Carefully Selecting Our Partners With Eco-Creditials And Life As An Experiment In Ethical And Sustainable Business
At Grow, we carefully select our products so when people come in, not only can they enjoy free live music and art, we can celebrate the story of our products and their eco-creditials - everyday! This is just part of our life as an experiment in ethical and sustainable business. However, on Fri 5 and Sat 6 July we go a step further when we celebrate our 5th Birthday as we have a weekend of free live music, a community soundsystem, DJs and a special edition of our eco-fair, Future Fair!
At the Future Fair on Sat 6 July, we’ll be putting a focus on our commitment to the environment and to work towards for a fairer society. For starters, from the beginning we have paid London Living Wage, use eco-electricity and recycle, upcyle, resuse and use biodegradable and compostable products wherever possible. This has not been easy for a small independent business who is running free events for the community and it is a choice - only made possible by the people who share our passon and for people who chose to spend their hard-earned money on our products. We also encourage discussion about the challenges ; how we can do better and share our learnings. The experiment is - in essense - is it possible to be a financially sustainable enterprise in London whilst:
Paying London Living Wage
Using eco-electricty; eco cleaning and recycled products
Sourcing locally and sustainably wherever possible
Working in partnership with independent and ethical enterprises wherever possible
Using organic and fairtrade wherever possible
Offering free entry events wherever possible to share music, art and community workshops
At the Future Fair on Sat 6 July, we’d be happy to tell you more about Grow and the products we sell. but if you’re unable to make it - here’s a quick summary - We source our products as ethically and locally as possible, in order to minimise our environmental impact and ensure as much money as possible goes back to companies that care about the environment; are independent; support charities, local and work for the common good. In addition, many of the product manufacturers have a strong relationship with their suppliers, including fairtrading and creating community projects in the areas they are sourced from.
We serve organic wine, prosecco and cider; lagers and ales from local and independent breweries; Kompassion Kombucha (brewed in Grow Studios); Hackney Herbal Tea; and Direct Trade Union Coffee; the fairtrade cola Ubuntu; Charitea; locally made Rejuce as well as Grow’s very own signature drinks such as Vegan Hemp White Russian and Homemade Hackney Spiced Rum. We have many more products which deserve their story told, but here are some examples below (with photos above) . We’d happy to tell you more at the Future Fair on Sat 6th July! For a full list of drinks, please see our drinks menu.
HIGHLIGHTED PRODUCTS
ReJuce are a Hackney Wick based drinks company who take the ‘wonky fruit’ and ‘ugly veg’ deemed too asymmetrical for display by the big supermarket chains, and thus destined for the bin, and make a range of bottled juices from them.
Charitea and Lemonaid both made from organic produce that aim to be ‘beyond Fairtrade’. Every time you buy one, you support the Lemonaid & ChariTea Foundation, which funds social projects in the growing regions. In this way, they have already raised more than € 4,000,000 for schools, solar projects and many other initiatives in South Africa, Sri Lanka and Latin America; guided by the principle of helping others to help themselves.
Hackney Herbal teas are organic and handmade by a social enterprise promoting health and wellbeing through herbs grown on sites throughout Hackney and run creative herb-related events and workshops.
Ubuntu was the UK’s first Fairtrade cola, in 2007, and has been supporting Fairtrade sugar farmers and water access projects in sub Saharan Africa ever since.
Our house white wine, along with our organic prosecco is is Wild Thing - who work with Born Free Foundation to save animal lives and protect endangered species worldwide. Both are organic and suitable for vegans.
Luffa Vine Sponge - our chosen sustainable alternative to plastic dish washing pads.. Grown in rural Gambia, supporting women’s co-ops, reforestation and food communities. They are available from Lufa Vine Sponge who'll be selling these at Grow's Future Fair on Sat 6 July.