Aspiga

A pair of hand-beaded sandals seen on a Kenyan holiday in 2005 started Aspiga, the British ethical fashion and resortwear label launched in 2006 by a founder the company introduces simply as Lucy. It started with hand-beaded Kenyan sandals and now sells dresses, knitwear, menswear, accessories and swimwear, made by partners in Kenya and India and sold online and through about ten shops in the UK. It has been a certified B Corp since 2022. Swimwear and holiday dressing are the part of the business this encyclopedia tracks.

Beaded sandals from a Kenyan holiday

The founding story is short and specific. On a trip to Kenya in 2005, Lucy came across hand-beaded leather sandals made by local craftspeople. "I knew I had found something truly special, that I wanted to share with the world," she has said. She brought the idea back to Britain and launched the brand at Top Drawer, the London trade show for gifts and design, in 2006. Aspiga left that first show with 40 stockists, a strong start for a one-product business.

The Kenyan sandals are still on sale. The site lists them repeatedly in its accessories, and they remain the brand's most direct link to how it began.

Aspiga moves from sandals to a holiday wardrobe

Growth came in stages. In 2010 Aspiga extended production to India, which opened the door to textiles: block prints, embroidery and cotton weaving are long-established crafts there. The first clothing collection followed in 2015. Since then the range has widened into a full wardrobe: midi and maxi dresses, tops, blouses, trousers, knitwear, jackets, kaftans and sarongs for women, and shirts, shorts and knitwear for men.

Swimwear sits in the holiday section beside the kaftans and sandals. It is sold as part of an outfit for a beach trip rather than as technical swimwear. This encyclopedia records about 578 Aspiga products, drawn mainly from those swim and holiday ranges: one-pieces, bikini tops and bikini bottoms, and the cover-ups that go with them. That places Aspiga in the British resortwear market alongside labels such as Hunza G and Solid & Striped, but with an ethical-sourcing pitch at its center rather than a fashion-week image.

Organic cotton and certified suppliers

Aspiga names its materials: organic cotton, other natural fibers, recycled fabrics, low-impact dyes and merino wool for knitwear. For summer clothes and cover-ups, cotton is the obvious choice. It breathes in heat and takes print well, and organic cotton answers the questions about pesticides and water use that conventional cotton raises.

The company sets out its sustainability record as a series of dated steps:

Year	Step
2019	Removed plastic packaging
2020	Opened its first shop
2022	Certified as a B Corp
2023	Mapped its carbon footprint with Future Leap
2024	All garment suppliers certified by recognized bodies
2025	Recertified as a B Corp, with a score of 106.7

A B Corp score above 80 is required to qualify, so 106.7 is a solid result for a company of its size. The founder's own line is that sustainability "has been woven into the DNA of the business since day one," and the early reliance on artisan suppliers supports that claim more than most such statements do.

Shops from Bath to Edinburgh

Aspiga opened its first physical shop in 2020, an odd year to start in retail. It now lists shops in Bath, St Mawes in Cornwall, Stow-on-the-Wold, Haslemere, Marlborough, Windlesham, two in London on King's Road and Northcote Road, Edinburgh, and an outlet at Wilton in Wiltshire. A shop in Holetown, Barbados, is listed as temporarily closed.

The map says a lot about the customer: prosperous market towns, Cotswold and Cornish holiday spots and well-off London neighborhoods, with no shopping-mall units at all.

Fair wages and Kenyan schools

The brand's social commitments are tied to where it makes things. It supports schools in Kenya, the country where the business started, and The Salvation Army in Britain. It describes its approach to suppliers as "fair wages, safe conditions, and long-term opportunities."

In 2026 Aspiga launched a collaboration with the Royal Horticultural Society, a fitting partner for a label built on summer prints and cotton. Twenty years on from Top Drawer, the beaded Kenyan sandal is still in the range.

Last updated October 7, 2026