Oh hi!

Fancy seeing you here. Have you come for an Earth, Ocean & People update? Lucky you, you’ve found it. Congrats on your excellent mouse-clicking skills.

It’s been a while since we updated you on what we’ve been up to in the name of our three fave charities, so here’s a quick run-through to get you up to speed. 

TEAM EARTH

To celebrate World Environment Day on the 5^th June, Team Earth strolled to success all in the name of saving trees. 

Taking part in a half-marathon walk to raise money for World Land Trust, they managed to cover 21km across London in the respectable time of 4 hours and 24 minutes!

That’s approximately 27,000 steps, which is around the same amount of trees used every day to make paper toilet tissue. Team Earth managed to raise an amazing £500 to help support the planting of new trees for WLT’s ‘Plant A Tree’ initiative. Meaning the team have managed to plant around 100 trees!

Team Earth were rewarded with a nice glass of prosecco and a tasty burger to replenish the calories they had burned. 

Keep your eyes peeled for some more challenges – Team Earth are itching to push themselves further for the sake of trees!

Team Ocean

Those nautical guys in Team Ocean have been supporting Whale and Dolphin conservation with a special, one-of-a-kind bamboo bundle. 

Head over to our website and you’ll find a super special Bamboo Baby Bundle, with part of the money from each one sold going to WDC!

Each bundle contains nappies and a pack of eco-friendly baby wipes – all you need for your bounding bundle of dribbling joy.

Team Ocean are also planning on putting together a HUGE beach clean, so stay tuned for that! (They tried to do it at the Thames but the tide was too far in…).

Team People

Listen up, people. There aren’t many teams better than Team People (the other two teams are equal).

Our wonderful group of toilet-twinners have been extra busy this month. First of all, they arranged an incredible ‘Design the World’s Best Toilet’ competition all in the name of raising awareness for Toilet Twinning.

The award was taken in amazing fashion by Wayfield Primary, who designed an incredible Techno Toilet worthy of any bum known to man.

Secondly, this people-powered squad cleaned up Cheeky Panda HQ of excess stock (there was a LOT, we almost lost Colin amongst a sea of loo roll at one point).

Any stock that could be given away was donated to local food banks and people who need it most. Great work, peeps. 

What next?

Earth, Ocean & People has been running for almost a year now, and we’ve received incredible support so far.

Not just from you lovely lot (our fans, customers, friends, family), but from brands and our charity partners, too. So thank you.

We want to continue to make the world a better place through this initiative. We’re making changes, they might be small, but hopefully they have a big impact.

Love,

Team Cheeky Panda x

Want to own your very own piece of the panda pie? 

You hear a lot about ‘diversifying your portfolio’ and making your money ‘do more’. So much so that it can be a little confusing at times. Well, what if we told you that it’s super easy to own a part of the brand you know and love? (that’s us, by the way). 

We’re leading the charge when it comes to a green economy, and we want you along for the ride. 

Read on to learn why you should invest in The Cheeky Panda and exactly how you do it.

Why invest?

You need to know why you’re investing in us, right?

If you DO decide to invest, first of all - thank you. Second, we can guarantee that you’re not investing in a company committed to only growing in a business sense. 

That’s because, as you may well know, sustainability is at the forefront of what we do.

As a proud B Corp, we’re passionate about balancing people, planet and profit. That’s why, since we started in 2016, we’ve saved 250,000 trees so far. Not only that, but we’ve also saved 31,000 tons of carbon (the stuff that’s causing things to heat up) from entering the Earth’s atmosphere.

We work with numerous charities – most notably those part of our Earth (World Land Trust), Ocean (Whale and Dolphin Conservation) & People (Toilet Twinning) initiative – who we care about deeply because they make a huge difference to the world.

We’ve made a commitment to only use natural, sustainably sourced, FSC-approved bamboo which causes significantly less damage to the planet than using tree-based material.

Our entire manufacturing and delivery process is also carbon balanced, and we’re working on making our entire range plastic-free (where possible!).

So, you’re not just investing in a business solely focussed on making money. We actually care about the planet and safeguarding its future. 

Green Economy Credentials

We believe that, if we were 10x larger, our positive impact on the planet, global conservation efforts and green economy credentials would only continue to grow. The more bamboo products we make, the more trees we save – simple. 

Not only would you be putting your money into a company with clear green credentials, you’d also be investing in a company with extremely high growth. ‘Hypergrowth’ is judged as a company which grows at over 40% CAGR (which stands for Compound Annual Growth Rate). Our CAGR over the last 4 years has been 204%.

Our route to taking The Cheeky Panda public is clear - we are working with our advisors on all the pre-IPO checklists and public market approvals. It’s all very exciting.

Green IPOs are a huge commodity to the market and pioneering business like us tend to perform extremely well. Two examples of similar brands who performed incredibly well are Beyond Meat and Oatly. We hope to replicate their performance!

The shares we’re offering are all EIS (Enterprise Investment Scheme). This basically means that they’re super tax efficient and that there will be no capital gains after 3 years. Read more about that here.

After more information? Want to take a look at a detailed business plan? Visit our Seedrs page here. You can even ask questions directly to us if you need to know something specific.

Our co-founder Chris Forbes also hosted an investment webinar, containing more key information. Click here to have a watch. 

It’s an exciting time to join the team, and we hope you share the same vision as us of a cleaner, greener future!

Team Cheeky Panda x

What do you call a group of pandas? An embarrassment.

What do you call a group of cheeky pandas heading to the zoo? An embarrassment.

Just kidding. We haven’t just insulted our entire workforce by calling them an embarrassment, that’s literally the term given for a group of pandas. Please don’t call HR.

Anywayyyy…

We went to the zoo!

We’re going to the zoo, zoo, zoo…

As part of our ongoing partnership with Edinburgh Zoo (and because it was our co-founders’ birthday, Happy Birthday Julie!) we decided to drop by and say hello to our favourite animals. 

We hopped on the train from London to make the 4-and-a-bit hour journey to the Scottish capital - all in the name of a team day out.

After disembarking from the train, we were met by the luscious sound of bagpipes echoing around Waverley station as we made our way to our hotel.

Once we’d dropped off our bags full of bamboo (actually full of clothes and toiletries but just pretend, ok?) we made our way to the magical kingdom that is Edinburgh Zoo. 

When we arrived, we were lucky enough to be offered an exclusive chance to feed not one, but TWO amazing animals.

The first had a long neck and a seemingly even longer tongue…

These gentle giant Giraffes seemed to enjoy some carrot treats supplied by the paws of your favourite cheeky pandas, but not as much as we enjoyed feeding them!

Next up, our co-founders Chris and Julie were lucky enough to be blessed with giving our favourite black and white bears some tasty treats.

It was an honour and a pleasure to see the incredible Giant Pandas up close, especially after years of producing bamboo products!

Our support for the zoo

 
Coronavirus has had a huge impact on the zoo, and we wanted to help make sure they have the support they needed before they could finally open again now that restrictions have been lifted. 

That’s why we pledged £50k to their recent Crowdfunder campaign, which allowed the zoo to keep running during lockdown when their doors were closed to the public.

If you pledged to the Crowdfunder, you were in with the chance to win a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have your very own private tour of the zoo, feed the animals and stay in a super fancy hotel!

Our donation, plus the support from you, the wonderful public, has allowed the zoo to continue to provide food and care for their incredible animals. Through their Crowdfunder, they raised an incredible £200k!

They’ve also been able to keep up their amazing conservation work and research thanks to ours, and your support.

Following the recent news that Giant Pandas are no longer classed as endangered, David Field, RZSS chief executive, responded: “Giant pandas have long been a symbol for wildlife conservation across the globe and incredible ambassadors, raising awareness of the threats their species, and far too many others, face in the wild. 

“Thanks to the work of dedicated conservationists in China and around the world, pandas are now also a symbol of hope as our planet faces a biodiversity crisis. 

“When people and communities work together, we can save animals from extinction and create real change for the better.

“Tian Tian and Yang Guang play a critically important role in attracting and engaging hundreds of thousands of visitors to Edinburgh Zoo each year so more people can learn about the threats animals face in the wild and the action they can take to help. Their power to connect people with nature and encourage behaviour change is invaluable.”

Panda Cam!

If you want to see your favourite black and white bears in live action, check out Panda Cam!

Head here to check out what Edinburgh Zoo’s resident folivores are up to (that means they specialise in eating leaves, by the way).

What’s better, or more relaxing, than sitting and watching pandas munch on bamboo and sleeping? Nothing. That’s what.

We are as proud as pandas to be supporting Edinburgh Zoo, because we love big, bamboo-munching, black and white bears and we both share a passion for conservation.

We want to thank the zoo for having us and letting us interact so closely with their animals.

We want to work with this special zoo to raise awareness of the need to protect wildlife worldwide and create a more sustainable planet for future generations.

And if that means we get to feed more Giraffes and Pandas, so be it.

Love,

Team Cheeky Panda x

Our work with the World Land Trust

In case you forgot – WE LOVE TREES.

You probably haven’t forgotten because we DO go on about it quite a lot. More than most, to be honest. But there’s a good reason. 

We love trees because they keep our lovely Earth nice and balanced. They keep all that global-warming-causing carbon in the soil, provide a habitat for our favourite animals and provide some nice shade for reading under.

We work alongside our buddies at World Land Trust to help keep trees exactly where they need to be - in the ground, providing habitats for animals and an equal ecosystem. 

Our work with WLT, plus the fact that we use only bamboo for our home essentials like loo roll, wipes and straws, is helping to ensure the protection and planting of trees across the world.

But how? 

Well, we’re going to tell you right now.

Khe Nuoc Trong rainforest

Since April 2017, we’ve been offsetting - through WLT’s Carbon Balanced programme - the unavoidable emissions associated with every step of the production, manufacturing and distribution of their bamboo tissue.

Basically, this means that any emissions we produce while making our lovely, eco-friendly products are ‘balanced’ by donations made by us directly to World Land Trust.

WLT will then use the funds we’ve donated to protect and restore Annamite Lowland Forest at Khe Nuoc Trong in Vietnam.

This vast, luscious piece of rainforest is home to an array of incredibly diverse animals and plants, including 40 threatened species. The adorable little mother and baby above are Five-Coloured Macaques, who now have a safer space to live thanks to WLT’s work.

Not only that, but Khe Nuoc Trong has been identified as a climate powerhouse. Viet Nature staff – who work to protect and analyse the rainforest – have spent years researching the carbon stored there.

They’ve found that that protection of Khe Nuoc Trong’s 54,000 acres will deliver 50,000 tCO2e in annual climate benefits. Put in less science-y terms – that’s the equivalent of taking 23,706 cars off the road a year in the UK. Our carbon balancing has made that possible!

Some supporting stats…

To date, The Cheeky Panda has donated £55,800 to World Land Trust, to help save trees, support the rainforest and maintain this unique ecosystem.

We calculate the amount we donate based on our annual turnover, so as we continue to grow, we continue to further support WLT.

We’ve also cleverly worked out that since 2016, we’ve saved an incredible 249,600 trees. That’s around 1,371 acres of trees – just by producing bamboo products instead of tree-based essentials.

By using bamboo instead of traditional trees, we’ve figured out that for every ton of product we ship, we save 20 trees. Something to consider when you’re thinking about which loo roll to purchase in your weekly shop…

On top of that, we’ve managed to also save a staggering 31,200 tons of carbon since we started.

Okay, we’ll stop bragging. We’re just very happy with what we’ve achieved so far. 

The future

Looking ahead, as we continue to grow as a company, we’ll be sure to continue to support World Land Trust along the way.

As a proud B Corp, we believe in becoming a better business by balancing people, planet and profit. 

Luckily, our work with WLT allows us to do all three of these, which is something we’re extremely proud of.

Through our Earth, Ocean and People initiative, Team Earth will continue to represent WLT too, by raising both money and awareness for the cause via various activities. So, watch this space for further activity and how you can get involved! 

So, in short, we’ll carry on making bamboo loo roll for you lovely lot as well as supporting World Land Trust.

It’s the least we can do for our planet really, isn’t it?

Love,
Team Cheeky Panda x

For more info on all of the good that World Land Trust do, visit their website here: https://www.worldlandtrust.org/

If you fancy having a read about our recent impact and involvement with the Khe Nuoc Trong rainforest, have a read here: https://www.worldlandtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/World-Land-Trust-Carbon-Balanced-2021-Report-The-Cheeky-Panda.pdf?

The Cheeky Panda - in partnership with Toilet Twinning - challenged schools across the UK to design the World’s Best Toilet!

You might remember us putting a call out to schools across the country to design the most exciting and imaginative toilet they could think of as a class, and we had some incredible entries. Who would’ve thought that toilets could spark so much creativity?

Well, we did, because we sell loo roll.

The competition is to raise awareness for one of our Earth, Ocean and People charities - Toilet Twinning – who are represented by the lovely Team People.

Toilet Twinning

Did you know that one in four people on the planet – 2 billion people – still don't have a safe, clean toilet?

Toilet Twinning helps provide proper toilets, clean water and hygiene training in some of the world's poorest and most remote communities. By training and equipping families to build their own toilet, it protects them from disease, improves their health so they are more able to work, and keeps women and girls safe from attack. 

Toilet Twinning CEO Lorraine Kingsley says: 'We're really excited to partner with The Cheeky Panda, not least because of their strong focus on sustainability and their sense of fun, both of which are also key to our campaign.”

“We love engaging with schools too because children have such a strong, immediate sense of justice, and their optimism that the world.”

To enter the competition, classes were asked to research the benefits of a toilet to a community, then design the ‘World’s Best Toilet’. The Cheeky Panda judges looked out for teamwork displayed, sustainability and ethics as well as the look and the functionality of the toilet.

The Winner

So, are you ready to see our winner?

*Dramatic pause like they do on the X Factor*

And the winner is…

Wayfield Primary School for their amazing Techno Toilet!

Here’s what they had to say about winning the first-ever Cheeky Panda World’s Best Toilet Award:

“That’s amazing. Thank you! The children will be ecstatic; they really found some of the case studies for Toilet Twinning quite moving.

“Please pass my thanks onto the good taste of the judges.”

We do have excellent taste, to be fair. Just LOOK how incredible their entry is:

Due to Covid-19, Wayfield will be taking a trip to a local nature reserve called Port Lympne, rather than Edinburgh Zoo, where they’ll be able to see giraffes, bears and rhinos. If they take our tissues along for the ride, they’ll see a few Cheeky Pandas too…

We hope they have a wonderful day out - it is truly deserved for their incredible commitment to the project, their design skills and the extensive research that went into the project.

Check out their video about how they created this hygienic, heroic masterpiece of a loo:
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VQ09dU_6CQ&ab_channel=MTrag

The Runner-up

 
2^nd Place goes to Kilbarchan Primary School for their Toilet Entertainment System (TES, for short)

A worthy runner-up, it was difficult to choose between the two. This fancy toilet has a DISCO BALL, which is incredible and finally makes dancing on the loo acceptable.

Here’s what Kilbarchan Primary School had to say about their excellent runner-up place:

“This is amazing news. It was a fabulous competition, and it was what my class needed to bring them together as they have struggled with teamwork this year due to long periods of lockdown.”
 
“If it was a normal year, I would love to have raised money in the school for the Toilet Twinning Charity, their website was so powerful for something we take for granted. I am over the moon about this news...I can't stop smiling!” 

For more info about Toilet Twinning – contact for interviews seren.boyd@toilettwinning.org

www.toilettwinning.org

One in four people on the planet – 2 billion people – still don’t have a safe, clean toilet. 

• Toilet Twinning helps provide proper toilets, clean water and hygiene training in some of the world’s poorest and most remote communities. By training and equipping families to build their own toilet, it protects them from disease, improves their health so they are more able to work, and keeps women and girls safe from attack.
• Through a donation of £60, you can twin your toilet with a family latrine overseas, and receive a framed certificate to put in your loo that shows a photo of your toilet twin, complete with its GPS coordinates. 
• Without safe water and sanitation, families fall sick, can’t work or go to school – and become trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty, debt and disease.
• Toilet Twinning’s partners work closely with local communities to help families understand the link between poor sanitation and ill health, teach them good hygiene and train them how to build latrines. All this creates ownership – which is vital if people are to continue using their toilets. Crucially, communities make change happen for themselves.