuable skills, leading to further employment in their craft. After three years of building up their confidence, stability and work skills, our staff are able to move on into further employment or education.
In our recent staff survey, one staff member from a war torn background said, “I feel better knowing I'm coming to work to do something important.” This is so important to us - to be able to create a work environment that is safe, and that someone coming from a background of trauma chooses to turn up every day to work and grow in a community of makers. Our team often says that work is like a second family.
Tell us about the makers for the Magee 1866 table linens?
We have workers from many different backgrounds such as refugees, recovering from addiction or coming from prison. Currently, we have several women from the Ukraine who are extremely skilled seamstresses, as well as our team leader Mariam who led the team on the Magee 1886 linen project.
On working with Magee 1866…
The team loved working on the Magee homewares, especially the beautiful colour ranges that you have chosen! The nice thing about the homewares is that the team all worked together on it, collaborating on everything from maximising efficiency in the production line, attaching the swing tags, to folding them consistently. We felt a great sense of pride seeing the finished products in-store! One of our workers - Naimot - is a hand weaver who originated from Nigeria, and was very interested in finding out about the history of Magee and its heritage. Seeing the evolution of the company over the past 150 years is an inspiration to us all.
SHOP TABLE LINEN
