www.cocoonuorganic.co.uk

A real bargain currently – reduced in our sale from £225 to £150

Insight Lifestyle and Leisure Magazine Issue 59 features CocoonU

Insight Lifestyle and Leisure Magazine Issue 59 features CocoonU.

“Our latest range of gorgeous scarves , hats, gloves, cashmere socks offers the perfect gift for men and women. Ideal when you’re looking for that perfect gift for Christmas’

Woman and Home New Directions feature CocoonU

Vanessa Streeton, founder of CocoonU features in the October Issue of Woman and Home. Here’s the article for our online followers

“I WANTED BEAUTIFUL CASHMERE PRODUCTS

THAT WERE TOTALLY ETHICAL”

Vanessa Streeton. Founder of CocoonU.com

“I first heard about Mongolian cashmere from a boyfriend, who has seen it on his travels and suggested i do something with it

I did some research and discovered that 70% of the world’s cashmere comes from China, where goats are artifically fed, living on top of each other and turning the land into dust bowls. In Mongolia, however, herders move the goats to different pastures every few weeks, while the extreme winters create the fine cashmere on the goat’s belly.

I emailed the director of the factory in Mongolia and, when he came to meet me, i felt the cashmere and was smitten. It was infinitely softer than the mass-produced stuff. And, as the factory workers work eight hours a day and have equal pay, i saw a niche market for brining in an ethical, sustainable yet beautiful product that people would feel good about buying.

So i designed some jumpers, a polo and a v-neck – based on a classic jumper i had in my wardrobe, with a few added touches – and sent them to the factory. I then paid a web company to set up an ecommerce website on which to sell them. They sold really well, but i realised you need a massive outlay to sell sized products, so i focused on accessories, such as shawls, scarves, hats and socks instead. Then i designed a home collection of cushion covers and throws.

I thought that my throws and shawls would make the perfect corporate gifts, so i made a list of yachting, motor and private aviation companies, along with top hotels and high end shops, to target. Six months after i started, i won a contract to be a gift supplier for a private jet-hire company. We supply everything from golf sweaters to shawls, and they buy scarves and hats for private skiing and shooting events they run.

CocoonU feature in the Quintessentially Living coffee table book

I also work with Quintessentially, a high-end concierge service. If one of their clients needs a gift for someone, we’re one of the companies they call. We are also in their Living coffee table book, which goes out to spas, hotels and homes across the world. I met their sales and marketing director at a party – so these things do happen!

We’ve just won a contract with George Smith, the high-end furniture company, and have just launched CocoonU for George Smith – a range of cushion covers and sofa throws that will be sold in their stores worldwide. The New York launch is next month, which is very exciting.

I was on the cusp of a £1.8 million deal with a luxury car company. But, a weekbefore Christmas, they cancelled due to the recession. Still, i have to pat myself on the back for getting that far.

In the next month few months we are launching organic skin-care products, plus a range of floppy beanie hats, hug scarves and ski gloves aimed at a younger market. We’ll also be opening our first shop in Harrogate, as i want people to come in and feel and smell how wonderful our products are.

I haven’t taken out loans, as i plough my earning back into the company, and have only just started to pay myself. Our turnover is increasing, though, so i’ll soon earn what i used to. I have two part time staff: one deals with finance, the other with marketing and trade shows, plus two consultants, who deal with my website and online marketing.

Staying with the luxury industry saved my company. If i’d gone mainstream, i would have gone bust because of high-street retailers selling cashmere jumpers for £20. But i love my job and i love that i’m selling something that’s unique and ethical too”

Thanks to Woman and Home for our feature.

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CocoonU are creating a brand in the current recession. CocoonU are unique, high quality and our products have a fanstasic story. We are sending a true mesaage to the consumer about ingredients and products. These products can only be bought via CocoonU, making it an individual product as well as a feel good product.

Ask yourself, how many people know where their products come from? answers on a blog

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… Rank: wait… Traffic: wait… Price: wait… CY: wait… I: wait… YCat: wait… I: wait… Top: wait… I: wait… L: wait… C: wait…

George Smith and CocoonU

luxury with a clear conscience

To be sure that your cashmere items are the absolute finest, there can only be one source – Outer Mongolia and CocoonU in particular.

Why is our cashmere simply the finest?

Cashmere from CocoonU is the finest available from legal sources. The harsh winter climate of Outer Mongolia ensures that our fibres beat all others. It is most suitable for high grade knits because each downy strand is very thin and very long. The length directly affects the touch and feel of the cashmere. What gives our cashmere a soapier feel is known by an affect called coarseness. Coarseness in this regard is the friction that occurs when sections of cashmere hair is rubbed or touched by the skin.

Cashmere is a hair-like downy fiber and hair itself is made of platelets or scale like sections, much like stacking cups together.

In the case of the widely used but inferior Inner Mongolian (Chinese) cashmere, the diameter of each cup is very narrow, but the height of each cup is also very short. Hence you get a very thin stack or cups that is; for the sake of example about 40 mm tall. Here there are many individual cups or sections stacked together to make up this 40 mm strand; there are many gaps where the cups are joined.
These gaps are what affect the soft feeling because the more gaps you have, there are more contact points for friction to occur.

CocoonU Cashmere Collection

Now if you take our Outer Mongolian cashmere in comparison the cups are perhaps at times 1 micron thicker, but each cup is much taller. Therefore you get a stack that is a little thicker but 50 mm tall.

It takes fewer sections of cups and even fewer gaps to be 50 mm tall, which is the case for CocoonU cashmere. Because our stack of cups has fewer gaps or joints in the stack the friction ratio is very low. Adding to this is the quality of strength; our cashmere fibers are stronger which makes for even better yarn.

This is why super thin fiber does not necessary mean it makes for a better cashmere yarn.

Ours is simply the most suitable for strong, soft, and high grade cashmere. This has now been confirmed by a leading European fashion house who has confirmed that CocoonU cashmere surpassed their requirements for quality and price.

Our quality factors are:
• Most Favorable in Width per downy strand
• Extremely Long fiber
• Extremely Strong fiber
• ‘Soapier’ Feel

Ethical
In addition we are thought to be the only processor and manufacturer in Mongolia who personally know our suppliers. We are committed to ethical practices and work closely with our goat herders to optimize the benefits to them goat herders and their families. We are currently investigating having our cashmere FairTrade certified.

CocoonU Cashmere Black Pashmina

Our Products and Services

We can make knits with high quality yarn in all sorts of colors and gauges.
We can make different items and styles ranging from scarves, shawls, socks, knitwear, cardigans, jackets, blankets,throws,pashmina’s,dressing gowns etc…
When it comes to colors, we can make colors to suite the requirements of our clients – any colour on the Pantone™ chart .

We can create a brand and supply luxury gifts.

We don’t just do cashmere…..Contact vanessa@cocoonu.com for further details