ONE man’s crusade in the bedroom, has led Mansfield-born and bred Tim Berenyi to develop a range of bedlinen that is both fully sustainable and uncompromisingly impactful, with the first Plantchester products launching in October 2022.
Growing up in the High Country on a rural block a stone’s throw from a tributary of Lake Eildon, nature was never very far away.
“Mansfield Shire is my heart and soul,” said Tim of the region he will always calls home.
He’s man with a passion for the environment and some impressive tertiary credentials to match, and his range of linen is a tribute to the landscapes he loves and his desire to protect them now and for future generations.
The initial idea came from the purchase of some new bedlinen; expensive cotton sheets to be precise.
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It was a necessary purchase but when Tim thought about the environmental impact of just these sheets alone, he started to wonder if there was a better way.
He wanted new sheets that ticked his entire list of environmentally-responsible credentials, and he didn’t want to compromise.
And so would begin a mission to enact change from between the sheets.
The objective was to make sheets that were completely organic (dyed with organic plant dyes) that were also completely compostable, made from a material that came from a crop which was also kind to the environment.
He settled on hemp.
However, beyond being cleaner and greener, Tim wanted the product to give back to the soil.
“This represents an opportunity for people to do their own little bit building back soil matter - from the bedroom to the garden bed,” he said.
Tim realises that some consumers might have neither the inclination nor ability to repurpose the sheets in the garden, so there had to be the option to return the used product to Plantchester, and Tim would integrate it into his composting system, before then returning it to the ground.
In order to do this, Tim needed to make fitted sheets that didn’t use elastic.
“I needed to find an alternative so that every component was compostable, and that’s when I came up with a drawstring method,” he said.
The drawstring also provides an additional benefit in that it lessens the tension on the fabric when stretched across a mattress in comparison to using elastic.
This in turn increases the longevity of the sheets.
Choosing a colour palette for his first range was also a drawn-out operation, with each dye-run taking between three to four attempts to get the colour right, ensuring that the dye would take and the result was aesthetically pleasing.
Having decided on a limited colour palette of four muted tones for the launch of his first range in October of 2022, Tim has plans to expand as demand grows allowing the business to build organically as he gradually offers up a larger selection of colours, with plans to introduce patterns at a later stage.
“My next move is to offer dog beds, as hemp has been shown to possess anti-bacterial properties and the fabric breathes," Tim said.
It’s still early days for Plantchester but the response so far has been overwhelmingly positive.
“However, I am aware that it is going to take time to build that trust in the brand and the product," Tim said.
“But I’m in for the long haul.
“For every product that is manufactured there needs to be that consideration for what happens to it after it’s served its purpose.
“I whole-heartedly believe that Plantchester can be part of the solution.
“And that’s already giving me a better night’s sleep.”
Read all about Tim Berenyi and his journey to develop a fully-sustainable hemp bedding range in the current edition of North East Living, Spring/Summer 2023. Available at local newsagents and supermarkets.
