About Original Source and Supply & their Zero Waste Headbands
Martina Harvey Capdevila had a dream and turned it into a reality—it’s known as Original Source and Supply. This former fashion professional’s brand is all about sustainability, transparency, experiencing new cultures and a love for travel. Original Source and Supply offers sustainable, ethically-made products including robes, handbags, notebooks,headbands and more. Early on, Martina knew she wanted her brand to be plastic-free, made with quality materialsand waste as little as possible.
Martina, who hails from London, got the idea for Original Source and Supply after her travels all over the world,with Sri Lanka especially kick starting her creative endeavor. Today, her main team consists of herself acting as the Brand Creator and Director, Shanaz acting as the Operations Coordinator and Upali with the role of Logistics Manager. Together, the team has focused on zero waste and growing the eco-friendly brand.
Martina’s products are made for the person aiming to achieve a slower, more thoughtful lifestyle. The products are sourced from all over the world, with the primary source being excess from factories. In most cases, that excess might end up in a landfill, but Original Source and Supply’s main mission is sustainability, so for them, it’s like gold.
The brand uses two main seamstresses for their products—Renuka from Gaille, and Hemanthi from Colombo. Martina has hired the two women to make her products, which are all made to order, by the way. These two women (in addition to others) make all of the products entirely in the country of Sri Lanka.
What’s so special about a lot of the products is that since they are made to order and from varying fabrics from all over, almost no two products are ever the same. Sure, every now and again you’ll find something that looks prettysimilar, but for the most part, once a fabric is used and gone, it’s on to the next one.
Customers tend to be drawn to the illusion of how exclusive the pieces are, while also maintaining that sense ofinclusivity. It’s truly something that is not easily accomplished.
The headbands, in particular, are a point of pride for Martina and Original Source and Supply. With a lot of smaller pieces of fabric going to waste, there’s usually no way to actually get a good use out of them. A headband, however, requires minimal fabric, which is why they are completely zero waste.
The fabrics for the headbands are sourced in Colombo or from other leftover fabrics Original Source and Supplymay have on the backburner. The seamstress Renuka from Gaille primarily manufactures these headbands, and what is so interesting is that over the years, there have been hundreds upon hundreds of varying headbands...because of the different fabrics and patterns.
