2025 Roundup

Happy New Year! It’s hard to believe another twelve months have flown by, and what a year it’s been. We love this time of year. It gives us a chance to pause, take a breath, and properly reflect on everything that’s happened: the adventures, new partnerships, product launches, unexpected moments, and the friendships we’ve made along the way.

Through it all, one thing has remained constant, the support of the Meander community. We’re grateful for every store visit, every message, every shared adventure, and the encouragement, feedback, and belief that keep pushing us forward. We’re so grateful for all your support, and with it in mind, we wanted to take a moment to look back on some of our favourite highlights from the year just gone.

We kicked off 2025 at Copenhagen Fashion Week, showing both Meander and our sister brand, Tens Sunglasses, at Mandatory. Copenhagen is a city we love to visit, and it never fails to inspire us. Fashion week is one of our favourite ways to immerse ourselves in new brands, creativity, and style, all in one place. From discovering emerging trends to connecting with brilliant people across the industry, January’s trip left us with fresh ideas, new connections, and plenty of inspiration for the year ahead.

Hong Kong:

Next up, we travelled to Hong Kong, home of Tens’ sunglasses production. As you might remember, Tens joined the Meander family last year, and it’s been a whirlwind ever since, from relaunching best sellers to introducing polarised lenses, and slowly shaping the next chapter of the brand.

Meeting our new manufacturing partners was both inspiring and productive. From the moment we arrived and were welcomed by Paul and Frank, we knew we were in good hands. The Hong Kong team are true experts in their field, working with some of the biggest names in eyewear. We got straight to work on new designs and colourways, laying the foundations for a summer launch.

After a full day of design details, the team introduced us to some local cuisine. As a pescatarian, they took us for sashimi, with a few interesting-looking things! Let's just say if you’re ever offered shirako, you might want to look that one up first! 

Sri Lanka:

From Hong Kong, we continued on to Sri Lanka. Part of the trip was spent in Colombo, meeting new Meander manufacturing partners, and part of it was about exploring the island and all the stunning culture and wildlife it has to offer. In Colombo, we were shown around by Viran and Kalana, who we were introduced to through a fellow Scot, Andy. Visiting the factories gave us real insight into Sri Lanka’s commitment to responsible production, from thoughtful working practices to impressive water treatment systems designed to protect the surrounding ecosystems. Trips like this always reinforce how important it is for us to work with partners who genuinely share our values. 

After the meetings, we swapped city streets for beaches, jungles, and national parks. Sri Lanka delivered adventure and nature in abundance, and we were completely in our element. Seeing wildlife up close on safari, from monkeys to the rare (and slightly terrifying) sloth bear was unforgettable. We were even lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a leopard, which was simply stunning! 

We’re constantly inspired by people whose adventurous spirit pushes them to do extraordinary things, and over the years, we’ve been lucky enough to share many of their stories in the pages of Meander Magazine. In the summer, we met the Maclean brothers from Edinburgh, who we first came across thanks to Isla in our Edinburgh store. She introduced us before they’d even set sail, and we had the chance to sit down with them and hear their plans firsthand.

From that point on, we were with them from the beginning. We watched and followed along daily as they took on the Pacific, a 9,000-mile, unsupported row with the goal of raising £1 million to help bring clean water to communities in Madagascar. It was impossible not to be drawn into their adventure as they faced brutal storms, baby box jellyfish, and even being thrown overboard, challenges that tested them to the absolute limit. Along the way, their journey captured international attention, with support pouring in from across the world, from Lorraine Kelly to the likes of Ewan McGregor and Mark Wahlberg.

Amazingly, though we never doubted it, the brothers achieved everything they set out to do, completing the crossing in a record-breaking 139 days. We were incredibly proud to support them and play a small part in their mission of raising 1 million for Clean Water through our commitment to 1% for the Planet, and relieved to see them safely back on dry land too! 

Looking back, one of the defining moments of the year was our crowdfunding campaign for the Meander family, bringing together Meander Apparel and Tens Sunglasses under one shared vision. Thanks to the belief and backing of our community, we surpassed our target on day one, which was a moment we won’t forget and it helped drive the momentum for the rest of the campaign.

Reaching this milestone did more than provide funding. It gave us the confidence to keep building Meander and Tens for those who embrace adventure in everyday life and care about the planet we live in. We’re proud to create timeless, quality garments and sunglasses that inspire joy, travel, and everyday adventure, and we’re deeply grateful to everyone who believes in what we’re building.

Our year was also filled with plenty of time behind the camera, as we set out on a series of photoshoots to capture our newest collections in all their glory. From early mornings chasing the best light to dodging the occasional rain cloud... We love getting outdoors with our community of models, friends, and familiar faces, and seeing our range come to life in our stunning Scottish landscapes.

Our summer season started with a brilliant trip down to Liverpool for the Outdoor Trade Show. The place was packed with cool brands and innovative products. We spent our time exploring, chatting, testing gear, and discovering pieces we knew our customers would love. A definite highlight was selecting new additions for our Meander stores, including Stubble & Co, which has been flying off the shelves, and Vivo Barefoot, which will be landing in our stores very soon! 

We travelled to Paris for Men's Fashion Week and spent the week exploring showrooms, catching up with familiar faces, and discovering new brands to introduce to the mix. There’s something pretty special about seeing the industry come alive in one city (and that mix of creativity, chaos, and caffeine really helped keep the adrenaline up). As always, we came home armed with fresh ideas for the Meander stores with both new brands to introduce and inspiration for the Meander brand. 

It’s been another exciting year for Meander on the product front, with new pieces designed to fit effortlessly into everyday life and outdoor adventures alike. This season was all about thoughtful layers, classic knits, and subtle updates to familiar favourites, clothing made to be worn, lived in, and taken wherever the day leads.

We’ve loved seeing how these pieces have found their way into your wardrobes and onto your adventures, and it’s been a real highlight watching them out in the world. With plenty of ideas already taking shape, we’re excited to keep building on this momentum as we look ahead to 2026.

Our trip to Portugal took us to the region around Porto to visit several of our manufacturing partners. The area is renowned for some of the best jersey manufacturing in the world, and it’s the reason all of our sweatshirts and t-shirts are made there. 

We visited our mill in the north of Porto who is leading the way in innovative recycling processes and creates fabrics that are both sustainable and incredibly soft to touch, ticking all our boxes! We left armed with several new developments in the works that are set to launch very soon! 

From Porto, we made a short hop down to Lisbon for a few days of mixing work with a bit of well-earned play. We captured fresh content, wandered sun-soaked streets, rode the iconic trams, and maybe indulged in one too many pastel de natas, all in the name of creativity, of course!

After lots of travel and trade shows this year, we inevitably fell in love with loads of different brands across the globe. We felt inspired to showcase some of the amazing products we'd discovered in our own Meander stores, and this year has seen the arrival of Scottish knitwear brand Eribe, and the Danish brand Foret. Both brands complement our Meander core range really well, and as ever, we ensure that the brands we stock share a similar ethos and values to our own.

Our Scottish knitwear has really taken on a life of its own this year. We’ve loved working closely with local manufacturers in Hawick, a town in the Scottish Borders. The mill has been producing knitwear for over 150 years, with generations of the same families working there, and they are true experts in their craft.

Together, we’ve developed our range of merino and cashmere knitwear, and it’s been brilliant to see how well it’s been received. We introduced several new pieces this year, and there’s plenty more to come as we continue to build and expand the collection in the year ahead. 

Looking back on the last twelve months, it’s been an adventure, full of highs and a few lows too. We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved so far, and while it’s hard to believe we’re already seven years into the Meander journey, it really feels like we’ve only just scratched the surface. With so many plans for the year ahead and beyond, we’re excited to have you along for the journey.

Please keep tagging us in your adventures using #everydayadventures or @meanderapparel. We love seeing where Meander takes you and sharing those moments along the way.

Thank you, once again, for all your support this year. We truly couldn’t do any of this without you. 

Best Wishes to 2026 to you all, 

Jill, Steve & the Meander team