Sustainability & Labour — by factory

Made
Responsibly

Two mills. One standard. Everything stated here is something an independent party has checked — or something we can show you.

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Our How It’s Made pages are about the making — the loom, the finish, the hand of the cloth.

This page is narrower, and plainer. It’s the evidence behind the product: who audits the mills, where the cotton comes from, and what each factory does with its water, its energy and its waste. Proof first. Story second.

We work with one mill in each country. We name both in full at quotation, once we’re doing business together.

Audited
Independent social audits at both mills.
Traceable
Cotton origin certified at the source.
Single-site
Fibre to finished goods under one roof.
Guatemala

The forest mill.

Bath & Towels
GuatemalaFamily-owned~1,300 people, one site
01 — The proofWhat’s been checked
People & working conditions
Independent audits covering child-labour prevention and safe, fair conditions on the floor — the assurance against sweatshop practice.
SMETAQIMAIGSS — on-site social security
Cotton & materials
Fibre programmes that certify where the cotton comes from and how it’s grown, plus a recycled-content standard.
U.S. Cotton Trust ProtocolCOTTON USABetter Cotton (BCI)Recycled Claim StandardHigg Index
The finished towel
Tested for harmful substances before it ever reaches a guest room.
OEKO-TEX Standard 100Zero added formaldehyde

Certification marks are held by the mill and shown here as placeholders; final logos and license numbers appear once usage rights are confirmed.

02 — The storyWhy we can stand behind it

Our Guatemalan mill has woven for decades. It is family-owned, built on a single site, and run by around 1,300 people across two shifts.

It is also fully vertical — meaning the cotton becomes yarn, then cloth, then a finished towel without leaving the grounds. That matters here for a simple reason: there is less of the supply chain we can’t see, and so less we’d have to ask you to take on faith.

What the mill carries for its people
  • A medical and dental clinic inside the facility, alongside national social security.
  • Housing for workers near the mill.
  • School supplies for every worker’s child, and scholarships through secondary school.
  • An eye clinic and continuing support through the International Esperanza Project.
Energy
A 20 MW solar array has covered the mill’s first production shift since 2021.
Water
Every drop the mill uses is treated on site, beyond the local legal standard.
Chemistry
PFAS removed from all fibres and finishes since January 2022.
Waste
Spinning and weaving waste is reclaimed; cutting scraps return as recycled-cotton cloth.
Egypt

The river mill.

Bed Linen
EgyptFibre to finish in one mill2,100+ people
01 — The proofWhat’s been checked
People & working conditions
An independent audit of working conditions, with a certified occupational health-and-safety system behind it.
BSCI — social auditISO 45001 — health & safety
Standards & ecolabels
Around eleven certifications govern the mill’s environmental and quality systems and its finished goods.
EU Ecolabel (EU Flower)OEKO-TEX Standard 100GOTSOCSGRS — recycledISO 9001ISO 14001
Where the cotton is from
The linen is 100% Egyptian cotton. The Cotton Egypt Association’s gold seal exists to guarantee that provenance.
Cotton Egypt Association — Gold SealEgyptian Cotton Trade Mark

Certification marks are held by the mill and shown here as placeholders; final logos and license numbers (including the Gold Seal license on file) appear once usage rights are confirmed.

02 — The storyWhy we can stand behind it

Our Egyptian mill spins, weaves, dyes, finishes and sews in one place — fibre to folded sheet under a single roof, the same way the Guatemalan mill works.

It is the larger of the two mills: more than 2,100 people across over 250,000 square metres. The bed linen is 100% Egyptian cotton, and the gold seal of the Cotton Egypt Association is there for one job — to prove the cotton is what we say it is.

An honest line on where this stands
  • The cooling-water loop is running today. Reusing water after dyeing and finishing is the next step — planned within two years, not yet in place.
  • We’ll mark on this page when that loop goes live.
Energy
Solar panels cut the mill’s electricity draw by about 10%.
Water
Cooling water is recaptured, re-treated and re-used; a post-dyeing loop is planned next.
Whitening
A gentler bleaching line uses ~15% less time, 20% less water, 20% less electricity than a standard white.
Packaging & waste
Goods are wrapped in their own fabric, not plastic; offcuts are reclaimed.
The standard

Responsibly is a direction, not a finish line.

Two mills, audited and certified to the marks above. Where we’re still building toward something, we name it as a plan — not a promise.

Certification marks belong to the mills that earned them and appear with permission; license numbers are held on file.