6 Perfect Gifts For Your Valentine
Spread your love with the perfect gift for your Valentine’s day!
For her: bring the romance with empowering, colourful lingerie from Dora Larsen, go for the glitz with ethical fine jewellery highlighting the beauty of raw gold from MAKAL, or get cozy with sustainable loungewear essentials and organic candles from Luxe + Hardy.
For him: choose from slick, eco-conscious menswear/unisex brand with an edge from Basic Rights, and boundary-pushing trainers from innovative footwear label Lavair, who have recently launched unisex sizing on two of their best selling styles.
For the little ones: make the day special with sustainable luxury childrenswear (and adults up to UK8, equal to their size Age 14) from Owa Yurika.
Dora Larsen:
Ex-lingerie buyer Georgia Larsen dreamed up Dora Larsen from her London flat in 2016. Tired of buying fashionable bras that felt uncomfortable, Georgia decided to combine her technical expertise with her love of design. She took fit as her starting point, and colour as her inspiration, while keeping an ethical stance. The result was a curated collection of everyday, contemporary, colourful lingerie for the modern woman. The family-owned and operated label also continues to make strides in their sustainability.
Size Range: 32-38 back, A-F cup; briefs, bodies and bralettes XS-L.
Price Points: Bras: £42 ($56) – £60 ($80) Knickers: £22 ($29) – £38
Makal:
The ethical fine jewellery brand supporting female workers and blending the use of natural gold nuggets with contemporary Italian design. MAKAL leads the way with zero-waste extraction, chemical-free processing and a business model that puts local artisanal miners as partners. The collections cover a variety of tastes and styles, from ultra-fine chain-link pendant earrings to hand cuffs, cocktail rings and statement necklaces, all of which are unified around a central theme of treating the nugget as a precious jewel.
Each piece is ethically mined via the brands’ partnership with The Impact Facility to provide female mining groups in Kenya with equipment that significantly reduces toxic mercury exposure and emissions during the gold amalgamation process. This is part of MAKAL’s wider efforts to improve mine operations through capacity building and investment in safer, more productive methods for women in mining.
Price Points: £150 – £14,100 / $200 – $18,267 / €168 – €15,497
Luxe + Hardy:
Luxurious, ultra-comfortable lounge and sleepwear for the modern world. Encompassing stylish pyjama sets, embroidered sweatshirts and the softest t-shirts and sweatpants, L+H uses sophisticated craftsmanship, recycled fabrics, hand embroidery and colour contrast trims to add an injection of subtle colour and textures, creating the ultimate in women’s loungewear.
Size Range: S – L
Price Points: £20 ($27) – £80 ($106)
Basic Rights:
Launched in 2016 by guitarist Freddie Cowan to make staples with an attention to detail, focusing on fabric, fit and finish. Committed to working with the best, from tailors with decades of experience to renowned mills and factories committed to treating their workers ethically. The AW20 offering takes inspiration form the late 1970s British rock scene.
Size Range: XS – XL
Price Points: £39 – £595 ($50 – $774)
Lavair:
Born out of a need for luxury in the everyday trainer world, and inspired by the runway’s innovative response to the lifestyle sneaker market. LAVAIR has carved out a niche as a luxury lifestyle brand, offering mens and now women’s trainers designed for the next generation of culture creators.
Size Range for Linear Black and White: UK4 – UK13 (US4.5 – US13.5)
Size Range rest of Collection: UK6 – UK12 (US 6.5- US 12.5)
Price Points: £175 – £250 ($227 – $325)
Owa Yurika:
Founded in London by Japanese mother-daughter duo, Owa Yurika creates ethically crafted, sustainable clothing that values children as independent people who take playtime seriously. Silhouettes that are made to run around in, fabrications that are made to stand the test of time. Floaty velvet and voluminous dresses, cosy hoodies, playful sweatshirts, matching joggers, unisex jumpsuits, padded jackets and layered coats are available for the holiday season.
Size Range: 3 – 14 years
Price Points: £65 ($84) – £175 ($227)
