Giving Back 1%: We don't do cheap—we do SHEEP

At PLEIN PUBLIQUE, we believe in the power of high-quality, timeless classics as the foundation for a sustainable wardrobe that will last for years. Anyone who’s known us for a while knows this: we’re absolutely crazy about wool. So it won’t surprise you that we’re just as crazy about sheep—the suppliers of our beautiful yarns. Hats off to Mother Nature: she was really on a roll when she invented the sheep!

RHEDEN SHEEP HERD FOUNDATION

For quite some time now, here at Plein Publique, we’ve been giving 1% of our revenue back to nature in the form of donations to causes and organizations that protect and restore the health of the natural world. For Blèèèck Friday 2023, we’ve gone the extra mile. For every order, we’ve added an extra €5 to the fund and donated it to the Rheden Sheep Herd (or in Dutch: de Rhedense schaapskudde). Just a donation? No… because we’ve actually adopted some lambs*! Ahhhwww, so cute...

But first, this...

HOW SHEEP HERDS HELP PRESERVE NATURE

Do you remember how, as a child, you’d just melt away when you were knee-deep among the sheep—in a cozy sheep pen or, completely unexpectedly, during a walk on the heath? The warm, woolly feel of adult sheep, the adorable lambs on their wobbly little legs... ♥

But besides being too cute, flocks of sheep are also incredibly important for nature. Did you know that...

• Roaming sheep promote biodiversity? Pollen and seeds hitch a ride in their fleece, spreading native plants and herbs across a wider area.

• Sheep herds expand the radius of nature reserves as they move around? Smaller nature areas grow together to form a larger whole.

• Nutrients from the heathland and forest are converted into manure? Sheep manure releases better nutrients than natural composting.

• Do sheep graze away the suffocating grasses among the heather plants? Due to nitrogen deposition, grass outcompetes heather; a flock of sheep solves that problem naturally.

• Is grazing better than mowing? After mowing, most insects are gone; with grazing, the vegetation remains “patchy”—a safe hideout for insects. Another advantage: insects, snails, and spiders also hitch a ride in the sheep’s fleece and spread more easily.

PLEIN PUBLIQUE ♥ RHEDEN SHEEP HERD

Maintaining a sheep flock is an expensive undertaking—the folks at the Rheden Sheep Flock know all about it. Donations are desperately needed, and adopting adorable little lambs* is the absolute best way to sponsor them ever! The first wave of births is expected in February 2024—we can’t wait for that to happen.

Every adopted lamb gets a name, and you’ve helped come up with them. We’re already curious to see what cute, funny, cool, old-school, or trendy names you’ve come up with! Here’s another fun fact: once “our” lambs are born, the shepherd will send us their baby photos and birth certificates. Later on, when the lambs are allowed outside, we’ll spend part of a day out and about with the shepherd and the sheep. Giving Back to Nature at its best!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

*In consultation with the Rheden Sheep Herd, we are adopting as many lambs as possible; the remaining proceeds from the Black Friday promotion went to the Rheden Sheep Herd Foundation to help care for the herd.

More info:
Rheden Sheep Flock Foundation website