The organisation of Under the Nile is both very similar and very different to Pebble. The similarity is in the two remarkable women who set the companies up. Pebble was set up by Samantha Morshed who moved to Bangladesh with her husband and realised she had to do something to help relieve the poverty of the workers by creating fairly paid and flexible work.

Best Years are always looking for new fair trade organisations to work with. We spend a fair bit of time on the internet trying to track down potential new suppliers and it was on one of these searches that we found our new knitted llamas.

Our newest toys are part of a fair trade, hand made range from Peru. The toys come from Puno which is a southern Andean region of Peru well known for the quality of its textiles. Similar to Pebble the toys are made in rural areas by women who have a tradition of handicrafts and especially knitting.

Our other Peruvian supplier and has similar aims to Pebble toys which is to provide fairly paid skilled employment to women. Each doll is hand made.

In Nov 2012 Liz and I travelled to Nepal to see felt making and explore whether we could bring in a range of felt toys. As a toy wholesaler we have wanted to work with felt for a long time. It fits with our other knitted and crochet toys being hand made in wool but we were concerned whether felt would be a suitable material for a baby toy.