14 Ethical Leaving Gift Ideas for a Colleague
A leaving gift has an awkward brief: it needs to feel personal for someone you know from work, survive the move to a new desk, and often be paid for by a whip-round. The gifts below are picked for that brief. The fire hose wallet from Elvis & Kresse is made from material rescued from landfill, 225 tonnes of it so far. The hand-embroidered cushion from Fine Cell Work is stitched by prisoners in a training programme whose post-release reoffending rate is under 2%, against a 40% national average.
This is a hand-picked list, not the full Purpose Picks catalogue with a farewell label on it: nothing here appears on our birthday or teacher guides. Sections are ordered by who is paying. Start with the group gifts if the whole team is chipping in, or the small and thoughtful section if it is just you. Shipping varies by brand, so check the brand page before ordering, especially if the leaver is moving abroad.
When the whole team chips in
One proper present, funded by the collection envelope.
Handwoven yak khullu from a Tibetan Plateau atelier employing 130 people, 98% of them from the local village. The kind of thing that outlasts the job.
Made from decommissioned fire hose, with 50% of profits donated to the Fire Fighters Charity. A daily-carry keepsake with a story attached.
Knepp Ponies Hand Embroidered Cushion
£150.00
From Fine Cell Work: read why we picked themHand-stitched by trained prisoners at a social enterprise that has taught needlework to over 8,000 people across 55 UK prisons.
Made in New York from 100% pre-consumer waste sourced from the city's garment industry, with nothing sent to landfill.
Keepsakes they will actually keep
Small enough to post, personal enough to mean something.
Taylor Bracelet | Gold | Blue
$65.00
From Rebel Nell: read why we picked themMade in Detroit from fallen graffiti by women transitioning out of shelter living, so every piece is one of a kind.
Their initials spelled in the Greek manual alphabet, handmade by an Athens cooperative of jewellery designers that raises awareness of Greek Sign Language.
Cut from a recovered ghost net by a Hamburg brand that has helped recover 773 tonnes of them and donated over €272,000 to marine conservation.
For the leaving do
Things to open in the office, or post if the goodbye is remote.
Make Your Own Tap Social 24 Pack
From £3.00/can
From Tap Social Movement: read why we picked themTwenty-four cans for the send-off, from a brewery where one third of the workforce has contact with the criminal justice system.
Salted Caramel Letterbox Brownies [Flourless]
From £15.00
From Luminary Bakery: read why we picked themFits through a letterbox, which solves the remote goodbye. Luminary trains women rebuilding after homelessness, abuse, and exploitation.
Cool, Calm & Collected Decaf - Specialty Coffee
£9.95
From Change Please: read why we picked themFor the desk of the new job. Change Please puts 100% of coffee profits into training people experiencing homelessness as baristas.
Something to take with them
For when it is just you buying, not the whole floor.
Handmade on demand in Copenhagen from textile leftovers, so nothing is overproduced and 400 kg of textile waste was saved in 2024 alone.
Sewn in Milan from African wax-print cotton across eight social tailoring workshops, two of them inside Milan's prisons.
Arán Screen-printed Irish Linen Bread Bag
€24.90
From We Make Good: read why we picked themFrom a Dublin social enterprise that has trained and employed over 37 people since 2018 in roles lasting six months to three years.
Coconut Vanilla Scented Candle
£18.50
From Lux Luz London: read why we picked themHand-poured in London, with 100% of profits funding refuge nights and recovery programmes for women affected by domestic violence.
Give by cause
Prefer to start from the impact? Each cause hub lists every brand we feature for that cause.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How much should you spend on a leaving gift for a colleague?
- It depends who is paying. A personal gift from one colleague usually sits between £15 and £40, which covers the keepsakes and the leaving-do section here. A team collection stretches further, which is why the group section carries the bigger pieces like the Elvis & Kresse fire hose wallet and the Norlha handwoven scarf.
- What is a good ethical leaving gift for someone you do not know well?
- Skip anything that needs a size or a strong style opinion. A candle, a bracelet, coffee, or letterbox brownies all work without knowing much about the person, and each one on this page carries a story worth telling in the leaving card: the coffee funds barista training for people leaving homelessness, and the bracelets are cut from recovered fishing nets.
- Can these be delivered straight to the person leaving?
- Most of these brands post directly, and the letterbox brownies are designed for exactly that. Shipping ranges vary: Bracenet, Rebel Nell, Zero Waste Daniel, and Norlha ship worldwide, while Tap Social, Luminary Bakery, and Lux Luz London ship within the UK, and We Make Good ships to Ireland and the UK. Check the brand page first.
More gift guides
- Birthday gifts →
Celebration cakes, birthday macarons, and keepsakes for the person who has enough stuff.
- Teacher gifts →
End-of-term thank-you gifts, including a section under £15 and gifts a whole class can club together on.
- Christmas gifts →
Curated top picks for 2026, then stocking fillers, chocolate, and hand-woven scarves for December.
- Gifts made by disabled makers →
Chocolate, art-led homeware, socks, and tees from brands where disabled people hold the paid roles.
- Ethical greeting and Christmas cards →
Cards made from rescued beach plastic, drawn by disabled artists, and printed to fund feminist causes.
- Social enterprise chocolate and food gifts →
Chocolate boxes, celebration cakes, madeleines, coffee, and beer from kitchens that hire people the job market overlooks.