A Calgary based company is helping to keep residents in the Elk Valley warm with the help of Interior Envy in Fernie.
Heartprint Threads, a company that partners with artisans in Ecuador to create beautiful alpaca wool blankets, bags and textiles, was launched in 2017. When the business was launched, a social initiative called “Warm for All” was woven into the fabric of the company. For every blanket purchased, Heartprint Threads donates another to local charities.
According to co-founder Taylor Jeffels, the company decided to build this donation aspect into their business from the very beginning “because it feels good.”
“A lot of companies will start to give back when they can do so (which I can understand) but we wanted to make sure this initiative, amongst others, was in the roots of Heartprint Threads,” he said. “We also love the cyclical ideal of supporting an artisan from abroad by buying a blanket/supporting them fiscally and at the same time helping someone in Canada.”
Jeffels went on to explain how the donations actually work. All of the donation blankets are made by an artisan family in Ecuador. They are not the same blankets as the ones Heartprint Threads sells but they are “warm, new, soft, colourful and functional blankets.” The donated blankets range in size depending on the needs of the organization receiving the donations. When Heartprint Threads sends an order of new blankets out to stores like Interior Envy, they include the donated blankets in the shipment and then let the local stores decide where to donate the blankets.
“We don’t like to take credit for the donations as it is truly the customer who donates that blanket with the help of great local stores such as Interior Envy,” Jeffels said. “So we would be nothing without the folks that cozy up with a blanket.”
Since the store launched in 2017, they’ve given out an estimated 5,000 blankets to local organizations and charities.
Staff at Interior Envy in Fernie said “we made it our mission to sell as many blankets as we could before Christmas and donate as many blankets as we could to local charity. To say we did that invokes so much pride in both our community and our ability to give back.”
Since bringing Heartprint Threads blankets into the store, Interior Envy has been able to donate to various organizations in the Elk Valley. The Elk Valley Hospice, the Women’s Resource Centre, Snow Valley Christmas Cheer Committee, Angel Flight East Kootenay and Fernie Friends for Friends have all been recipients of the donated blankets.
Jeffels said he’s always happy to see the blankets being donated in the various communities they support around Canada and the US.
“It is my belief that it’s human nature to want to help your fellow human,” he said. “It feels great to help/give/be kind and you are rewarded with natural endorphins when you do so.
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