Article: Y.O.U in 2024 - What a Year!

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four women standing with their arms around each other and smiling towards the camera. Three of the women are wearing Y.O.U organic cotton bras and one woman wears a blue t shirt.

Dec 30, 2024Business For Good

Y.O.U in 2024 - What a Year!

2024 is coming to an end!

We can't believe how quickly this year has gone by and it's been another fantastic one in the world of Y.O.U.

Whilst the past year globally has been a turbulent, and at times overwhelming one, we have always been able to find joy, strength, and positivity in humanity and collective hope.

Over in our corner of the world, this has meant coming together for some great causes, learning and sharing on ethical sustainability, and having a lot of fun with our team and community!

We wanted to share some of our highlights and significant moments from the year with you: our amazing Positive Pants community. And if you remember or were involved in any of it then THANK YOU! And if you're new round here, then there's plenty more to come in 2025... 👀

We set new targets:

After smashing our previous target, and donating over 50,000 pairs of underwear since 2018, we thought it was time to be ambitious. Our new target is to donate 100,000 pairs by 2027. And so far so good, with each customer donating 7.6 pairs of pants in 2023. For every item of Y.O.U underwear bought, we donate a pair to Smalls For All who are a fantastic charity providing underwear for those without access, such as people living in poverty, experiencing homelessness, or survivors of violence.

Photo of a woman smiling and dancing wearing a black Y.O.U more supportive bra and full briefs. Green and white text reads "Every Customer in 2023 Donated 7.6 Pairs of Pants"

We recycled over 400kg of Underwear

Thanks to all of you, we were able to save over 400kg of underwear from landfill. 2024 was a great year for an underwear drawer clear out and thanks to our partnerships with Cotton Lives On and TerraCycle, all those old pants and bras will get a new lease of life!

We launched new products

Thanks to all your brilliant ideas, requests and feedback, 2024 saw the launch of three new products and a brand new colour way. Our unisex robes, vests & camisoles, and full brief knickers in our signature super soft organic cotton were a huge hit! You particularly loved the full brief for ultimate comfort with a smoothing fit. And our gorgeously rich and comforting cocoa colour way is now a firm Y.O.U team favourite.

Two photos showing the torso of a woman wearing a mid length organic cotton robe. She wears the charcoal grey colour in one photo and light pink in the other

Two photos showing women's top half and they are wearing vest tops. In the left photo a woman is wearing a white vest top and is seen from behind. In the right photo a woman wears a black camisole top and is seen from the front.

Two photos showing the mid section of a woman's body while she wears Y.O.U organic cotton full briefs. In the left she wears the white brief and wears the black in the other.

Two photos showing women's torsos wearing matching cocoa Y.O.U organic cotton underwear. In the first photo a woman wears the mid rise brief and bralette, in the second a woman wears the bralette and Y.O.U waistband boy shorts, visible from behind.

We expanded our sizing

Our More Supportive style bra is now available in size range S or S+ to XL or XL+ and our thongs are available in UK sizes 6-18. This is all thanks to your feedback which is so important in our production decisions, so again thank you! Our popular light blue collection now also includes the More Supportive Bra and Mid Rise Bikini.

The first photo shows the more supportive bra range hanging in store in all colour ways. The second shows the light blue bralettes, thongs, and bikinis hanging up in store.

We took some photos

Team Y.O.U managed to put together four photoshoots this year with huge thanks to everyone involved including our amazing photographers and team of volunteer models. Every shoot requires a huge amount of planning and preparation but it's so worth it when we get such beautiful images and everyone has a brilliant time on set.

Photo of three women grouped together, with the woman in the middle sitting on a stool while the other two stand behind her. They are all smiling towards the camera. The woman standing on the left wears the navy Y.O.U bralette and mid rise bikini. The woman on the right wears the Almond bralette and boy shorts. The seated woman wears the chestnut bralette and boy shorts

Our team got bigger

With the amazing growth of Y.O.U it was time to bring some more people on board to help out with everything from our website, to emails, to B Corp recertification. Welcome Rafaelia, Holly, and Sophie who are just as passionate about ethical and sustainable clothing as we are!

Photo of four women standing in front of an underwear display in the Y.O.U Oxford shop. They are wearing black Y.O.U embroidered aprons and are smiling towards the camera.

New website

In 2024 we launched our new website - the result of lots of hard work to make it easier for you to browse our collections and to provide more information about the work that we do. You've given us some great positive feedback so far and we're keen to hear any more ideas.

We celebrated being a B Corp

It was a great year to be a B Corp with Y.O.U celebrating B Corp month back in March and CEO & Founder Sarah presenting at the B Corp Festival in Oxford. We looked after the Big B and took it on a tour around the city to draw attention to some of the incredible B Corp certified companies. And Sarah shared some of the background and logistics of our Buy One Give One policy and recycling scheme with the audience at September's festival.

Photo of four people standing in front of the Y.O.U Oxford Covered Market shop, posing and smiling around a giant 'B' shaped prop.

Photo of a row of benches and seats with a woman standing at the front presenting a slideshow to the audience.

Y.O.U were nominated for three awards

It was fantastic to be recognised by award nominations from Drapers, Great British Entrepreneur Awards, and Social Enterprise UK Awards this year. Sarah had a brilliant time attending the award ceremonies and having the opportunity to speak to other amazing entrepreneurs in a range of fields. She even met Patrick Grant and chatted to him about ethical undies!

Left photo shows a large hall with rows of round table with chairs and blue and purple lighting. Right photo shows a woman wearing a blue dress and standing next to a man wearing a suit with waistcoat and tie. We can see the award show hall behind them.

Our shop turned 3

In November of this year we celebrated three years in our Oxford Covered Market store. What started out as a pop-up opportunity during Covid soon led to a bigger permanent space where we were able to meet more of you in person and give you the opportunity to try before you buy! We love our little corner of the market and are so happy with the range of brands we've been able to add this year as well. If you're around Oxford make sure to pop in, where you'll always receive a friendly welcome from the team.

Four women stand around a central display inside the Y.O.U shop. They are smiling and waving towards the camera and we can see a wide range of colourful products on the displays.

Sarah went to India

This October, Sarah, along with business partner Steve, travelled to the South of India to visit the factories where Y.O.U organic cotton products are produced. It was a fantastic trip with incredible tours and hospitality from our Production Manager and the opportunity to chat to some of the garment workers about their workplace. We'll be sharing more about the production processes and people Sarah met over the coming weeks, so watch this space.

Left photo shows an example light blue Y.O.U bralette handing in a light workroom where people are working at stations with sewing machines. Right photo shows a woman wearing a black Y.O.U Underwear top standing next to a workbench and inspecting a set of black bralette straps while and man stands further back checking fabric.

Raised money for Future Dreams Charity

As part of the Buy Women Built Community, we came together with other female led businesses to raise money for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. In October Sarah was invited to Future Dreams House in London where she saw the incredible work they do and participated in a drive that raised over £13,000.

A group of women wearing light pink t shirts group together to take a selfie in the outdoor courtyard of Future Dreams House, which is visible behind them.

All in all it's been a fantastic year full of brilliant achievements and hard work. We've been touched as always by your positive words about Y.O.U products and the work we do and we're so grateful to have the best customers ever!

Team Y.O.U have taken a break over the holidays to reset and we're starting to look forward to 2025 where we have big things planned! We're so excited to continue this journey with you and would love to know your highlights of 2024. Make sure to share with us on social media or email us directly.

Read more about our jam packed year:

Go behind the scenes on one of our shoots

Look back at our Oxford shop journey

And take a trip around Southern India with Sarah's travel diary.

Written by YOU Team