Southampton-based entrepreneur, Becky John, of Who Made Your Pants?, has won the Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2014. Becky was named the winner of a public vote from a shortlist of five finalists, who came from a broad range of entrepreneurial backgrounds and are all about to graduate from the 2013/14 cohort of the Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland Social Entrepreneurs Programme.
Becky set up Who Made Your Pants? in 2008, based on an idea she formed two years earlier. There were three core drivers behind the idea: Becky “really likes pants”; she doesn’t like wearing clothes made in sweatshop conditions; and, she knew that women who are refugees are alone for the majority of their day, which can lead to personal and social problems such as depression or economic inactivity.
Who Made Your Pants? has delivered training to more than 65 women from its factory in Southampton and has a waiting list of a further 75 women who want work. The socially-conscious business teaches these women the skill required to make quality, saleable products, which retail predominantly through the Who Made Your Pants? website. Becky plans to use the £10,000 Social Entrepreneur of the Year award to increase the employment hours of her Office Manager and Production Supervisor; which will, in turn, allow her to increase production, sales and create further employment opportunities within the company.
