ABOUT US

Hello! We’re Phoebe and Isobel. We started Pico back in 2016 with the aim of producing essential, everyday goods that can be traced directly to their source.

We both grew up in Dorset and have been friends since school. Phoebe spent her childhood wearing her mother’s second-hand wardrobe and some of her holidays working on friends’ farms. Isobel’s love of making was inspired by her grandmother, and she made her first outfit at the age of six. Our friendship deepened when we both went to university in London.

Phoebe studied History at Goldsmiths, writing her final thesis on the Hazards and Hindrances of the Crinoline (one of the more unusual undergarments), while Isobel studied Tailoring at the London College of Fashion with a particular focus on sustainability in sourcing, design, process, and the end of a garment’s life.

Our shared interest in fashion and farming led to many conversations about the lack of information surrounding the provenance of our clothes, especially everyday essentials like underwear, which you could pick up from a high street store without any idea where the fibre came from, where the garment was made, or by whom. And so, the idea for Pico was born. ‘P’ stands for Phoebe and ‘I’ for Isobel!

At the time, Phoebe was working for Fever Tree as Head of Events, and Isobel was working on film sets making costumes and we lived together in a communal house. We both decided to leave our jobs at the beginning of 2016 and travelled to India that April, with Isobel’s partner Alberto (a filmmaker and photographer) joining to document what we were all learning.

The trip involved time at Navdanya with Vandana Shiva and Satish Kumar, as well as visits to many small and large-scale producers, from organic cotton farmers, ginners, and knitters to hand-spinners and weavers.

During this first trip, we met Girish and his team at Mila, a living-wage-paying factory in Tamil Nadu, where we were also able to visit each part of their organic and Fairtrade cotton supply chain. We have been working together ever since. In the last four years, Mila has moved into its own purpose-built, fully solar-powered factory.

On one of our further research trips, we spent time in Gujarat attending a Desi (local indigenous cotton) conference and learning about Indian rain-fed short-staple variety cotton. This resulted in us working with Khamir, a cooperative in Gujarat, to produce handwoven bath sheets and hand towels using this locally grown fibre.

In recent years, we have both become mothers and have navigated the challenges of running a small business part-time. We continue to be very grateful for the opportunities Pico gives us, the knowledge we’ve gained, and the people and community we’ve connected with. We’ve collaborated on projects, pop-ups, and panels with fellow small businesses, natural dyers, artists, makers, photographers and academics.

We continue to research sustainable textile production and fibre sourcing. In the last few years we have worked on a project specifically around regenerative farms in the UK and this year, we have been awarded a grant by the British Council and UAL to collaborate with our friends and partners in India to produce 100% organic cotton regenerative underwear that is fully biodegradable at the end of its life.

We are so appreciative of our incredibly loyal customer base, and if you’ve got this far, thank you so much for reading. Please do sign up to our newsletter for more regular updates and insights into what we’re up to. If you have any questions, feedback or ideas for collaborations or projects, we always love to hear from you and you can reach us at info@project-pico.com.

Phoebe & Isobel