UK fashion social enterprises support recovering addicts, refugees and ageing

If you are an ageing woman, a refugee or overcoming an eating disorder or drug addiction, finding a job might feel like scaling Everest. Especially a job in which you can be creative and your unique circumstances supported. Happily, the UK is host to a rise in fashion social enterprises.

Florence Norman set up jewellery enterprise Sweet Cavanagh to provide free support to women recovering from addiction and eating disorders in London. Existing on small grants and revenue, Sweet Cavanagh is owned by a charity so profits are ploughed back in. "I wanted the jewellery company to stand on its own two feet as a fashion label," says Norman. "The charity pays all the extra costs beyond the jewellery, for example, therapy, the rent, and fares for women who have to travel far."

Norman is unpaid as is a volunteer therapist, and she employs five women. "The hours they work is up to them and the day is carefully structured – people with addiction and food disorders follow similar behaviours, so the routine is similarly important. Often the women have a fear of responsibility which is why our turnover is high. But having a group of women come together [to make things] – that is very powerful. I tend to lead with a lot of encouragement and love and not criticism."

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Though Sweet Cavanagh is affiliated with a few treatment centres, Norman says it has been a challenge penetrating the NHS and finding the women. "We are about to submit a huge proposal to them asking for a more significant role in their care procedures."

With clients in recovery, it's hard to measure social impact but 10 of the 20 women who have worked for Norman in the past year have gone back to work or to study. "Many of the women feel that reigniting creativity and having a routine is the key to recovery."

The North Circular, self-funded and set up by ex-model Katherine Poulton and model, actress and activist Lily Cole, is an artisan knitwear company that employs grandmothers. "We've created an ethical circle of production from the sheep and alpacas who provide the soft wool to the spinners, dyers and hand-knitters," Poulton explains.

The 15 knitters are mostly in early retirement age – the oldest being 96. They work from home, some with friends and some alone. "Each of the products is labelled with the name of the person making it. The women are paid per piece knitted, and for pattern checking, testing and swatching.

"Many are in a part of life where other forms of employment may not be suitable. Some of the women really enjoy the extra cash and when times are hard they ask for more. Others thrive on the challenge of making something special and keeping the brain active. We are also happy to work around life events."

Despite the attention its high-profile founders draw, The North Circular faces challenges similar to all businesses – and some unique to their workforce.

"Fashion margins are small and we buy a very expensive material, and produce it in an expensive way, so profits are hard won," says Poulton. These go back into the company, which supports charities including WWF, Greenpeace and the Environmental Justice Foundation.

Lingerie brand Who Made Your Pants? employs and supports women refugees from the Southampton area. Set up as workers' co-operative, it is funded by small grants and revenue. "All profits are returned to the business and any left over can be shared between our members and democratically-agreed good causes," says founder Becky John.

John employs eight women in the factory, from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Somalia and Sudan. "It tends to operate three days a week. A lot of the women we've worked with have not worked in Britain before or, if they have, they've been in nasty jobs so we teach employability, as well as technical skills. We try and support language difficulties too and appreciate that the women might be learning on more than one front."

The material she sources would otherwise end up as landfill. "It's all dumped by large factories; the middle man buys it from them and we buy it from him. We've diverted enough fabric to go up and down London's Oxford Street over ten times so far."

Operating on a shoestring budget is John's biggest headache. "We spend a lot of time supporting the women, but then you've got the day-to-day admin to deal with too," she says. "And we get challenged around pricing. People can look at ethical fashion in two ways. You can think of it as a straightforward purchase, or as 'I'm helping these women and I'm getting some clothes as a present'."

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