It took 14 mills, four fabric tests, and one trip to Nairobi. Here's what we ended up choosing.
If you've shopped from us before April this year, you've worn cotton from one of three mills — two in Egypt and one in India. As of this season, that's changed.
We spent four months looking at East African cotton supply. The motivation was simple: we wanted to shorten our supply chain, support producers closer to home, and reduce shipping emissions.
We landed on a mill outside Nairobi that grows GOTS-certified organic cotton on smallholder farms. The fabric runs slightly heavier than what we used before — 180gsm vs 160gsm — but it has a hand-feel that customers consistently rate higher in our blind tests.
It's not perfect. The supply is more variable, and prices are about 12% higher. But we've decided the trade-off is worth it.