On a mission to educate children about sustainable fashion and the health of our oceans is Pellegrine; the new brand for children. Offering high-quality, colourful and practical belts, Pellegrine has been co-founded by sisters Amelia Milne and Clemmie Champion, having spotted a gap in the market to create beautiful belts that educate the children that wear them, whilst consciously giving back to the planet.
Pellegrine is a sibling passion project. Pronounced with a silent ‘e’, the name has been inspired by the French beach they spent many summers growing up on, litter picking and treasure hunting. This is visible by the turtle logo, following countless visits to the local turtle sanctuary, and this logo can be seen embossed on each belt. Easy for children to do up and fasten, with the buckle locating into the soft and stretchy woven fabric, these belts are designed to be worn all year round across four fun colours.
With each belt made from three plastic bottles created using REPREVE Unifi Inc. yarn – vibrant designs include The Lizard, Lobster, Seahorse or Shark Belt, available in one of two sizes; small for ages 2-6 years and medium ages 5-9 approximately.
The belts have been lovingly designed in-house at Pellegrine here in the UK. Prior to becoming mothers, sisters Amelia and Clemmie were professionals in London, working for big creative agencies. Combining the skills and experience they have cultivated along with being mothers, led them to establish the brand. They are passionate that each and every belt is not only practical and fun, but educational too.
Amelia and Clemmie say: “Our beach and shell treasure hunts that we loved to do when we were younger, evolved into beach clean ups, and we noticed the amount of plastic increasing on the beaches. We started to question, how could we reuse these things and not put them back into the oceans? Surely, we can reuse these things, we thought. For years, we have been wanting to create belts to smarten up children’s shorts, trousers, dungarees and skirts, for all seasons, for both boys and girls.”
They added: “We felt there was a real lack of fun kids belts in the marketplace. With a beautiful belt, any outfit is transformed from scruffy to smart – an amazing transformation! Upon learning about the remarkable work of REPREVE Unifi, Inc. who turn plastic bottles from beach clean ups and landfill into yarn, Pellegrine was born, and we realised our dream to create something useful out of plastic had been realised. We wanted our children to have belts with quality and sustainability. We wanted to educate our children about our planet, plastic and our oceans, so we carefully designed the belts you see before you today.”
With each bottle used that was originally destined for landfill or our oceans, Pellegrine also donates £1 from every belt sale to their chosen charity, The Marine Conservation Society, via Work for Good. A UK based charity on a goal to ensure a cleaner, better protected and healthier ocean, they defend habitats and species, working with communities, businesses and governments to fight for our oceans through people powered action, with science on their side.
Pellegrine’s webbed fabric is made from REPREVE Unifi Inc., a woven yarn made from recycled plastic bottles. Made with approximately three plastic bottles as calculated by UNIFI, working exclusively with trusted suppliers, the remainder of each belt is made up of leather and zinc alloy sourced in Asia where each belt is made. Pellegrine were dedicated to selecting a factory that was compliant and offered good working conditions. They did this by choosing a factory that has a SCOPE certificate (Control Union Certifications) – meaning it has been inspected and assessed in accordance with the Global Recycled Standard – Version 4.0.
Looking ahead, the Pellegrine sister team are working on a new collection to include exciting new colour ways alongside plenty of exciting ideas in the pipeline – that are not just belts!
