Our roots
One Tree’s Story
By the community, for the community
The best way to protect our environment is for everyone to be involved.
Not next season, not tomorrow, but now. In our valley we witness first hand the impact on our mountains brought about by climate change. We’re stepping up to protect our mountain environments, and put an end to business as usual.
We resell and repair clothing and repurpose gear where we can’t sell or repair it. We’re bringing creativity and joy to the issue and innovating as we go.
It started with an open air repair and resale event…
In 2018 our local mountain community were reeling from the confirmation of Brexit. To bring people together Gav and some friends organised a positive, community event. The rest, as they say, is history:
March 2019 – Fix-it (F*** Brexit)
On March 29th 2019 One Tree took root. Our local ski community faced uncertainty in the face of Brexit so Gav organised a repair and resale event to promote positivity and agency.
The event was a roaring success and we put the money raised towards supporting regenerative agriculture (agro-forestry) in xxx.
October 2019 – One Tree becomes official
We wanted to harness that energy from the success of the Fix-It event.
We took the tree planting element of the original event as inspiration for the name and One Tree at a Time was born.
It’s a name that reflects our roots more than our current purpose!
Late 2019 and early 2020 – Next steps
We spent the next few months working out what to do next.
We launched One Sleeve, an online store selling second hand gear but quickly realised that wasn’t quite the right direction (and the modelling was well, you know).
More successful were our community events like Climb it for Climate and Fix-It events. Whatever we did next, community would be key.
August 2020 – The hub opens
Post lock-down we had the opportunity to take on a small shop space in our local town of Bozel. A small band of volunteers came together to create a second hand shop and community space that is still ours to this day.
One Tree had a home.
May 2022 – Re-Action formed
We started connecting with other like minded people and organisations. Everyone had different challenges but the same overall goal, protecting the outdoors, making it more accessible and promoting community and circularity.
In May 2022 we decided to try and bring everyone we’d been connecting with together to build something bigger.
The Re-Action Collective was born.
2020 to today – Our projects
Running the shop reinforces one thing every day – there are more clothes in the world than we can use and dealing with this problem is challenging.
Since day one we’ve been looking for creative solutions to help reduce the amount of local clothing that ends up in landfill.
Street Bag, Patchographie, UN/PARA/LD, and Made to be Worn are just some of the initiatives we’re working on.
2026 and beyond
In 2026 Gav, Stu and Andy will be undertaking a training course to increase our garment repair skills and capacity.
After that, who knows! In true One Tree style we’re not sure what the future will bring but we’re ready to get involved and find creative solutions.
The Team
One Tree is run by a host of important folk, both volunteers and paid workers, who help us fulfill our mission of keeping clothing out of landfill and in the fresh air.
If you visit the shop or attend one of our events, the chances are you’ll meet one, two or all of the following folk.
The Founder
Gav Fernie-Jones
It’s all his fault.
Boundless energy and enthusiasm for Citizen-led solutions to social and environmental problems.
The Mainstay
Stu Hill
If there’s hip hop playing in the shop, the chances are that Stu is behind the counter. Fixer, repairer, innovator.
The Recovering Web Dev
Andy Davies
Present since the first Fix-It event, Andy is our web developer and a bit more. He’s recently been spending more time in the shop and less time behind his laptop…
Chief Repairer
Justine
Justine keeps outdoor gear on the mountain, through repair. Zips, patches, seams, adaptations are Justine’s bread and butter.
EPR Specialist
Gaia Dakalo
Gaia, is helping us translate the local work to influence policy. A creative talented maker, with a understanding of the power of local citizen-led action.
Board Member
Clare Truphet
Clare has been involved in One tree events from the beginning and now makes up the board of the association, alongside Gav and Ally.
What else can we tell you?
That’s our team and history covered. Why not find out more about our community hub and our supporters?