25 years of baby sleep safety expertise ensure every donated bag meets professional standards
London, 1st September, 2025 – Folk & Thread, the baby sleep brand founded by UK sleep safety experts, is launching the first donation programme where every baby sleep bag is professionally checked before it reaches a family in need.
Building on experience donating over 1,200 items through The Lullaby Trust’s Bedding Bundle project in its first year, Folk & Thread is expanding its mission through its Better Sleep Project—partnering with Baby Basics UK to ensure donated sleep bags aren’t just reused, but rigorously safety-checked and fit for purpose.
Where most clothing donations rely on visual checks by volunteers, Folk & Thread applies specialist baby sleep safety knowledge. Every bag is carefully assessed by experts with over 25 years of experience, checking the details that make all the difference.
“Sleep bags aren’t just clothing; they’re safety products,” says co-founder and BSI committee member Lisa Joyce. “We’re checking things volunteers might not necessarily check: neck measurements, fabric behaviour, seams, fibre percolation, zippers and poppers. These details make a real difference when it comes to safer sleep”.
Why expert safety checking matters
Baby sleep bags play a vital role in reducing the risk of SIDS by replacing loose bedding. But over time, wear and washing can compromise essential safety features in ways that aren’t immediately obvious. Folk & Thread’s team checks:
- Neck size: Making sure openings haven’t stretched beyond safe limits
- Fabric condition: Assessing how materials move and wear
- Fastenings: Ensuring zippers glide and poppers work as they should
- Overall construction: Identifying any structural changes that could affect safety
“We apply the same standards as we do to our own products, because every family deserves that same level of reassurance”, says co-founder Ouvrielle Lindfield Roberts.
Professional standards for donated products
Every donated bag follows the same clear, expert-led process:
- Donate: Parents register their clean, stain-free baby sleep bags (any brand, up to 36 months) at www.folkandthread.co.uk/pages/donate-a-sleep-bag. Free postage is provided.
- Expert assessment: Folk & Thread’s team inspects each bag using their specialist knowledge of sleep product safety and design.
- Approval & repackaging: Approved bags are repackaged with safer sleep guidance and a room thermometer, certified safe by the experts who create Folk & Thread’s own products.
- Thank-you reward: Families whose donated bags meet the criteria receive a 20% discount code to use on Folk & Thread’s website as a thank you for participating.
- Distribution: Baby Basics UK delivers the certified bags to families in need, confident in their safety.
A circular solution to waste and need
The programme addresses two linked issues: environmental waste and family poverty. Whilst UK families discard hundreds of thousands of tonnes of clothing annually, Baby Basics UK repurposedover 700,000 items of clothing and 50,000 other essentials to families in need during 2024 alone, highlighting the gap between waste and need. By giving expertly checked sleep bags a second life, Folk & Thread keeps products in use while supporting families facing poverty, homelessness, migration challenges, or domestic abuse.
“We’ve always believed baby sleep products should be made to last, not seen as disposable,” says co-founder Maire Evans. “This programme takes that further, making sure that even second-hand sleep bags meet the highest standards.”
How to get involved
From September 2025, families can donate at www.folkandthread.co.uk/pages/donate-a-sleep-bag.
As a thank you, those whose bags meet the criteria will receive a 20% discount code to use on Folk & Thread’s website.
Media Contact:
Lisa Joyce
Folk & Thread
Email: lisa@folkandthread.co.uk
Website: www.folkandthread.co.uk
Cat Ross
CEO – Baby Basics UK
Email: cat.ross@baby-basics.org.uk
Website: www.baby-basics.org.uk
About Folk & Thread:
Founded by Ouvrielle Lindfield Roberts, Lisa Joyce and Maire Evans, Folk & Thread creates rigorously tested baby sleep products backed by 25 years of combined experience in baby sleep safety, design, and ethical manufacturing. The brand is recognised for its uncompromising approach to safety and its commitment to supporting families in need through The Better Sleep Project.
About Baby Basics UK:
Baby Basics UK operates one of the country’s largest baby bank networks, supporting families in need through a nationwide network of local centres. Working via referrals from health and social care professionals, the organisation connects essential donated items – such as clothing, bedding, and newborn starter packs – with families facing poverty, unsafe housing or homelessness, migration challenges, or domestic abuse.
In 2024, Baby Basics supported over 44,000 children across the UK, and an estimated 1 in every 110 babies born received a moses basket from one of their centres.
To learn more, visit www.baby-basics.org.uk
