5 Things To Know About A Gadsby Hamper

Are you a big business? This post will also help you if you've been receiving customer queries. From learning the difference between wicker and willow and the where and how our baskets are made, let's get into it...

What Is Wicker/ Willow?

No doubt about it, this is one of the most common queries we get! Long story short, they're the same thing. Willow is the raw, natural material that's used to make a willow or wicker basket! You may think that willow comes from a willow tree but that's not the case. Willow grows in strands from the ground. It's fast growing and well suited to growth in many parts of the world.

When the willow strands reach around six feet, they are ready to cut. The base of the willow, which grows in clumps of around 30 stems, gets left so that the stems can immediately begin to regrow. This makes it a sustainable material, but more on that to come.

The willow we use is soaked for flexibility and skilled weavers make every single basket by hand. A water-based varnish gets applied, followed by the addition of straps and hinges to give you the perfect Gadsby hamper.

Where are Gadsby baskets made?

Most of our willow products are handmade in the Far East. Due to our scale, we can offer year-round work to many more people. Almost all wicker used as gifts in the UK is now sourced from Eastern Europe or the Far East. The UK climates means that willow can't be grown in abundance. So it makes sense to get it from its natural climate.

Whilst it seems far to make our baskets overseas, it makes sense and we do it in a responsible way. For one, our sites are Sedex members, which involves regular ethical auditing. Find out more over on our Responsible Business page.

Is Wicker Sustainable & Recyclable?

We make sure the materials we use in our products are as sustainable as possible. As our baskets are made from natural willow, they are eco-friendly. The innovative heat treatment we use on our hampers removes the need for chemical fumigation. When it comes to recycling, your customer would only need to remove the vegan leather straps to then recycle the basket.

But our wicker hamper baskets are designed for after use. Once your customer has purchased a filled hamper from you, they have something that can be used for years to come once empty.

Are Wicker Hampers Easy To Clean?

If you're keeping your hampers in storage, make sure where you're storing them is nice and dry. If you can, keep the hampers on a pallet off the ground as well. It goes without saying, wicker doesn't like a lot of water. If your hampers have gathered a bit of dust wipe down with a cloth or soft brush.

How Strong Is A Wicker Hamper?

We weave our baskets using full steamed willow. This means our hampers are strong but also have a lovely rich tone to them. Even our split willow hampers (whilst more lightweight as we're only using half willow strands) are still very strong.

We suggest looking at our range of wicker hamper baskets to find the one(s) perfect for your range. Prices start at £4.75 with the 10-inch hamper being our smallest, all the way up to a 26-inch hamper. Think about what you're going to be filling your hamper baskets with and then look at the sizing. For example, if you're adding wine to your offering then the smaller sizes won't suit your needs.

Want to learn more about the production process and how the products get to us? Head over to this blog post to find out more.