PRODUCTS:

As we continue to grow, so does our product range. With every new season, we introduce new gifts that reflect and showcase the diverse cultures that surround us. From expanding our offering of personalised dolls to increasing the celebrations we cater for, we are committed to making ongoing improvements to the inclusivity and accessibility of our designs and buys.
We understand that the magic of our gifts is that you can personalise them with ANY name, no matter its originality or cultural origin. To reflect this capability, we are working hard to re-shoot many of our existing gifts with a more diverse selection of names from a variety of cultures. As we launch new collections we will continue to broaden our range of personalisation techniques, which will allow us to offer further language options in the future.

SOCIAL MEDIA:

It is essential to us that our social media pages are representative of the world around us. From the children featured in the images that we publish to the occasions celebrated, we are always working hard to ensure that our audiences see themselves and their loved ones reflected in our content across every channel. 

We understand that the influencers and creators who we work with are an extension of our business, which is why we check that every name on our PR list upholds the values that are important to us. If they do not, we cannot work with them. All of the influencers and creators who we work with are treated the same: no one will ever be paid more or less based on the colour of their skin, their cultural background, their sexuality etc, they never have been and they never will be. 

We recognise that as a brand that provides gifts for babies and young children, we have the power to make changes in our community. Through an increasingly diverse range of toys, books and other formative gifts, we can challenge traditional norms and help the next generation of changemakers to grow up with a greater appreciation of and respect for all of the wonderful ways in which people can be different. To help us to diversify our feeds as much as possible, please continue to tag us in all of your adorable photos of your little ones with our gifts with #My1stYears so that we can see these images and share them with our audience!

CONTENT:

From informative long-form articles on our blog to short but sweet videos across our social channels, we are passionate about creating great content that is representative of all cultures and communities. We will continue to use our blog hub to educate our audience about key issues and to celebrate every important moment in their little ones’ lives. We work with creators from a variety of cultural and religious backgrounds to provide informative content on topics from how to host the best first birthday party to how to celebrate Eid with children. 

This is not just another trend or hashtag, this is an essential part of our everyday strategy.

We don't expect to have it all right, in fact, we will likely make mistakes. But as Founders, Fathers and Employers, we know that we have a duty to make mindful changes that can shape a better future for the next generation. 

Please feel free to email us with any suggestions or ways that we can do more and we promise that we will take action. At My 1st Years, ‘celebrate’ isn’t just a value, it’s a promise.

MODELS:

Each gift from My 1st Years is designed to delight everybody, no matter their skin colour or cultural background. When planning and organising photoshoots for each of our collections, diversity is front of mind when it comes to selecting models. To ensure that our imagery reflects the reality of and resonates with our customer-base, we have decided not to work with model agencies; instead, we look to you, our customers, for our model selection process.  All of our models are found through our social media platforms, where we ask our audiences to apply for their own children to appear in our campaign and ecommerce imagery. The more that you share these model searches, the more people they will reach and the more diversity we will see in the applications.
**Please note that due to the Covid-19 pandemic, our capacity for model shoots is limited for the protection of our models and our staff**

AT WORK:

We never have and we never will accept racism or prejudice at My 1st Years and we encourage people from all ethnicities and cultures to join us and our lovely team. We promise to only ever hire people on the basis of their skillset and never on the colour of their skin, their religious beliefs or sexuality. 

Although we do employ people from a number of different cultures, ethnicities and religions, we know that we can do more! In order to achieve this, we work specifically with a recruitment agency to support us as we grow our teams as we head into our peak season, with a focus on encouraging applications from people of all ethnicities and those who share our ethos. We understand that as two white men managing a predominately white team, we hold a lot of privilege; however we are working hard to ensure that we stand as allies against widespread systemic prejudices and injustices. We continue to do everything that we can to grow My 1st Years as an anti-racist, inclusive and collaborative workplace, where everybody feels like an essential part of something very special.