There’s a New Zealand company called Make Give Live which makes little knit beanie hats for babies. They have a similar scheme to the Duchess of Sussex’s SmartWorks capsule collection in 2019 – for every one baby beanie bought, one is donated to a baby in need of a cute beanie. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex bought a Make Give Live beanie in 2019, and baby Archie was photographed in the beanie for one of their end-of-year photos in 2019. And now, at the end of 2020, the Sussexes went back to the company… and ordered 100 more knit caps.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry wear many hats. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex gave back this Christmas by purchasing 100 hats from Make Give Live, a New Zealand social enterprise that provides knitwear for kids in need. The purchase, made in their son Archie’s name, will allow the group to create 200 hats for New Zealand families based on their buy-one-give-one model. The couple appear to be longtime supporters of the organization, as they shared a sweet photo of Archie in the Make Give Live Cocobear Hat ($49) on New Year’s Eve in 2019.
When founder Claire Conza asked for help sending Meghan and Harry a Christmas card this year to thank them for their support, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern passed along the message.
“Thank you @jacindaardern for letting them know we were trying to get in touch…We love that they share our values and wrote to us just before Christmas to order 100 beanies to donate to Archie’s Kiwi friends (children in need in NZ),” Make Give Live wrote on Instagram. “They said that they wanted to help our members continue to enjoy making, connecting and supporting each other which has never been as important as now,” the post continued.
I’m including Make Give Live’s Instagram post below, where they have a more complete explanation of what happened – Make Give Live was trying to get in touch with the Sussexes to thank them for including their knit cap in the photo of Archie and Harry. New Zealand’s president Jacinda Arden connected them and Harry and Meghan ended up ordering 100 beanies and asked that those 100 caps be donated to New Zealanders, and because of the company’s policy, that means an additional 100 caps will be donated. The Cocobear caps retail for $49 NZD which is $35 USD… so Harry and Meghan donated $3,500 to give away 200 baby caps to Kiwi kids. Very cute.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
And that’s how it’s done.
What a lovely gesture.
Yep. Such a kind thing to do.
A force for good.
Love their podcast too, and I never listen to podcasts on Spotify.
Awesome idea. There’s so many struggling businesses they could aid with big orders and publicity. I hope they do more of these little donations to companies in America and Britain that are suffering more from lockdowns than NZ (since its been dealing with COVID-19 so well.)
Secret wish: I’d love it if they use funds to support something like The Art Room so that it doesn’t go under due to its so called “patron” Saint (Catherine of the Keen Buttons) ignoring it. I think other patronages of Saint Catherine of the Top CEOs also went under? I think the Sussex need to call attention to this with donations… especially if Queen Petty Betty of House Randy Andy decides to strip their patronage during the “one year review”
Absolutely not. The keenbridges will het credit for it.
Cecilia… if that occurred it would go over like that article crediting Kate for the smartset collection. #katemiddletonsuccessstorypart2
Kate is their patron so if she really cares, I’m sure her and her team of staff can figure out a way to help The Art Room. It’s not on Meghan or Harry to help their SIL’s charity or do her “job” as patron for her
Sofia- I know that. I’m saying they should do it as a gesture to call attention to Kate’s laziness. It’s petty, but it’d be a hilarious FU if the queen strips them of patronage, as some have speculated.
@Rapunzel but will people (other than us and supporters on Twitter) really see it the way you think it’ll be seen? Amy below is right. It won’t be seen as highlighting Kate’s laziness, it’ll just be seen as Meghan trying to “steal” Kate’s patronage. And also “Is Meghan ACCUSING Kate of being lazy and unable to do her job right?!?!?”
It’s a narrative that will no doubt be pushed by the British Media.
Edit: also want to add that I don’t think @Rapunzel had any bad intentions by saying this.
Sofia- oh definitely Amy is right that the media would take it as petty. It would be petty. But the media jumps on the Sussexes just for existing, so I don’t think that should dictate their moves.
Honestly, I just get tired of poor Meg and Harry having to be classy and take the high road, you know? I’d love for them to just be like, “the Cambridges are lazy and we could do a better job with their causes and they ran us out because they know that.”
Meg and Harry are too classy to ever do this, which is why it’s just a secret wish that will never happen. And honestly, as much as I’d like to see them get down and dirty and attack, I do appreciate the classy. I’m fine with it being a secret guilty wish that never happens.
Kate isn’t lazy. She’s apathetic. She cans or won’t care about anything that doesn’t directly benefit her in a way she can appreciate. Her cousin said as much when trying to defend why Kate appeared bored when hearing other people’s struggles.
Bad idea. Their generosity to any of the Cambridges patronages would not be taken in the right way by the Palace or the media. It would be seen as the Sussexes trying to embarrass or show up the Cambridges. It would be best that they stay away from any patronages belonging to the Cambridges.
Amy Bee- I know that. I’m saying I’d secretly like them to just show up the Keenbridges like that. It won’t happen cause the Sussexes aren’t petty, but Queen Betty is being so petty, I’d secretly like the Sussexes to out petty her.
@Rapunzel – but they already do show up the Keens that way, and they don’t have to stoop to petty to do so.
I mean Cathy and Willy don’t do any work so they’re pretty easy to top.
Why do people always think black people should clean up white peoples mess?
Angie- I’m not saying that. I was saying it would be a funny petty way of getting back at the Cambridges. Obviously they don’t need to clean up anyone else’s messes, black or white.
@Rapunzel…You are absolutely saying that. It’s offensive. It’s not on Meghan to bail out Kate, and the fact you keep pushing this, and IGNORING the optics of demanding labor from Meghan to benefit a lazy white woman is gross.
We all saw how they never really worked on anything together after the Royal Foundation panel. That was two years ago. That ship has sailed.
Do better.
I don’t think she was saying that. No-one is demanding labor from a black person to help out a white person. Rapunzal was just making a pithy little comment about how Meghan and Harry work harder than Kate and WIll, something that’s often acknowledged on this site.
As well meaning as this is, Meghan (and only Meghan) will suffer the consequences for doing so. There are many other lovely charities out there doing good deeds that the Sussexes can reach out to. Despite the fact that NZ has dealt with the pandemic rather efficiently, they did so at great sacrifices to their businesses/economic growth as well. Other countries too elsewhere in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific are facing the economic fallout from the global pandemic. Every one needs help and attention.
The palace would work it around so that the media reported it in a way that gave Kate all the credit because she would do some big unveiling involved with the donation. George’s godfather Hugh Grosvenor has made big donations for hospitals in the past that the BM articles made it look like William was responsible for. When you point that out on SM, the W&K stans twist themselves into pretzels to give Will credit for Hugh’s donating.
H/M are smart enough to know to avoid that particular pothole that would cause Meghan to be eviscerated. Also no matter how much anyone wish it, they are not petty and have kept it above the waist. I personally hope they continue the way they started and let others continue to reveal themselves to be the little ones.
Rapunzel, I don’t know why everyone is treating your tongue in cheek wish as some serious, misguided suggestion of yours and acting like they need to analyze every possible consequence from a silly, not real suggestion.
I secretly wish the Sussexes would take out a full page ad in the Daily Fail that has a photoshopped picture of Will doing some rose gardening and has the caption “Everyone likes a good Rose every now and then.” Or that they’d write a tell-all book where they hold nothing back and refer to HRH Catherine the Duchess of Cambridge exclusively as Keen Kate. Or that every single time Any member of the royal family did one of their pathetic engagements that the Sussexes would immediately visit the same place, start a fundraising campaign, raise tons of money for the charity, and actually make a difference.
Because those things would be funny and satisfying. I don’t actually think they should or would do any of these things. I just kind of *wish* they would/could go low for once and give back what they’ve been given.
I don’t think some of you pushing this appreciate how badly Meghan would be burned for doing this. I know you don’t mean anything by this, and it’s petty revenge fantasy, but a lot of the people responding are doing so because they KNOW how dangerous it would be for Meghan to do this. Black people dont “go high” to be classier or to be noble. It’s that going low would only “prove” to racists that everything they think about black people being inherently bad is true. That’s the double standard. William and Kate can be petty, and it’s just them being petty. An entire system is in place to cover for them. Hell, look at Andrew and all the protection he gets. Meghan doing something petty would outright trigger the crazies. It’s secretly what they want—to push her to some blow up of a reaction that she would be punished for for the rest of her life. It’s why Obama couldn’t rage tweet the way Trump can. It gives credence to the angry black person (meaning dangerous) who needs to be smacked down. Black people have to be strategic with anger or else it will be used against them.
Meghans revenge isn’t satisfying to think about for a lot of people— it’s giving the assholes exactly what they want. Hope this helps people who think everyone’s being too hard on Rapunzel.
Which is exactly why I don’t think they would or should or could do this or would even want to. It’s just a petty revenge fantasy, as you said. It would be great gossip and the RF has it coming to them. Part of the wish is wishing we lived in a world that would not respond in a racist, disgusting way and dump all over Meghan, specifically. It’s an alternate reality sort of wish where they could do this and the world would cheer them for exposing the RF as the useless, horrible people that they are. Where they’re allowed to be petty and emotional and silly and where they do not have to live by, and be held to, the highest possible standard of perfection and professionalism (100x higher than any white royal) just Meghan is half black. I wish for a world where she doesn’t have to both do her job 100x better than Kate in order to “prove” her worth and yet at the same time be subject to people saying that because she’s good at her job she must be “showing off,” “trying to outshine Kate,” and making all the other royals cry white tears.
@Amy Too, unfortunately we don’t live in that world and POC knows this and some literally break out in hives at even the suggestion in jest because POC knows how the world respond to the natural human responses of POC, especially Black people. I get the point totally, but no, I can’t even find the satisfaction because my mind instantly goes to the repercussion of even the mildest of what is wished.
Sweet gesture. Make Give Live said they have received lots of interest particularly from America for the Cocobear hat but also to replicate their social enterprise model.
Wow… I didn’t know that about the 2nd part. That’s amazing ❤️
Oh how nice! I’m sure Make Give Live is over the moon, especially if this piece of news helps drive donations up even more
Knitting Scrooge here – sorry!
I suppose an organization that puts knitters together to create items for charity is a nice idea, especially if those knitters only use NZ wool, which then strengthens an ailing industry.
Pre-pandemic, I used to stitch and bitch at a neighbourhood café after hours with a group of like mindeds. It was a nice community, and I miss it – Zoom is not the same.
Sometimes we worked on our own projects, other times we blitzed for charities – the items would be given to families in need, or sold to raise funds for our community food bank. But no way could we ever sell a baby beanie for $50 – $15 tops!
Which is a long way of saying send Harry and Meghan our way, and their $50 can buy three hats, not two!
I was just thinking that when I saw the price and then I remembered NZ can be quite pricey (great country though). I wonder if it’s $49 in USD or NZD. Still a bit high though but I guess you can think of it as you paying for the second beenie for someone else.
This is $49 NZ dollars which is roughly $35 US dollars. Bearing in mind their ‘give one and get one’ system, that means each beanie is worth approximately $17.50 so $50 NZ dollars for two is about consistent with what Badrockandroll says they would cost in the US.
That makes sense @Talia
I should have clarified that I am Canadian, so NZ $50 is pretty much on par with $50 CAD. There is no way my local shoppers would pay $25CAD for a kid’s hat (or $50 for two), not when you can get one for $3 at Walmart, the kid is only going to lose it anyway, the wool only costs $8 – these are all things that shoppers have said when confronted with hand knit kids’ hats at our charity bazaars. So if H & M can bring high end traffic to this company, more power to them! Maybe the idea of buying spendy knitwear will trickle down to my small town!
@Badrockandroll
The hats are hand knitted in wool, to order. Then they have to cover costs as well. I think you will find that your $3 hat from Walmart is made from nylon or some other man made product by a Chinese person who is working in a huge factory for very little pay. They probably cost Walmart a few cents to buy in. I can let you know how much the wool costs if you want? I think I’d rather buy a handknitted wool hat which will be passed down the family thank you.
Lesley, I know! These are the reasons that my customers give me when they refuse to spend more than $15 CAD for a kid’s wool hand knit hat.
But if I understand MakeGiveLive properly, all their knitters are volunteers. Ironically, that means that their labour costs are actually cheaper than child labour in China!
And the hats aren’t really to order – they have a set number of designs available in a set number of colours.
For me, I love when Grandmas come to my charity booth and we work together to make a hat in custom colours, or as a tribute to a grandkid’s favourite cartoon or storybook character. I’ve made wool beanies with crowns and with Viking horns, toques to look like monsters or like bunnies etc – so much fun, and not a lot of hours, especially when compared to a sweater or a blankie!
Such a lovely gesture and that photo of Archie still makes me smile every time I see it!
Same here – I love that photo of Archie and Harry.
This is the good news I needed today. Like a breath of fresh air.
Awesome news! The hats are so cute!
I love the idea of “Archie’s Kiwi friends.” It’s so adorable. This kido makes me smile, every time.
I doubt people in NZ (a socialist country with a low population) are desperate for hats but what I like about this gesture is supporting a small business and locally made products. Also, receiving a High priced item for your child when you are struggling would make many parents joyful. I like that H&M support small businesses as well as disadvantaged people. I am hoping to see them support Uyghurs who are being genocided in China, and NOT working with companies that profit from Uyghur prison slave labour/cotton.
Every country has people who might be struggling and need a little bit of help, NZ is no exception. Also, while they may adopt some socialist causes they are still a decidedly capitalist country, odd word choice.
Thanks Ange
Yes, we do have people who are struggling here. We may have Covid-19 under control at the moment and no community transmission but we still have to be carefully. As for being a socialist country? That’s not so, our Prime Minister does have socialist leanings but like Ange says we are still capitalists. And if you are wondering about that high priced woolen hat, there’s a big tradition here of sharing clothes that your kids have grown out of and that are still in good condition with your family and friends.
In what world is New Zealand a socialist country? Do your homework and educate yourself please.
These two-for-one beanies are adorable. H&M back up their words with actions, which I respect far more than the self-serving, performative speeches and waving that passes for work among the BRF.
I love this and love that they promote small businesses. That picture of Archie is so cute and Harry looks so happy. I hope they have found peace in their new lives in California after such struggles in Britain.
Odd choice. It’s summer now in NZ.
I am certain that winter will return to New Zealand. I am always surprised when people feel the need to complain about an act of generosity. Smh
LOL
Well said!
It might take a minute to hand knit 200 beanies though. They probably don’t have a warehouse full of pre-manufactures hats.
Make Give Live knit to order so it may take until Autumn to get the order filled?
That was a really sweet gesture and will benefit so many kids. It’s also cool that they keep in touch with Jacinda Arden. NZ seems to have managed COVID-19 better than any other world leader, not without sacrifice, but she’s handled it amazingly well.
I kind of love this whole story! This organization somehow got the Prime Minister of NZ to contact H&M and connect them, and then H&M replied by making a donation, and then the organization had a terrific bit of news to promote themselves. It’s cute and I’m sure it will generate more donations and at the least more awareness of this org. NZ as a whole is not suffering right now the way we are in the U.S. but that doesn’t mean there aren’t parents and kids who need help in NZ. I’m sure they will really appreciate receiving a new year’s gift from H&M, how special. The beanies they get could be heirlooms, not because of their cost but b/c of the story behind them!
Well said.
The idea of heirlooms is good.
While I still think Jen Aniston’s covid tree ornament is funny, one of these little toques would make an awesome family ornament.
LOvely to see Harry and Meghan donate to “Make Give Live”.
For me it’s a lovely donation and connects them with New Zealand again.
I do live near where “Make Give Live” operate so am thinking of offering my services to knit too 🙂
I absolutely love the generosity in their hearts and actions. Don’t expect willnot and Katnot to be giving away any of their personal money to help anyone. Maybe Charles money though to make them look generous