At BearMade we make bags in the UK for wildish people.
BearMade is an exploration into a different way of doing business. Using a post growth model, we want to prove that it is possible to run a business that does something genuinely meaningful and makes amazing products that don’t cost the Earth. We want to have a business that we feel genuinely good about building.
Through active restriction of growth, transparent pricing, making locally, carbon offsetting, and using our resources to connect people with nature through the Wildish Club, we challenge what it means to be a sustainable business.
The story of BearMade is heavily tied to my (Oscar) relationship with Nell. Had we not had a chance encounter in a Hampshire coffee shop back in 2018, then BearMade likely would not exist. During that first encounter, I somehow managed to convince Nell to come fly fishing with me. At the time I was working as a fly fishing guide in Hampshire and Nell had just moved to the UK from Australia. She wasn't working at the time, but was, and still is, a Veterinarian. To cut a long story short, Nell mentioned that she thought a small but nice bag to hold the bare essentials that you needed to fly fish would be cool. So I came up with a concept, Nell loved it and we decided to start a business together.
We also decided that we wanted the business to be a platform for us to talk openly about mental wellbeing and the highs and lows of starting a business. We both suffer from mental health difficulties and have found that being immersed in nature has greatly benefited us. We wanted to share these benefits with others. So we had the concept, now we needed to make it a reality.
As for our direction, well we knew that we didn't want to add more crap to the world, and that we wanted to use our funds to help people connect with nature. We also knew that we wanted to:
→ Make simple and functional bags with a timeless design that would last a lifetime
→ Make them in the UK whilst competing on price with products produced halfway around the world
→ Have the smallest environmental impact possible
→ Use our funds to get people outdoors and connecting with nature
→ Talk openly about mental wellbeing and how getting outdoors can impact it
Whilst our products have changed a little, our purpose remains the same. To make great bags for awesome people that don’t cost the earth, and use our time and resources to help people connect with each other and the outdoors. In July 2022 we launched The Wildish Club and it completely changed our lives. We pledged to help 200 people get outdoors, through community meet ups, outdoor art workshops, and doing just about anything we could imagine outdoors. This year we have set our biggest goal yet. We are going to start 30 new clubs. We have met so many amazing people over the past few years. It's been our favourite thing about building BearMade and we are so excited to keep growing this special community.
We are on a very exciting journey and if you want to be kept up to date with our progress then you can sign up to our Wildish Report. It’s our weekly newsletter where we talk about all things Wildish and share the highs and lows of all that we do.
View bearmade.co.uk