Introducing Wild at Heart
Wild at Heart are Kim and Darren, two animal-loving crafters who decided to leave the rat-race in 2018 to establish their own small business selling lovingly handmade gifts, all with an animal theme.
Both of us grew up in animal-friendly households with dogs and cats. Darren has rescued 16 homeless or stray cats over the years and worked for a number of years at Animals in Distress in Irlam in Greater Manchester. When Kim and Darren met 10 years ago, she knew it was the cats she had to impress more than the parents! She passed the test with flying colours and the current three cats (Milly, Jarvis and Polly) follow her around all day long, especially now that we’re working largely from home. They help/hinder us as and when they can be bothered.
Darren & Kim in Madagascar
_edited.jpg)
Polly
Since meeting, we have fulfilled lifelong dreams of seeing lemurs in Madagascar and orangutans in Borneo. When we're not working, we spend as much time as we can at our allotment. As well as growing our own fruit and veg, we've built a pond and a wildlife area to attract frogs, birds, pollinators and many other curious creatures.
When deciding on the theme for our business, it seemed like the natural choice to make animals the stars of the show!
.jpg)
Jarvis
Our Wildlife Pond
Milly
A Brief History of Wild at Heart
Wild at Heart began with Kim sewing and Darren buying, cutting and preparing the fabrics. As demand grew, Kim had no choice other than to teach Darren how to sew. We found time for this during the first Covid lockdown.
We work from home in Stockport and have converted our attic into a sewing room. Our three curious cats are often wondering what we’re doing up there and take turns to call us down from the bottom of the ladder. They’ve all had the opportunity to explore, but not for long – they’re too much of a distraction!
As our business grew, we invested in a new Berlingo van to replace our tired Skoda Fabia to help us get to craft fairs. As our spare room became more and more full of fabric and bags, we had to donate our spare bed to make room.
We take great care when choosing the materials for our products. We search the internet and local outlets to find the designs required to give our products the look, feel and character that we know you will appreciate. We have now started to design and produce our own fabrics. We asked you, our customers, to help us choose which new designs and animals to add to our collection. We also wanted to ensure our fabrics are more sustainable and so chose to use 100% organic cotton to print these designs on.
We also take great care to ensure that all of our products are of the highest quality, down to the finest detail, something we pride ourselves on. From the beginning of the process to the way we package and present each item, Wild at Heart aim to provide the very best service to our customers. This despite our chaotic sewing room!
Environmental and Animal Friendly Ethos
If you've read this far, you'll know that we are passionate about the environment and animal welfare. We’re committed to ensuring all our products and as much of our business is as animal-friendly as possible. We are both now vegan and so ensure that no animal products or by-products are used in our creations and all items are vegan friendly.
-
All sewn items are made using man-made or cotton fibres. Absolutely no leather, wool or silk.
-
We package our items in FSC approved boxes, and all packaging is re-used, recycled and / or recyclable.
-
Overseas and smaller packages are enclosed in sustainably sourced sugar cane bags.
-
Our business cards and price labels are printed on recycled card.
-
Our fabric branding labels are made from polyester recycled yarns.
If you have any questions about the materials used to make any of our products, please get in touch.
Supporting Animal Charities
Wild at Heart as a business, and Kim and Darren personally, support the following animal and wildlife charities. Click on the logos for more information about the great work they do.
Wild at heart also supports the Society for Abandoned Animals, a local organisation in Sale, Greater Manchester, that re-homes abandoned cats and rabbits. They look after their animals in great facilities, for as long as it takes to find new forever homes.
During the Covid pandemic, we made and sold animal themed face coverings. 50p of every sale was donated to the SAA. Thank you to everyone who bought one (or more!). Together, we raised just over £200.
Wild at Heart is proud to have signed up to the League Against Cruel Sports' Business Without Blood Sports pledge.
The Business without Blood Sports pledge is a guarantee from businesses to their customers that they in no way support, promote or otherwise enable blood sports such as hunting, shooting or animal fighting.
Click here to visit other businesses who have signed the pledge.
Click here to donate to the League Against Cruel Sports.