North Vancouver moms Jo Warburton and Sammy Hemmat have a lot in common.
They live on the same street in Lower Lonsdale, they share the same birthday, they have young daughters, they are both committed to ethical fashion, and they both used to work in high-stress corporate positions and were looking to make career changes. So, when the friends started bandying around the idea of launching a collection of children’s apparel sourced from around the world, their conversation evolved into a natural business partnership.
Jammy & Co. went live in late June. An amalgamation of the founders’ first names, “jammy” is also British slang for “lucky,” and it’s a short word for pyjamas – which happens to be one of the company’s main garment offerings. Warburton and Hemmat based their business logo on the Hamsa, an ancient palm-shaped symbol and sign of protection. Other auspicious images can be found throughout the apparel collection.
The goal at Jammy and Co. is to collaborate with female entrepreneurs with small manufacturing operations around the globe to curate a collection of trendy pieces that will appeal to modern moms and kids. Their range of available products includes sleepwear, resort wear, party dresses, and matching “mommy and me” outfits.
Before moving to the North Shore, Warburton was head of sales for a media conglomerate in the Middle East. Before that, she worked in communications for Emirates airline. Both those jobs required a lot of travel.
“I decided that when I moved here I really wanted to spend more time with my children, I didn’t want to do a big corporate thing,” says the mom of two daughters, ages nine and seven.
Her experience living in different countries, alongside people with less opportunity than herself, influenced her decision-making.
“If I was going to do my own business, I wanted to do something that did some good,” she says.
Jammy & Co. strives to support small manufacturers that are committed to ethical working conditions. The focus is on handmade goods that provide consumers with an alternative to the mass-produced “fast fashion” sold in chain stores.
“Vancouver’s a place where we really appreciate recycling and the outdoors and preserving nature and looking after animals and I just think this kind of clothing business would probably appeal to the similar mentality,” Warburton says.
So far, most of the entrepreneurs Jammy & Co. collaborates with are people Warburton and Hemmat know personally from their travels abroad to places like India and Indonesia. After moving to Canada, Warburton studied fashion merchandising at LaSalle College where she met classmates from Colombia, Mexico and Brazil whose families have small textile businesses and are now contributing to the Jammy & Co. line.
Because the founders want to develop relationships with all their manufacturers, Warburton expects their company will stay small.
“I don’t think it’s going to grow that quickly because we really want to personally know the clothing is being produced ethically, that the fabrics are being sourced ethically.”
That said, Warburton and Hemmat would like to eventually expand their offerings and partner with more producers. They’re planning a trip to Mexico soon to visit a maker of children’s swimwear and will decide if it might be a good fit for the collection.
“It’s never going to be a huge business, and we don’t want it to be, but we do hope to have a bit more variety, and we hope to make a little bit of a difference if we can in the way people think about buying clothes.”
Jammy & Co. already has celebrity support from Nimrat Kaur, star of TV’s Homeland and Wayward Pines, who attended the brand’s launch party last month.
“Nimrat is an advocate of ethical working conditions in India and as such was happy to be involved with our project, we are thrilled to have her support,” Hemmat said in a press release.
Jammy & Co. apparel is available online at www.jammyandco.com.
