I know 2021 has just started, but we are already full of hopes and great expectations for this year, aren’t we? We want to travel again, see our family, and have a “normal” life. I would like to invite you to add “making better choices when buying things” to your goals list for 2021.
For this reason, I would like to introduce you to Tabitha Eve; a brand that started with a passion to help people to reduce waste by providing an outstanding eco-friendly alternative to single-use products.
Read the interview with Tabitha Eve’s founder Debbie Rees, who started her own personal war against wastefulness and plastic pollution when travelling and diving the seas off Borneo, and now has a brand that strives to do the best to provide products that are good for both you, our customers, and the planet!
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Midlands Traveller: Tell me a little bit about your background in business.
Debbie Rees: My career started in the financial world until 5 years ago when I gave it up to look after my small children.
I soon grew bored at home and after a couple of smaller business ideas, I decided that what is now Tabitha Eve, was what I wanted to do. It has been a huge learning curve ever since!
MT: How did you come up with the idea of a business like yours?
DR: I have always been keen to minimise my impact on the world around us. When I took that career break, I also took up sewing as a hobby. I started using my newfound skills to make reusable items.
Others seemed engaged and interested in what I was making and so I listed them on a couple of online platforms, and it took off.
MT: Tell me about Tabitha’s Eve mission?
DR: Our mission is to make reusable alternatives to single-use items is the norm. To make them accessible, affordable, useful, and beautiful.
MT: What is unique about your business?
DR: We care. Not just about profit but about how we run our business and the impact it has on our team, local community, and the natural environment.
We provide flexible and inclusive employment opportunities for those who might otherwise not be able to find work as well as running a profit share scheme for our employees.
We design, manufacture and package in our studio, using local, small companies for packaging, printing etc and we work with several charities to raise money and promote causes close to our heart.
MT: What is your kind of clientele?
DR: Anyone who cares about reducing their waste.
MT: What are the challenges of a business like yours?
DR: Small marketing budgets and mass-produced products made in poor conditions purporting to be eco-friendly.
To my mind, if you want to buy consciously you need to take into account how products are made not just how expensive or cheap they are. We pay all of our team fairly and that means we’ll never be able to compete with the mass, cheaply produced items that seem to be flooding the market at the moment. I guess the only way to combat that is through consumer education.
There are many influencers, programmes and people out there doing just that which is great.
MT: In which ways are your business helping people to be more sustainable?
DR: All of our products are designed to replace either a single-use or plastic item in the home. Our products are affordable and ethically made making them accessible to all.
MT: What advice would you give to someone thinking about starting a business like yours?
DR: Think about what is most important to you and keep your values at the heart of your business.
MT: What are the next steps for Tabitha Eve?
DR: WORLD DOMINATION. I am joking, but I’d love to expand what we are doing now to provide similar employment opportunities in other communities around the world and to make sustainable, ethically made homewares available to everyone.
Tabitha Eve on Social Media
