Sustainable Hastings

Photography by Steve Painter

Yard & Quarter

The salon may have opened in its current iteration on Queens Road in July 2022, but the minds behind Yard & Quarter came together long before that. The desire to open a salon that embraced sustainable principles was important to James and Renee from the beginning.

James has worked with hair for 35 years, but says his formative time was spent at Toni & Guy Birmingham from the mid 90s to early 00s; it gave him a great foundation on which to build his career. He’s devoted to his craft – he says it’s in his blood – and it has taken him across the world. It was whilst working in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs that he met Renée.

At that time, Renée worked for Universal Music Group as an Account Manager. It was a time when digital music was transforming the industry. She struggled with the inherent waste that she was contributing to by selling plastic CD’s to retail, and left to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Art at Sydney’s College Of Fine Art.

Fast track to 2016, having relocated to Hastings, James set up shop in the Snug at the back of The Crown. What started as a monthly event, quickly became a firm fixture in the pub every Thursday. He would also visit people at home, steadily building a following.

“When we started thinking about opening a salon, we knew we wanted our business to take ownership and act responsibly. Saying no to plastic. Renewable energy. Responsible recycling of all materials. Zero wastage policy.

“It’s about great hairdressing, but it’s also so much more”, Renee tells me one bright Monday morning over coffee (and cuddles with the cafe pooch) at Stooge. “We all need to be proactive given the current climate. Respect for the planet and circular design are at the heart of everything we do. We’re proud to integrate sustainability into our salon; every decision we make stems from this ethos.”

For the salon owners, it doesn’t matter how big or small the acts of sustainability are, they consistently re-evaluate and search for ways to improve. They recently onboarded digital tools to assist with colour services. The system records the colour being used for a service, as well as any excess. When the client returns for their next visit, the team has an accurate measure of the colour required, resulting in less product being used and minimising waste.

Another huge part of Yard & Quarter is their partnership with OWay.

“Their products are incredible. They are the most environmentally conscious salon brand we’ve come across, no one else can match them. They innovate by upcycling waste from the food industry into clever ingredients that are really nourishing and restorative for hair, and they tick all the boxes that you would expect. Biodynamic, plant based, carbon neutral, cruelty-free, petro-chemical free and – the big one – plastic-free. We don’t see a solution in supporting packaging that is made from recycled or bio-plastics, as it still creates a problem at the end of its use. Until this problem can be effectively solved, for us, the only real solution is to refuse it. But that empty glass shampoo bottle? You can bring it back to us and we will refill it for you!

A few more examples of the salon’s sustainable decisions (there are far too many to list in full) include: water-saving Ecoheads pressure taps on the wash basins which filter and soften the water whilst reducing water usage. Clients’ hair waste is innovatively recycled with Green Salon Collective, who repurpose it into materials used to clean up oil and chemical spills. All work stations were made locally, using timber offcuts from kitchen installations.

I ask Renée what their ultimate aims are. “Our mission is to create an innovative space for hair and wellbeing. One where you can pause, recharge, and leave feeling empowered and looking great.

O Moon

Hannah Exley-Myers is a bold businesswoman with a background in luxury fashion. She’s cut patterns expertly for McQ, Vivienne Westwood, Ann-Sofie Back, Halston and Emma Cook. She’s more inclined to the creative side of things in her work, and says she’s ‘a maker, first and foremost’.

Her homegrown business O Moon was founded in 2018, and launched online in 2020. It began life as a kids’ clothing brand; Hannah would make clothes for her son Marlon when he was around two years old, using up many years of collected fabrics from here, there and everywhere. Before long Hannah’s friends were saying ‘you should make things to sell!’ and she thought, why not? She was home most days at that point in her life with a wealth of creative drive, and says it was great to put it to use. Instagram was where her customer base formed and grew, quickly and organically. These days she says she’s creating more women’s fashion than kids’, as that’s what she originally trained in.

O Moon is best described as an ongoing collection that moves with the seasons. ‘My aim was to create colourful and bold pieces of clothing that are as comfortable and practical as they are stylish and sustainable,’ Hannah explains. ‘Sustainability has been integral since the beginning.’

‘I’d consciously made clothes that could be grown into,’ she says, about her early days making kids’ clothes. ‘I’d encourage people to hand them down, you know those special pieces that people pass on to other kids, and they get a whole new life several times over. And now, I like the idea of women buying a piece and they’ll have it for say, 20 years.’

Hannah’s work space, the beautiful O Moon cabin, is filled with impressively stocked, labelled and organised shelves, files and boxes. The boxes are clear plastic, so one can see the vibrant array of patterns and textures living inside each one.

‘It always goes back to the fabrics,’ Hannah says, and she goes on to explain how she sources them from all sorts of places. ‘Jumble or car boot sales, charity shops, eBay. I’ve still got some fabric from my grandma. I value every piece so much that when I cut them out I’m really careful. I see how much I can fit on each and use every last bit. It’s not a fast production process!’

‘I like using vintage textiles and deadstock. It has never been my desire to go and buy metres of one fabric off the roll and just create the same thing over and over again… So the sustainability part of it is kind of my like shining light of the business. I enjoy the challenge of creating the patchwork that makes up so many of my designs by using up the smallest offcut pieces.’

‘The ethos is making to order, so I’m not left with any waste.’

She also tells me about enquiring with other designers and companies for their offcuts, and how she’ll send some to her own customers if requested, to do some mending or try their hand at making.

And it’s not just the materials that are upcycled or reworked, so are the styles and sources of inspiration.

‘I’m not one to watch and follow trends – they come and go. I don’t read fashion magazines for inspiration, I’m more likely to be inspired by seeing people on the street.’

Hannah has two stockists this year, which she tells me is a new and exciting venture. A nearby shop, Radical Living in Lewes, and Atwin in Norwich, who only sell British independent brands.

I ask Hannah what else is on the horizon for O Moon. She smiles, and says simply, ‘I thrive on collaboration. I’m always listening out for opportunities to work with other people on projects.’