About Us & Our Organic Cotton Bedding
Hi, we’re Sam and Shivani, the husband and wife co-founders of Strawberry & Cream - Home. Born and raised in Kenya, we have experienced frequent and acute water shortages. Appreciating the value of this basic but precious resource, we were motivated to start our luxury, sustainable bedding company when we discovered the toll that cotton farming has on perhaps earth’s most precious and scarce resource - water.
We understood how big a problem cotton farming actually is, and it played on our conscience. We all depend on cotton for such a wide range of needs. With a growing population, demand for cotton is only set to increase. The resulting effect on climate change is therefore only likely to get worse.
95% of cotton is of the genetic modified (GM) type. GM cotton grows under irrigated conditions, rapidly depleting ground water resources. It requires over 11,000 litres of water to make a single pair of jeans. The organic type, which is grown under rain-fed conditions, reduces irrigated water use by up to 90%. Sadly, the organic type makes up less than 1% of the global cotton crop.
What got us out of bed when starting out?
Only a few High Street retailers dominate the bedding industry in the UK, most of whom sell none or very few organic cotton products. This was hugely disappointing to us considering that climate change calls for us to make better choices where we can, including buying sustainable bedding. Additionally, we feel single-use plastic packaging should be a thing of the past.
Consumers can’t make informed choices when there is little to no information about fabric quality, while ‘thread count’ can be a meaningless, misleading marketing term. On average, we spend a third of our lives in bed. Sleep influences our mood, health, and wellbeing, yet poor quality bed linen can have a negative effect on sleep. So why was it so difficult to find quality, sustainable bedding?
That's why we created Strawberry & Cream, with the goal of creating a collection of well-made & high-quality sustainable bedding. We want to provide our customers with not only luxurious bedding, but a guilt free, refreshing night's sleep that doesn't cost the earth.
Our journey
We started our business to achieve 4 key objectives:
- To educate people on the benefits of buying sustainable bedding made from organic cotton.
- To contribute towards improving the environment’s and cotton farmers' health.
- To share important knowledge with consumers, to make informed choices when buying bed linen.
- To give consumers a lasting experience by producing ethical, well made, luxurious products in eco-friendly re-usable packaging.
Our journey, like any other small eco-business, has been a learning curve. From technical discussions with factories, testing samples, and experimenting with different design elements, we are proud to bring you our range of GOTS certified, luxury sustainable bedding made from 100% organic cotton. We are confident you will love it as much as we do.
Why choose to buy our bed linen?
We pride ourselves in being transparent and are happy to share our knowledge on the important characteristics when buying premium quality bed linen.
Symbolic of the classic British pairing, strawberries & cream, our sustainable bedding is elegant and simple in design. After a long day, there’s nothing quite like snuggling into quality, soft sheets for a comfortable night's sleep.
Our bed sheets are made from 100% GOTS certified organic cotton. GOTS is the gold standard in excellence in the textile industry. If a product is GOTS certified, it means that stringent criteria has been met on production standards and worker welfare – from farm to factory. Peoples' quality of life and the environment has changed for the better as a result. We take huge pride that our products do not take a toll on anyone's well being or future.
For all of organic cotton's merits, growing awareness and demand for sustainable bedding is not possible without your custom. By choosing to buy organic cotton products you contribute significantly in helping change the world and helping grow our family business. Thank you for taking the time to learn more about us.
Shivani & Sam