The Jungle Culture Story!

Today, in our series of guest blogs: the Jungle Culture story. Getting to know our suppliers and also transparency is very important to us. We hope, you enjoy the story.

The Jungle Culture Story

My business partner Chris and I met by chance in a small town in Mexico in early 2017. We had both recently left our professions. We also felt disenfranchised with life in the UK, the working world and capitalism as a whole.

Both of us want to make a difference, have a strong passion for travelling and also for the environment.

Starting a business

Due to a family emergency, I left Mexico at the start of 2018. However, throughout the year Chris and I stayed connected. Eventually, we decided to start a business selling eco-friendly straws. Ultimately, we were inspired by recent news articles showing the damage that plastic was causing to our oceans.

At the time Chris was travelling through Vietnam and noticed some local restaurants using bamboo straws. What a fantastic alternative to plastic! The idea immediately resonated with us and we set about looking for an ethical farm to supply us with bamboo.

Finding a family-run farm

After finding a family-run farm in the Vietnamese jungle province of Thanh Hoa, we launched our first product and Jungle Straws took off almost immediately! Thrilled with the reaction to our straws, we relocated to Vietnam in search of other products that could alleviate the need for plastic and encourage people to live healthier lifestyles.

Our suppliers are friends

Fast forward and two and a half years later we work with a host of farms, crafts workshops and ethical factories. We visit all of our suppliers regularly (before the pandemic) and I am proud to say that each supplier is a friend, not a business acquaintance. To us, the story behind the product is just as important as the product itself. Therefore, we make sure to include information about how our products come from and who makes them, giving credit where credit is due.

Jungle Culture’s future plans

Chris lives in Portugal now and I in Mexico.  Most certainly, we are still on the hunt for unique, plastic-free products that are made by kind, ethical people and solve big global problems.