IN FOCUS | 1+1 Collection

 

Next up in our In Focus series is an insight into our 1+1 Range. To coincide with our animation video shown above, that you may have also seen doing the rounds on social media, we thought it would be a good idea to provide you with a bit of context. 

If you haven’t got the memo already, at WAWWA we are passionate about preserving the planet and protecting the people on it. Since our inception, it has been our mission to do things the right way. The human race has been exploited by a capitalist system and whilst it has affected all of us in some way, it has had an extremely detrimental impact on a select few. So we want to help those less fortunate out in the best way we know how, by providing them with some decent clobber!

The 1+1 range includes reversible scarves, organic socks, heavyweight organic tees and beanies. For each item purchased from the range, we donate another to someone less fortunate. This is showcased by the lovely video produced by One6th Animation Studio and sound tracked by  Picturesonix. 

This emotive video that could compete with any John Lewis Christmas advert follows the journey of two characters; Barry and Alex. 

Barry represents the 4000 plus people who sleep rough on the streets in the UK at this present moment in time. According to Homeless Link, this is a statistic that has risen almost every year since their records began. This statistic only forms part of a wider problem as it is estimated that over 320,000 people in the UK are homeless. One is considered homeless, if they sleep rough or live in temporary accommodation. However, this doesn’t account for the ‘hidden’ homeless such as sofa-surfers and those that live insecurely in sheds or cars for example. The causes of homelessness are extremely diverse, with individual circumstances and structural factors typically intertwining. Individual circumstances include poor physical health, mental health problems, alcohol and drugs issues, bereavement, experience of care, and experience of the criminal justice system. Structural factors are those that are typically out of a person’s control such as poverty, inequality, housing supply and affordability, unemployment, welfare and income policies. It baffles us to think that in a day and age where billionaires exist and companies are valued in the trillions that thousands of people are still without a home. Granted we aren’t promising to solve the homeless crisis but we want to do our bit to make people’s lives that little bit more bearable. 

Alex, the person donating one of our beanies to Barry, represents those lucky enough to be in a position to help others. They realise that Barry, like the majority of homeless people, are in such positions through no fault of their own and no one deserves to sleep rough. Alex is fully aware that they are only a couple of missed rent payments away from being in a similar situation to Barry. Alex is also aware that such rent payments could also be missed due to factors totally out of their control. 

• 1 in 4 people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year (Mind). 
• Up to 8.3 million British people are unable to pay off debts or household bills (National Audit Office). 
• 3.8% of the population are currently unemployed (ONS)

All of the above could cause a person to lose their home, and I’m sure most people have suffered from one of these problems at some point in their  lives. 

We are never going to urge you to buy anything from us, because as far as we’re concerned the most sustainable way to consume is to consume only what you really need. So, if you do need to buy anything from us, we strongly encourage you to try something from our 1+1 range. You’ll be getting a great quality product, that is designed to last and another will be going to someone like Barry who truly needs it. 

Take care folks and look after those around you. Sometimes people are fighting battles you know nothing about.