Founded in 2003 by two Australians, Kylie Taylor & Valerie Khoo, Taylor & Khoo is a unique fashion and homewares label that provided employment and opportunity for people in poverty in Cambodia and supported the needs of about 120 orphan children at the Sunrise Angkor Children's Village in Siem Reap.

The Taylor & Khoo range included exquisite women's clothing in handwoven Khmer silk, men's accessories such as neck ties as well as silk placements and napkins, cushions and sumptuous silk bedspreads - all made by disadvantaged groups in Cambodia.

Over five years, the Taylor & Khoo venture created a high level of awareness and demand for Cambodian silk, fashion and homewares; created income generation opportunities for some of the most needy in Cambodia; and helped them to improve their design and production capabilities.

It also created a high level of awareness of the needs of the children at the Sunrise Angkor Children's Village in Siem Reap and was a flagship for many fundraising efforts for the Children's Village.

Now, after five years, the workshops have developed a proficiency where they are able to handle much larger commercial orders and have outgrown the demand of Taylor & Khoo, and in fact it is inefficient for them to serve such a small customer. At this time, to continue with the retail and wholesale fashion and homewares business in a way that makes sense for the producers will require significantly more scale, investment and time. For Valerie and Kylie, who have full time jobs and have never taken any form of income from Taylor & Khoo, it is not possible to make that investment in time or capital. Therefore, after much deliberation, the decision was taken in early 2008 to end the fashion and homewares retail and wholesale business and to close the retail store in Sydney's SkyGarden.

Taylor & Khoo was a unique social cause venture that achieved what it set out to do. Kylie and Valerie wish to thank all the wonderful people who have been part of the story over the past five years and especially all our wonderful customers.

Kylie and Valerie will keep supporting the Sunrise Angkor Children's Village and keep in touch with the workshops in Cambodia and assist them in any way possible.

Read on to find out more, to learn about our journey to set up a social cause venture and how you can support the Sunrise Angkor Children's Village today.

Visit the orphanage with Global Village Expeditions.