Wilde & Harte Grooming and an Offer for Readers

I've been trying out some shaving and grooming products from Wilde & Harte (link below) who like to use British-made products when they can. I thought I'd find out more about the business from Paul Thompson who's kindly offered to send some Truefitt & Hill shaving cream free with any orders using the code below. For those of who who like a traditional foamy shaving soap with a delicious fragrance, this is a real treat.

Wilde & Harte Eltham safety razor

GF: Hello Paul, I've had the chance of trying some of your products and like what I see. I have enjoyed the Truefitt & Hill shave soap and the elegant Eltham safety razor. Can you tell us a little about W&H to introduce it to us?

PT: Thank you David, great to hear your positive comments about our products. Wilde & Harte is a high-end shaving accessory brand, positioned perfectly at gentlemen looking to acquire genuine British made razors and shaving brushes.

Featuring traditional and contemporary designs - each inspired by the grandeur of iconic Houses and Palaces in London - Wilde & Harte has forged a reputation for manufacturing the finest quality razors and shaving brushes for discerning wet shaving enthusiasts here in the UK, Europe, North America and more recently, Asia.

Each razor and shaving brush handle is engineered from stainless steel and hand polished to an impeccable mirror finish, before being assembled to create a stunning and perfectly weighted razor or shaving brush. Each item is monogrammed, adding an impressive finishing touch to a unique shaving accessory, before being packaged in a handmade branded gift box.

The elegant lines of the Wilde & Harte safety razor

GF: Most of your products are made in the UK? Is this important to you? Why?

PT: Our aim is to make Wilde & Harte synonymous with beautifully crafted, British made shaving accessories. Britain’s rich history of designing and manufacturing innovative, high quality products for customers the world over is unrivalled. With such creative inspiration and engineering expertise at our disposal, it has been enormously rewarding to engage with British talent at every stage of the development of the brand and of our shaving products.

Even before the Wilde & Harte name was created, it was important for us to source British manufacturers, skilled metal polishers and packaging designers and share with them our vision to make the brand as British as we possibly could. Our products demonstrate the very best of contemporary and classic British product design and high-end manufacturing.

Furthermore, Wilde & Harte Ltd are members of the 'Made in Britain’ campaign. An initiative which is endorsed by the British Government and only accredited to a business who can provide evidence that items for sale under the business brand have been 'Made in UK'.

GF: Do you see an expansion in interest in men's grooming and shaving products?

PT: Yes, absolutely. The men’s wet shaving market is flourishing at the moment with new fragrances, pre-shave products, post shave products, shaving subscription platforms, and a wealth of different designs of razors and shaving brushes being introduced to the wet shaving community regularly.

Wilde & Harte have experienced many more enquiries regarding how to shave with a safety razor and consequently, an increase of sales of our Eltham and Osterley safety razors over the last couple of years. Many customers now email us with their experiences shaving with different brands of luxury shaving creams, how to whip up a perfect shaving brush lather and of their tried and tested pre-shave and post shave habits. For many gentlemen today, shaving is a ritual of indulgence and experimentation. A time to treat oneself and enjoy a truly satisfying regular routine.

We only have to look at the visitor statistics of the Wilde & Harte blog to confirm our belief that more of us are wanting to learn about the benefits of traditional wet shaving.

Soft leather razor pouch from Wilde & Harte

GF: Where will you be taking W&H over the next few years?

PT: Good question. It’s important for Wilde & Harte to remain focussed on bringing to market, the finest quality British made razors and shaving brushes. However, in addition to this, we are looking at introducing a range of our own luxury shaving cream and expanding our range of travel shaving products in 2019 and beyond.

It’s a very exciting time for the men’s grooming sector and for Wilde & Harte. There is strong demand for high-end shaving products and we will continue to satisfy the demands of all discerning wet shaving enthusiasts with beautifully crafted shaving accessories which are designed, manufactured and packaged here in the UK.

.....................................................................

With many thanks to Paul Thomspon. Visit Wilde & Harte for more information and to buy. If the promotion code “greyfox" is used at checkout, the recipient will receive a Truefitt & Hill shaving cream (pictured below) with their order. Any razor may be ordered on the website.

This is a collaboration between Grey Fox Blog and Wilde & Harte.

Truefitt & Hill shaving cream

Arthur & Henry Shirts: Sustainable Cotton Shirts - Reader Discount Code

Like many who watched Stacey Dooley’s recent ‘Fashion’s Dirty Secret’ (links below) I was horrified at the impact that the production of cotton has on the environment, on people and animals. Clearly much cotton production is totally unsustainable.  

My thoughts then turned to Clare Lissaman who runs Arthur & Henry who make ethically produced shirts in India from sustainably produced cotton. I asked her to tell me the other side of the story of cotton production.

Producing cotton sustainably for Arthur & Henry shirts

Clare kindly agreed and has very kindly offered readers a 20% discount on Arthur & Henry shirts:

Clare Lissaman writes: 

Just over five years ago when we launched Arthur & Henry with our belief that ‘every man needs a good shirt’ most people (very politely) thought we were mad. Not only were we going to be an ethical company we were going to be an ethical menswear company. ‘Men don’t care about ethical fashion’, they said. 

But we knew that some did. And actually we figured that most men are pretty ethical by default in our shopping - we don’t really like doing it and we like it when our clothes last so we don’t have to do it too often. But why did we care? And what do we mean by ‘ethical’. 

Arthur & Henry ethically made cotton shirts

For us it all started with the cotton. Stacey Dooley’s recent ‘Fashion’s Dirty Secret' documentary has been brilliant in getting so many more people talking about something critical to the impact of our clothing - the way in which cotton and other fibres are produced. Cotton farming can indeed, as the film made clear, be really damaging. Whether it’s the water used to grow it draining water stressed areas (over 70% of the world’s cotton is grown using irrigation, mainly wasteful flood irrigation according to industry platform Common Objective) or the insecticides and pesticides used or the low, low prices paid to some of the world’s poorest farmers. 

But it doesn’t have to be this way. The Higg Materials Sustainability Index calculates that organically grown cotton has roughly half the environmental impact of conventionally grown cotton. Arthur & Henry shirts are made from organic Fairtrade cotton. This is grown by certified smallholder farmers in India. The cotton is rain-fed rather than irrigated and as it’s grown organically chemical usage is strictly restricted and soil fertility is invested in. 

Arthur & Henry shirts are produced from Fairtrade cotton

It’s not just about the environmental impact though. The farmers not only get an uplift on normal market prices because it’s organic but also can rely on the Fairtrade minimum price which covers their cost regardless of what the market price is doing. They also get a Fairtrade premium to invest in development projects. 

Cotton growing is just the start. For us it’s also about the conditions under which it is processed and sewn. We have total transparency, as well as knowing where our cotton comes from right down to the actual villages, we also know each mill, each dye house, and the workers in the factory that sew our shirts. All the processing is done in Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) certified facilities and we use both that and the Fairtrade Cotton Standard. 

Sreeranga Rajan is Production Director and co-owner of Arthur & Henry: 

“What do farmers and workers want most? Safe working conditions, job security, decent pay. They are not aliens, they are like us, have the same aspirations. 

I always ask the question to every worker, especially women, if you have 10,000 rupees (about £100) now and you know you will have a job for one year, what will you do? Rank them. 

Everyone says, first 'send my child to a good school' and second ‘take them to a decent doctor if they are not well’. 

But...if they have the 10,000 rupees now but don't have the security will not do those things because they need to keep it in order to feed and house themselves in case they have no work next month.”

We’re proud at Arthur & Henry to be part of a collective of brands that Sreeranga has drawn together committed to working with these farmers, ensuring security of sales as well as training and other development activities. 

Making an Arthur & Henry shirt in India

Arthur & Henry shirts can be bought online at www.arthurandhenry.com - Grey Fox readers can have a 20% discount until the end of November 2018 with code GREYFOX 

If you work in the industry whether for a brand or a supplier and are interested in how you can be more sustainable Common Objective is a platform which will match you with the connections and resources you need to do fashion better. Sign up for free at commonobjective.co

..........................................................

With many thanks to Clare Lissaman and all at Arthur & Henry. This is an unsponsored post.

John Llewellyn Evans (died St David's Day, 1st March 1917) A Story of The Great War

I first told this story last year for the hundredth anniversary of John's death, but I repost it today with the sad thought that poor John, my great uncle, didn't see the end to a war that killed millions. In a world that seems to be getting madder by the day, we can only hope that it never happens again.

[March 1st 2017] One hundred years ago today my great uncle, John Llewellyn Evans, fell fighting in the trenches of Vimy Ridge in Northern France. I want to tell his story here, not only because it's a tale of heroism, tragedy and horror, but also to honour the hundreds of thousands of men of so many nationalities who were killed in the First World War.

John Llewellyn Evans in Canadian Army uniform with maple leaves on the collar

I had long known that my father's uncle had been killed in the Great War. However, in common with so many other families, the details were lost. Just as my father seldom spoke of his experiences in Malaya after WW2, so his father never spoke of either his own experiences of the trenches (where he had been wounded) or of his brother, whom he had lost in such tragic circumstances and after whom he named his son, my father. So, within the space of two generations, the memory of a fine young man was nearly lost. 

And then my son Tom, at Sandhurst training to be an Army officer, decided to find out what he could of his great great uncle. He approached my father, who was able to give him a few sketchy details of John's early life in Whitchurch, near Cardiff in South Wales. Research in British military records revealed nothing until he found that John had emigrated to Canada in 1913 to work in a bank. From there, due to the excellence and accessibility of Canadian military records, he was able to start some two years of patient research to reveal the remarkable story of his great great uncle. 

John, living and working in Canada, volunteered early in the war and, after an apparently successful early career, was commissioned as an officer. He travelled across the Atlantic to England on RMS Olympic, Titanic's sister ship, and arrived in France later in September 1916, joining his battalion as a lieutenant in D Company, 54th Battalion, Canadian Infantry - part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. He was wounded during the last hours of the Battle of The Somme in November 1916.

John recovered quickly from his physical wounds and rejoined his unit. Within a few months the 54th 'Kootenay' Battalion was moved north to Vimy Ridge. This long, low ridge stands sentinel over the flatlands of northern France, giving any army in possession of its territory a significant strategic advantage.

Some of Evans family at Vimy Ridge 2016. My father, named after his uncle, is second left. Tom, Welsh Guards, left. As far as we know, we were the first Evans to visit John's grave in France - Image Carole Evans

Towards the end of February 1917, after a severe winter, activity at Vimy Ridge increased. Raids across no-mans land were often preceded by gas attacks to soften up the enemy before going over the top. On the morning of 1 March 1917 the Canadians released gas, planning to follow it up with a raid up the Ridge. But the Germans were prepared; they'd heard the gas canisters being prepared not far away in the Canadian lines and immediately shelled the Canadians, damaging some gas canisters. This coincided with a change of wind direction, which blew the deadly chlorine and phosgene back into the Canadian trenches.

This state of affairs had been predicted by the commander of the 54th Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Kemball, who had asked for a postponement of the raid. Shockingly, the request was denied - lions led by donkeys indeed. Realising the hopelessness of the situation, Kemball decided that he had no option but to lead his men over the top on what could only be a suicidal mission. With his company commanders and platoon commanders (one of whom was John) leading, some 400 men went over the top and advanced on the German lines. 

Struggling up the ridge, through barbed wire, mud, shell holes and plagued by gas, the attack was doomed to fail. The Germans, unaffected by gas, brought heavy fire to bear on the advancing Canadians. About half the men were casualties. Kemball and five of his officers, including John, were lost.

Looking up the ridge towards the German lines (and the Vimy Memorial) where the attack was made - image Grey Fox

Initially, attempts to recover the bodies were beaten back. But then a remarkable series of events occurred. The German commander, who had been educated at St Paul's School in London, allowed the 54th to recover their dead during a two hour truce the following morning. The Germans helped by bringing casualties half way towards the Canadian lines.

Among the casualties was John. The German commander sent word to John's Colonel specifically mentioning the young lieutenant. Later the Colonel wrote to John's mother as follows, 'It may be some solace to you to hear that the German commander reported that [John] fell when gallantly leading on his men, and that his body was actually furthest into the German lines of the whole of the British. It is something to be proud of to have given a son like that.'

And clearly that news did make my great grandmother proud. On John's War Commission grave she asked that Byron's words be carved; 'He rushed into the field and foremost fighting fell'.

John's grave at Villers au Bois. 'He rushed into the field and foremost fighting fell' - Byron - Image Carole Evans

After WW1 an imposing memorial was built on Vimy Ridge to commemorate those who died. The sanctity of the area was respected by all sides during WW2 and the Ridge and its memorial remained undamaged. Interestingly, Vimy Ridge was liberated from the Germans at the end of WW2 by The Welsh Guards, now my son Tom's regiment.

Vimy Ridge today, not far from where John fell. The scars of battle remain - image Carole Evans

This year, on 9 April 2017, Canada is commemorating the Battle of Vimy Ridge, which took place some five weeks after John's death, with a ceremony to open a new museum on the battle site. The Canadian (and of course other nationalities were involved) victory at Vimy in early April 1917 marked the birth of Canada as a nation with its own heritage and pride. It's sad that John didn't live to see the ridge captured from the Germans, but he played his part in what was to come, only weeks after his death. The ceremony will mark this significant event in the life of a young nation, and the men who died. 

The Vimy Memorial

The Evans family will be at Vimy Ridge next month to remember a brave young member of the family.

The temporary graves at Villers-Au-Bois. John's grave is third from right alongside his fellow officers. Lt Colonel Kemball's is on the extreme left. These crosses were later replaced by The Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Image Carole Evans

Afterword

The sadness I feel at the death of my great uncle, at the age of just 23, in the midst of such pointless slaughter, is acute. I hope that my son Tom, who, as a lieutenant [now a captain] in the Welsh Guards has a unique insight into his great uncle's life, never has to face the horrors and waste of war.

Without Tom's hard work we would never have known about John. Space hasn't enabled me to include more than the briefest details of what Tom uncovered about John's life and death. The Canadian war records are superbly well-maintained and are free to access (unlike those in the UK).

Tom's work was used by my photographer sister, Carole Evans, in a hand-made booklet, 'A Man of The Great War' which shows photographs she took on a family visit to Vimy Ridge last year. Some of Carole's photographs are reproduced here. More information about her work can be found on her website here.

Sadly John died on St David's Day, the patron saint of Wales. On a trip to Vimy Ridge in March last year I noticed a small cluster of daffodils, the national flower of Wales, growing among the trees and broken ground (now formally Canadian territory), around where John fell. I like to think that, with John's blood, a little piece of Wales was absorbed into the mud that day and that these spring flowers marked his passing place.

John's name appears, alongside hundreds of thousands of others, on several war memorials in Canada, Northern France and in South Wales. 

In memory of John Llewellyn Evans - 5th  April 1893 to 1st March 1917