Beeleaf is the dream of a mom and daughter from Calgary, Alberta who share a desire to create beautiful, sustainable products of the highest quality. Our pieces are designed to endure and be handed down to friends and family, from one generation to the next.
At Beeleaf, we endeavour to inspire sustainability, generosity, compassion, and socially conscious living through design and craftsmanship.
Beeleaf offers natural, environmentally-focused, cruelty-free items that are affordable, functional, and accessible.
Our products are designed with intention and built to last; exceptional craftsmanship and thoughtful presentation exemplify Beeleaf.
We have made a commitment to ourselves, our families, and our customers to avoid causing harm to living creatures through the production of Beeleaf products. We use vegan fabrics and do not partner with or purchase from any companies that test on animals. Our products will never be sold in any markets where animal testing is required by law.
Every decision we make comes back to our impact on our environment. We only have one Earth, and we need to treat it with as much respect as possible. The fabrics we use are made of natural and renewable fibers such as cotton, flax, and bamboo and/or recycled materials. We print our signs and stationary on recycled paper and use upcycled materials in many of our designs.
We source all our fabrics and at least 90% of our materials from Canadian suppliers and small businesses. We use Calgary-based graphic designers and photographers, and everything we sell is handmade by our team.
Courtney Sokal Dewit
Founding Partner
Courtney has been fostering her entrepreneurial spirit since grade three when she started her first small business selling crab apples from the backyard tree. After finishing university with two degrees, she founded Beeleaf with her mom, Karen, in 2013 and, after having her first child, left the corporate world to focus on family and her goal of providing more sustainable and cruelty-free product options to consumers. She is passionate about books, yoga, and ending animal testing worldwide. She lives in a cozy home with her husband Mark, sons William and Wyatt, cats Tico and Ripley, and a backyard filled with flowers, strawberries, tomatoes, rhubarb, a bee house, Saskatoon berries, and another apple tree.
Karen Sokal
Founding Partner
Karen provides the organizational prowess that keeps Beeleaf running. She has worked in varied industries, has decades of sewing expertise, and is known among her colleagues as reliable and genuine. She has encouraged Courtney to start her own business for several years and is excited to be partnering with her daughter on this venture. Karen has two sassy cats, Sophie and Lily, and enjoys spending time with her friends and family. Originally from Winnipeg, Karen and her husband Randy are longtime residents of Calgary and devoted Calgary Stampeders fans. She is mom to Courtney and Vanessa, and Grandma to two very sweet little boys.
Sheryl Dewit
Seamstress
Sheryl is known among her friends and family as a sewing master. She has been hemming skirts, replacing buttons, and fixing seams for over 45 years. A retired NICU nurse, Sheryl has a kind, caring, and tireless spirit. She is wife to John and mom to Matthew and, Courtney's husband, Mark. She is an avid baseball and football fan, and loves spending time with family at her second home in Arizona. She is Grammy to William and Wyatt who are bright lights in her life.
We use new and upcycled fabrics in our designs. All our upcycled fabric is laundered and carefully inspected to ensure quality. Though we cannot always guarantee the type or composition of the upcycled materials, we are proud to be giving these pieces a second life outside of a landfill. We have used fabric from scarves, leisure suits, drapery, and more to make Beeleaf products. When we use new materials in our products, we use only natural and sustainable fabrics such as cotton, bamboo, linen, and muslin.
Beeleaf does not use any plastics in our packaging. Our products come in reusable cotton muslin bags and are packed in cardboard boxes made from recycled materials. If you are visitinrg us at a market or picking up your order from one of our locations, we will include a plain brown paper bag for you to carry your purchase. Our bags are purposely free from branding so you can easily reuse them for yourself or as a gift bag. We print our business cards on paper made from fast-growing bamboo and use the smallest envelopes and boxes possible when sending out orders.
All Beeleaf products are handmade and produced by members of our team in our own homes.
Our business is built around a goal to continually shrink our environmental footprint and minimize the impact our actions have on the world.. We use leftover scraps of fabric to make the pockets on our smock bibs, custom sets of napkins in different sizes and colour combinations, and small scrunchie collections. The products we make out of upcycled fabrics allow us to repurpose items that might have been thrown away. Additionally, we do not include price tags or any superfluous packaging on our products to avoid unnecessary waste.