Values

At The Small Circle, our core value is sustainability, and the company was founded on this guiding principle when it was launched in 2018.

The name The Small Circle originally belonged to an herbal products company I (Lizzie) was thinking about starting in 2012. The name emerged from my desire to either grow or source locally all of the raw material for the herbal concoctions, and for all packaging to be compostable. The sourcing would be kept small to reduce the carbon emissions of shipping. All materials would be able to break back down into soil which could then be added to my garden as compost; therefore the production would be circular. The business would literally be a small circle.

I never brought the herbal products business to fruition, but the same values guided me as I was launching The Small Circle as a notions shop for sewists in 2018.

This is what those values look like in practice:

• All new fabrics that we source are either organic natural fibers or other fibers that are naturally eco-friendly, like hemp.
• We also source secondhand or deadstock natural fibers.
• Our shipping and packaging materials are either recyclable, compostable, and/or biodegradable. We are constantly revising and improving our packaging as better options become available.
• We offset the carbon emissions produced from the delivery of each order we ship.
• We source our raw materials as close to home as possible to reduce the carbon emissions of shipping.
• As much as possible, we purchase from suppliers who use eco-friendly shipping and packaging materials.
• We only collaborate with other businesses whose values we want to endorse.

These are areas in which we would like to grow:

• We are working on becoming at least partially solar powered through a subscription community solar program.

These sustainable business practices are the core of The Small Circle, not only because we love our beautiful earth, but because environmental health is inextricably linked to human health and equality. The way we treat the planet and the way we treat each other are the same thing; it is all connected. I am committed to making this world a better place, beginning with myself, and expanding to encompass every individual impacted, either directly or indirectly, by The Small Circle.