~by Amanda Golding

When Becky John answered the telephone ‘Hello, who made your pants?’, I knew that I was going to enjoy quizzing her about her knickers. Becky, the founder of a Southampton based workers cooperative, had agreed to a telephone interview. She promised me I would be inspired and she didn’t disappoint! Becky is a buoyant and passionate woman, and I felt every breath of her story as she told it.

Becky dreams of a day when all knicker-wearers will be asking how many hands have touched their knickers before they reach the shop and how many countries they’ve crossed on the way to the shopping basket.

Here’s what I found out when I delved into her world of pink lace:

Ooffoo: So one day you had a regular job and the next you were making and selling ethical pants – what inspired you?

Becky:  I love selling and always knew it was the way I would go, but I wanted to do something that was socially responsible.  I’d looked into charity work but it all seemed to be based in London and so settled with the public sector for a while, but that didn’t really work for me either.  I wanted to make a real difference.  Through some counselling I’d started to realise that I didn’t have to do what I didn’t want to do. I knew I was ready to make a big change; that I didn’t have to stay within the constraints of a safe job and a safe income. Putting these feelings together with my ambition to do something socially responsible and my love of knickers was a perfect match.

Ooffoo: Tell us about your love of knickers.

Becky:  I love beautiful underwear – it makes you feel sexy and confident, but I didn’t want to compromise my ethics to have it.  I had looked around at ethical knickers and a lot of them were organic and therefore cotton, hemp or bamboo.  I wanted to wear lacy pants and I knew other people wanted to as well, so I knew there was a gap in the market and decided to make and sell the kind of pants I wanted to wear.  I wanted the pants to be environmentally responsible so I talked to the head of sourcing at Oxfam about sourcing materials.  She suggested not trying to be too perfect in sourcing recycled materials so I went for upcycled fabrics instead.

Ooffoo: Great!  So all the fabric you use is being diverted from waste?

Becky:  Yes.  That’s important to me and so is manufacturing in the UK.  I was in town this week and noticed that a lot of shops are doing a 75% off sale and I asked myself how much the stock must have cost them if they could afford to reduce it by that much. I want everyone to know the answer to the question ‘who made your pants?’.  I want people to stop and think ‘how many hands have these pants been through, what countries have these pants been through, how much did the workers get paid?’. In the future I want to label all our pants with these details. I want people to know what they are paying for. You can’t buy 3 pairs of our pants for a fiver – that’s because we’re paying UK rent and UK wages. I want people to understand that – to know what they’re paying for. If they buy 3 pairs for a fiver, they should be asking why they’re so cheap.

Ooffoo: You’re set up as a cooperative aren’t you?

Becky:  Yes.  In basic terms that means that the members – our workforce – has a say in the direction of the business.  In a way, they instruct the committee who then instruct me on how to manage.  The pay for all staff is linked too which ensures that the management wages never get silly and hugely out of proportion compared to the rest of the staff.  I realised through my counselling that it had to be that way.  Counselling is the hardest thing I’ve ever done – you have to work really hard, but it really paid off for me – I learned and grew so much. The feeling of having done it for myself was immense.  And I think that feeling is important to anyone.  I have always believed that people need a hand up and not a hand out, and should be able to benefit from the fruits of their own labours.  I want to empower women and we can’t do that by doing it for them.

Ooffoo: Tell us more!

Becky:  Well, I had begun to realise that women are just subjected across the world to crap messaging and societal norms that even in our culture don’t support women to feel as strong as they could. Having found my own strength I wanted to help other women to help themselves.  I thought my life was OK. It was a bit rubbish, but I thought that was how life was. I realised after the counselling, that life could be better.  I wanted other people to feel that.

Ooffoo: And you chose to work with refugee women right?

Becky:  Yes. I joined Amnesty Southampton in about 2003 and did a bit of work on sweatshops, global trade and human rights.  I found that it was largely women in the sweatshops.  Women who were subjected to forced contraception, sexual harassment and working in dangerous places.  Thinking about that work and learning that Southampton had a massive refugee population, I started to think about that.  A refugee is someone that is seeking refuge, safety.  I started to think about how these people could be feeling socially isolated and anxious, and I worried about the impact of that on their mental health.  I decided that was who I wanted to work with.  I wanted to help break the social isolation and provide an opportunity to these women.  Our motto is that we work with women who have never had opportunity, or have had it taken it away.  Working closely with other agencies I approached these women and invited them to join our cooperative.

Ooffoo: As well as employment, are there any other benefits?

Becky:  Yes.  As well as learning how to sew and gaining work based skills, we have massage sessions for the women and hold other classes like crochet. We also have a computer training room. We have an arrangement with a local college too and can sometimes do other training. But one of the most important things is the safe social space we provide the women. We sit and eat lunch together and relax, and for some of the women who have strong cultural and family ties, whomadeyourpants? is simply a place to just be ‘you’.

The refugee women that we work with have come from Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey, Somalia and Sudan. We also have volunteers that are not refugees and are mostly western women. Putting the teams together breaks down social boundaries and builds understanding. Everyone learns about each others’ faith and experiences.  We learn that there are more similarities between us, than differences.  We’re all just women.

Ooffoo: You must feel so proud of your achievement.

Becky:  The reality is I wouldn’t have it any other way.  I struggle to remember to be proud of it – because it is very hard work!  But sometimes I sit back and think ‘Wow!’.  Like the other day when I had gone to the reception on the business park and explained that I was waiting for a delivery of lace. When I heard the words come out of my mouth I thought ‘Blinking heck – I did it! I’ve started a knickers business.’  On another occasion, a woman that faces domestic violence had come into us in tears after a particularly bad bout.  She said she felt safe with us and as she squeezed my hand I knew I had achieved what I had set out to do.

I had a job earning lots of money to do nothing. Now I am poor and busy, doing something I love. I’m so happy.

Ooffoo: Thank you Becky!  It’s been a real pleasure to talk to you and on behalf of the team I wish you every success in the future.

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You can find out more about whomadeyourpants? and Becky’s journey here:

whomadeyourpants? website

Guardian newspaper article

Daily Echo newspaper article

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And why not check out their beautiful knickers which are now listed in our Marketplace. We think they’d make a great Christmas present!

Categories: lifestyle

Tags: clothing, cooperative, enterprise, ethical, refugees, underwear

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