Behind the Box: How I Source Products for Together Made

I've poured my heart and soul into sourcing!

8/25/20264 min read

A cake with a candle surrounded by neutral material samples

When I first started planning Together Made, I thought finding products would be one of the easier parts.

I knew what I was looking for: beautiful, useful products made by organisations creating meaningful opportunities for people and communities. I'd bought things like that before!

Surely there would be plenty to choose from.

There were - too many!

And somehow, finding the right ones was still incredibly difficult.

Because from the beginning, I had one rule for Together Made:

A good story isn't enough.

I didn't want to fill gift boxes with products people bought because they felt like they should. I wanted to find things I would genuinely pick up in a beautiful store, buy for a friend, or want sitting in my own home.

But I also didn't want beautiful products with a supply chain I knew nothing about.

Finding both has taken a lot of research.

The search usually starts with people

I've spent countless hours looking through social enterprises, Fair Trade organisations, artisan collectives, NGOs, ethical brands and small businesses around the world.

Sometimes one organisation leads me to another. Sometimes I find a maker buried several pages deep in a Google search. Sometimes it's through Fair Trade networks, recommendations, Instagram, development organisations or businesses I've encountered through my previous work. And I know there are countless more that simply don't have the resources to promote their products far enough (one day I hope to link these in too!).

Then the questions begin.

Who actually makes the product?

Where is it made?

What does the organisation mean when they use words like ethical or empowering?

How are makers paid?

Is this creating sustainable employment, or is there simply a charitable donation attached to every purchase?

Does the organisation have a long-term relationship with the people producing its products?

Who holds the power in that relationship?

And perhaps most importantly: what difference does this work actually make in the lives of the people involved?

Sometimes the answers are clearly available.

Sometimes they're not.

That's when the emails start.

Then comes the other test: would I actually buy it?

This part matters enormously to me.

There are plenty of products with wonderful stories behind them that aren't right for Together Made.

And that's okay.

I don't want someone to open one of our gift boxes and think, This is nice considering it's an ethical product.

I want them to think, I love this.

Then I want them to discover the story. So once I've found an organisation whose work I believe in, I look at the product itself. Would I give this to my sister? My best friend? A teacher? A new mum? Would I buy it if I saw it in a beautiful homewares store? Does it feel good to use? Is the packaging lovely? Is the craftsmanship there? Will it sit naturally alongside the other products in the box? Would I be genuinely excited to receive it?

If the answer isn't yes across the board, it doesn't make the cut.

Sometimes the product arrives and the answer changes

This is why sourcing has taken much longer than I expected.

Something can look perfect online and be completely different once you hold it.

I've ordered samples, tested products, compared sizes, looked at colours and packaging, thought about how things sit together inside a gift box, and gone back to searching when something wasn't quite right.

There have been products with incredible impact stories that didn't meet the quality or design standard I wanted.

There have also been beautiful products I've loved but couldn't get comfortable with the sourcing behind them.

And there have been businesses doing genuinely good work that simply aren't the right fit for Together Made.

Saying no to those products is part of the process too.

What I'm really looking for is empowerment

One word you'll see a lot in the ethical business world is empowerment.

It's a good word. But I think it's worth asking what it actually looks like.

For Together Made, I'm drawn to organisations where the impact goes beyond charity.

That might look like women earning an independent income, artisans receiving fair payment for highly skilled traditional crafts, smallholder farmers accessing better markets, survivors of exploitation rebuilding economic independence, or people facing barriers to employment being given meaningful, dignified work.

The models aren't all identical.

Some of our suppliers are Fair Trade organisations. Some are social enterprises. Some partner directly with artisan groups or cooperatives. Some exist specifically to create employment for a particular community. Some work sustainable practices into every area of design and production, paying fair wages along the way.

I'm less interested in whether everyone uses exactly the same model and more interested in what is happening behind the product.

Are people being treated with dignity? Is their work valued? Are opportunities being created? Is this relationship genuinely beneficial to the people making the product?

Those are the questions I keep coming back to.

And then there's the very unromantic stuff

Of course, running a business means there's another layer to all of this.

Can I actually get the product to Australia?

Can I order it in quantities that make sense for a small business?

Does international shipping make the cost completely unsustainable?

Will it survive being shipped?

Can I keep it in stock?

Does it fit inside the box?

Does the final price still make sense for the person buying the gift?

There have been products I've desperately wanted to stock that simply haven't been viable.

Ethical sourcing still has to work in the real world.

The result is a very small collection, on purpose

After all that research, the number of products that end up in Together Made boxes is relatively small.

That's intentional.

Together Made was never meant to be a marketplace containing thousands of “ethical” products.

I want it to be curated.

I want you to be able to choose a gift without spending the hours researching that I've spent.

When you see a candle, a mug, a journal, tea, chocolate or skincare product inside one of our boxes, I want you to know there was a reason it ended up there.

Someone made it.

There's a story behind it.

There's an organisation doing work I believe is worth supporting.

And, just as importantly, it's something I'm genuinely proud to give.

I'm still learning. I'll keep discovering new makers, asking better questions and refining what responsible sourcing looks like for Together Made.

But maybe that's part of the point.

Thoughtful consumption isn't about finding the perfect product, it's more about caring enough to look a little closer.

And for Together Made, that looking happens long before a gift box ever reaches your door.