I arrived home at 8.30pm last night after a phenomenal and exhausting few days at Brand Licensing Europe. But wow, what a week.

Sitting quietly afterwards, with tired feet and a very full heart, I kept coming back to our community. And waking up this morning, that feeling is still with me: gratitude for the friendships, the generosity and the energy of everyone coming together.

Products of Change is built on friendship and a shared mission to do things differently, and to do things right. This week brought that to life in so many wonderful ways.

(Above: The POC stand)

It started on Monday, with brands rolling up their sleeves to help each other bring their stands to life. 

By Tuesday morning, gifts were arriving from across our community: sustainable coffee branded Products of Change from the Rainbow Productions team, hand prepared biscuits from Fabacus to share over the next few days, and an amazing POC pillow from LaundRE, showing what happens when creativity and innovation come together.

These thoughtful gestures set the tone for the whole week. Our stand was buzzing. Members old and new, media partners helping to amplify the work of our community, and so many people stopping by for a cup of tea with POC. Sharing their progress, talking through challenges, showing us their innovations and asking who they could connect with to take that next step.

That willingness to share, support and move forward together is where the magic happens. I loved seeing our Toy, Fashion, Paper and Sport Chapters come to life at the show, alongside our updated Legislation Lookbook, which the team worked so hard to bring together. There is so much happening across our industry, and this week you could feel the energy and appetite to turn ideas into action.

(Above: Helena, Jody and Andrew)

Yesterday, I had the privilege of sharing the stage with the CEO of Nobody’s Child Jody Plows, and its founder and CEO of Fabacus, Andrew Xeni, for an open and honest conversation about building a brand rooted in sustainability and ethics while delivering phenomenal growth. 

We explored lower-impact materials, change across the supply chain, partnerships that push innovation forward, and how digital product passports can bring that journey to life for customers. Hearing how these elements connect within a growing business gave us so much to take away — and so much to be excited about.

(Above: POC and Worldly with Rights and Brands)

And the generosity continued right through to the final moments of the show. Helping close down stands, filling cars, making tea and carrying heavy products down to the car park. Even people we had never met stepped in to help.

It is those moments, alongside the bigger conversations, that have stayed with me this morning. I feel incredibly privileged to be part of this industry, to have these friendships and to share honest conversations about what it takes to change.

Thank you for your friendship, your openness and your energy.

Thank you to our brilliant team, who went above and beyond all week. And to the Informa team for their partnership and friendship as we look towards the next three years, with so much opportunity to move our industry forward together.

(Above: A Smurf stopped by for a cuppa)

This Friday, I hope everyone finds a little time to rest and take it all in. If you weren’t at Brand Licensing Europe this year, make sure you join us next year!

Our next adventure is the POC Conference on 11 November. I cannot wait to bring our wonderful community together again — linking arms, sharing innovations and building the foundations for what comes next.

There is so much we can achieve together. This week was a wonderful reminder of that.

Helena and Team POC