Sweet dreams are white and green

As an interior designer, Sari Winckworth was always on the look-out for the perfect set of bed linen. You know the type – high-quality cotton sheets that are somehow both crisp and soft at the same time, and duvet covers that don’t dull with washing; keeping the glowing, white look you always see in magazines.

“I said, ‘I’ve got to find out what makes good bed linen,’ she says. “So, I did a huge amount of research into the cotton industry and I set up my own line of high-end bed linen.”

The only problem with high-end bed linen is that it isn’t very accessible – in fact, it’s really expensive. As Sari set out to find ways to bring high-quality cotton bed linens to Ireland that the average consumer could afford, a brilliant online business was born: White and Green.

“That’s where my daughters, Rebecca and Danielle (Dani), got involved,” she smiles.

A family of many talents, Rebecca had achieved her master’s degree in international development after spending years travelling the globe as a professional musician.

Her sister, Danielle, was heavily involved in the fashion industry from a young age. Armed with their unique skillset; they came together to develop an online business selling fairly traded, organic cotton bed linens at an affordable price. Because their business is entirely online they feel it is more accessible, both in price and availability, to the whole country.

“We only sell online,” Rebecca explains. “The idea behind this is that it’s easier for the customer. When we set up, we were ahead of the times and people were still a bit uncomfortable with making online purchases. Now, people know our brand. By being online, anyone around the country can order our products with a quick click and have it delivered the next day.”

For Sari, it’s all about quality. From entire bed sets to cotton towels, scarves and babywear, one of her most important achievements is that she didn’t have to give up on high-end quality to make the product line more affordable – they were able to do it by buying fair trade cotton.

“In a lot of cases, the reason the high-end can be so expensive is because there are so many middlemen along the tracks, like distributors and wholesalers,” she says.

“We work directly with our factory in Calcutta. We visit about twice a year. Our ethos is to keep it all very simple; not to go with trends and fashions, just give people what they want. You don’t have to be living in a mansion to enjoy these linens.”

The way the fair trade system works, Rebecca, Sari and Danielle work directly with the farmers and the factory in India, which is where all of the 100% organic cotton is processed. They pay higher-than-average prices for the cotton and, because of the lack of these “middlemen”, they also get their high-quality cotton linens more affordably, which enables them to sell the linens for a better price.

They aren’t just able to make their product line more affordable this way – they are also making a positive impact on the lives of the farmers and factory workers involved in the production of the cotton by selling products that have been sustainably grown and processed.

“We work with a big organisation that goes into these small cotton farms (in India) and they help the farmers convert to organic production,” Rebecca says.

“It means that all of the neighbouring farms have to convert as well because of [the possibility of] cross-contamination. They introduce things like ladybirds, crop diversification and using animal dung as fertiliser and they bring these farmers together to form co-operatives.

“They get paid more for organic cotton. The key is, they’re making a fair wage, there’s no child labour and we’re paying a price above market average as well as providing extra funding (for community development).”

Rebecca spends time on these farms and in their factory when she visits India, to ensure the farmers and processors they work with are indeed able to make a decent living. The concept of “fast fashion” in recent times and the exploitative nature of the fashion and textile industries have turned many consumers off buying inexpensive items – a move, Rebecca believes, that is going in the right direction.

“[We believe] when you buy something, you should make a considered decision to buy something that will last; and if it can be sustainably and ethically made, even better,” she says. “[Our products] are not more expensive than other brands and you can rest assured that they’re ethically made. We see lots of older consumers buying our bed linen for younger generations – for wedding presents or birthday gifts – because they know they will still be using them in 10 to 20 years’ time.”

While things are going from strength to strength with White and Green, it can at times be difficult working so closely with one’s family. I ask Sari if things run more smoothly working with two daughters; each of whom has different talents, or if they sometimes lead to conflict within the family dynamic.

“I suppose one of the problems is if you live together,” she says. “Dani will often say to me, ‘Mom, can we please talk about something else?’ Sometimes you’ve stuff on your mind that you want to say and when you see them, you grab them – no matter the time of day. Then the other stuff; the normal stuff you’d usually be talking to your mother about, sometimes doesn’t get said, which is a shame.”

Dani is currently living in Sydney, Australia, where she has launched White and Green; opening it up to a new market. Rebecca says the expansion has been wonderful; though the distance can be difficult.

“It presents its own difficulties, because it’s the worst time zone we could ever be working with,” she laughs. “When we start in the morning, she’s already switched off the laptop and doesn’t want to talk about work.”

It’s apparent, though, that even though they are physically apart and all focusing on different aspects of the business, they thrive because they love what they’re doing – and they love each other.

“We grew up in a family that was always very conscious of how we treat people,” Rebecca says. “I’ve travelled a lot and have seen how lucky we are in the Western world – the way we consume here directly affects developing countries because they make so many of our products. I felt very passionate about doing something that would impact positively, so it made sense to go in with mum in this business.”

For more information see whiteandgreenhome.com

A special thank you to Rathsallagh House who graciously hosted us for this photoshoot. For more on the location see www.rathsallagh.com