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BOLL & BRANCH
When we went shopping back in 2013, we weren’t planning to start a new company. We had recently bought our first king-sized bed, and we needed sheets. As we drove to different stores and looked at the sheet sets on offer, we saw hundreds of choices. The trouble is, we didn’t feel good about any one of them. They all seemed similar, and offered no information about where and how they were made. If you’re going to spend every night with something, we thought, it helps to know a little something about it.
There had just been a devastating collapse at a textile factory in Bangladesh that killed more than 1,000 people. As we wandered through aisle after aisle of bedding, we were confronted with the supply chains we unwittingly support every day. Who had farmed the plants and made the products we were looking at, and under what conditions? Who was profiting from it all? And how good, really, can a product be if it endangers the life of the people who make it?
Soon afterwards, we made a decision that took our lives in a wildly different direction. We decided to start a new textile company. One that did right by people. Thousands of products, prototypes, and decisions later, it all boils down to that one choice:
To do what’s right.
From day one, we have engaged a supply chain we’d gladly take home to our mothers.
Organic isn’t a trendy marketing word for us. It is the non-negotiable foundation for our business. By choosing to use 100% organic cotton from our very first day, we have helped pave the way for a better life for tens of thousands of cotton farmers in India. The world of conventional cotton farming is filled with shortcuts and exploitation, and it’s unforgivably dark stuff. In India, the average life expectancy of a cotton farmer is 35 years old, because of potent pesticides on the one hand, and supplier debt leading to preventable suicides on the other.
We have committed to use 100% organic cotton because it makes a better life for the people who grow it, and because its makes a better product for the people who use it. It also saves 90% of the water used in conventional farming methods, and pays premiums to those who plant, ensuring that they remain debt-free.
This helps us all sleep a bit better at night. Because the purity and safety of our products is the promise we built our brand on, we also use third party verification to ensure that all of our raw material meets international standards for organic farming.
Human Rights Are Never a Luxury
It’s no secret that conventional textile factories commit some pretty serious workplace abuses. The garment industry drives a demand for low overhead and quick turnaround, leading to dangerous and untenable working conditions. Employees, some of whom are children, work long hours without proper rest, accommodations, or pay.
But accepting the status quo is a choice, and we choose to reject it. Boll & Branch, was founded to do better by people. We manufacture in India, Portugal, and the U.S., and our products are made by adults, who are paid fairly, treated with respect, and who work at will. We do not employ child labor, and frankly, we don’t look too kindly on anyone who does.