WHO WE ARE
Bask and Groove is a handmade straw hat company creating soulful designs with a sustainable, creative approach. Heavily influenced through fashion, music and art, our designs have stemmed out of Ibizan living, merging the necessity for shade with a timeless bohemian style.
Consciously crafted in Ecuador, artisans use their traditional hand-weaving techniques to lovingly make each piece. Our hats are hand-dyed from biodegradable, non-pollutant dyes and made with high quality Toquilla straw, a 100% biodegradable fibre derived from the native palm trees of Ecuador.
We believe in longevity and a buying pattern of less is more. Our ethos is built around forever pieces that are designed to last and be passed down the generations.
“Spending summers in Ibiza and travelling with my passion for yoga, I found a good hat was an absolute necessity for day-to-day living in sunny climates. I saw a gap in the market for beautifully designed, superb quality straw hats that work as well for men as for women. This has inspired a unisex collection where the quality and skilled Ecuadorian craftsmanship result in natural pieces that last a lifetime. An important step away from the “throwaway” seasonal hat. Welcome to Bask and Groove.”
Monty Gammond, Founder.
OUR APPROACH TO SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainability is at the heart of our approach here at Bask and Groove.
Our hats are designed to last and be handed down. When you invest in a Bask and Groove product, you invest in quality and longevity. A hat for life.
We ensure fair wages for the artisans making our products and the raw materials are sourced from small Ecuadorian suppliers.
All our products are made from Toquilla straw, a raw vegetable fibre that is 100% biodegradable, originating from the native palm trees of Ecuador. Any colouring to our products is done by non-pollutant dyes that are 100% biodegradable.
Our packaging has been created with natural untreated recyclable card. The bags are organic cotton and certified by The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS).
We are proud to honour and support the hand-weaving hat making traditions of Ecuador – a technique declared a cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO.
For every hat that is purchased we plant a tree in Ecuador. We work with a foundation called Jocotoco, an Ecuadorian NGO whose mission is to protect some of the world's most endangered species, conserving their remaining natural habitats by acquiring and managing land as biological reserves. To date, Jocotoco has established a network of 15 reserves, protecting over 30,000 hectares and have planted 1.6 million trees. We are currently supporting the reforestation of the Yanacocha reserve. For more information please explore their website: www.jocotoco.org
