Our charity and community work
We at KarlaCola continue to support and give back to charities we feel are important at the time (especially to Karla and her family), and continually support communities and fundraisers.
A huge part of our focus and one of our core values is to reduce our environmental footprint and make smarter decisions based on how they affect the environment.
All the decisions we make for products we stock and products we make are reflective of that. Every detail down to the packaging we use and the eco friendly tissue paper we purchase are reflective of these important decisions,
Our sundresses are made from an organic cotton poplin. Not only is the fabric stronger with longer durability but it also means any small amount of offcuts we have left over can break down in the compost. Before we decide what is counted as scraps, we carefully sift through all fabric left from production to determine what can be used up in a resourceful way.
First we save the bigger pieces for our beeswax wraps. A local Adelaide company dips these in the highest quality wax made with all natural ingredients and we are also supporting her small handmade biz while doing this.
The next size gets saved and cut into our headbands, thinner sash ties, and lastly smaller pieces for scrunchies.
Any offcuts that don't work for the above items, are set aside & bundled into fabric packs and as you can imagine what is left after that, is mostly the end selvedge of fabric and hardly any is wasted or left to go in the bin.
Jersey dresses, Swing dress, Tee Dress and Everyday Tees, are made from an organic cotton jersey. The heavier jersey we use for dresses is durable, long lasting and very flatting on the body. The offcuts from production are turned into wide twist headbands, charity twist headbands and face masks. We donated over 350 face mask last year alone to emergency workers on top of making as many masks as we could for the general public.
The charity headbands focus on a different project each quarter and my children all help me make these over the school holidays (usually). Last year we donated to several charities - CFS $2500, Djirra -a womens shelter in Melbourne for domestic violence $1000, Liguarian Bees through Rural Aid $1000, as well as the Hutt Street womens shelter here in Adelaide for $850.
Our Tissue paper is from another small business that makes their paper from recycled paper and is compostable. They use vegan friendly dies and they are a part of a tree alliance program.
'Our Eco-Packaging Alliance is a great way to contribute to global reforestation, and show off your eco-friendly packaging! For every order we make, we’ll plant trees for you in areas of need’
Recycled mailers. We use pre paid mail satchels from our local independently owned Australia post. Last year I emailed and tagged Australia post on a weekly basis showing 50-80 packages mailed per week asking them to make the switch to recycled bags and I am so thrilled that they finally did ( i know I wasnt alone in asking them to make this switch).
By purchasing these pre paid envelopes I am also supporting another small business so although I could be printing postage online for a Australia Post discount I choose to try and support another small business in the process *my post office is independently owned). Our International mailers by Hero, are made of recycled compostable materials and all of them can be put in the green bin.
Charity
As mentioned above supporting charities and doing our part is very important to KarlaCola and our family.
Charities we have supported in the last 2 years
$1500 to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation
$580 raised by Amanda Westley and I to Goolwa primary school for the Indigenous students to help with uniform cost, excursions etc
$500 donated to Healing Our way
$885 OCRF 2021 - Ovarian Research Foundation
$1000 to Djirra to support Indigenous women in domestic violent relationships
$800 to Hive Aid Ligurain Bees through Rural Aid
20 face masks sent to the indigenous community womens shelter
350 face masks sent to frontline emergency, health workers during the start of the pandemic when accessing a mask wasn’t easy
$1000 to Hive Aid for beekeepers
$850 to Hutt St Womens Domestic Violence Shelter
$1070 OCRF 2022 - Ovarian Research Foundation
$200 to Equine Sanctuary for Animals
$1000 donated to Breast Cancer Australia ABCR
If you have suggestions for fundraisers close to your heart, please feel free to make suggestions x