As a blogger I get offered dozens of review opportunities every day and in the main I have to say no to about 90% of them. There is only so much time in a day and frankly I can't drum up the enthusiasm to wax lyrical about a tin of beans when I have parenting and real work to do.
Last week I was fielding through all my emails and I came across one offering me the chance to review a reflective beanie and if I'm honest I started to inwardly groan but for some reason I was compelled to read on and I was pleased I did -
"Everything we make is produced by hand by mothers in the rural Philippines, by a community who is in need of this extra work to stay on their land, as their organic farming methods cannot compete with commercial rice production. This work is empowering women in the area, who become mayor players in the family economy, and it is also totally vital to their community, as it allows them to pay for education for their children, the extra food they require and medical care.
We are based in the UK and ours is a social enterprise, aiming at keeping people more visible and safer on dark winter roads while benefiting a community in need."I absolutely love social enterprises and there doesn't seem to be enough of them in the UK. How perfect that one lady, Tacita had a passion as a bike mechanic and knitter. She then chose to combine them and create reflective knitwear to keep people stay safe on the roads and stylish at the same time. Add in that the knitwear will be created by a cooperative of women in the Philippines who need extra income and it is pretty perfect I thought. The only thing that would be the icing on the cake is if the knitwear is actually decent quality and looks cool too!
Guess what? It is, we received one kids pink beanie (with white detachable bobble) to review and my girls have been arguing ever since. I can't wait for their Kickstarter campaign to launch on 23rd October as then I can pledge for another one and sort the arguments out!
UPDATE - The Kickstarter campaign is now live!
If you like the look of the reflective beanie and think it would be a great idea for the dark mornings on the school walk, scooting after school, biking on a weekend or even out walking the dog yourself then why don't you sign up to the Thunderclap campaign. All you have to do is link up FB and/ or Twitter to allow them to use your account for one tweet/ post on 23rd October to help publicise their Kickstarter campaign that will also launch that day. (Don't worry, you won't get any spam or be inundated, I've thunderclapped before and it works a treat).
I hope you like the reflective beanie as much as I do. I think the pictures speak for themselves and show how well the reflective yarn works. None of them have been doctored. It works just like the reflective strips you get on bags and coats - when car headlights approach the reflective yarn shines back at it and not in any other direction.
It truly is brilliant!
