Our story is one of a small, ethical factory taking on a large, unethical industry.
The Beginning
We got our start in 2017, operating behind the scenes making private label apparel for one of the largest retailers in the industry.
Fashion is the second biggest polluter on the planet (just behind oil), and a shocking 98% of the world’s garment workers are not paid a living wage. So from the outset, our mission was to deliver premium, beautifully crafted t-shirts with five core principles:
- Guarantee living wages to every employee
- Produce with zero inventory waste
- Eliminate virgin fabrics and plastic packaging
- Never outsource production
- Make continuous improvement integral to the process
Challenges
After several years of delivering on our mission, we began to experience ever-increasing price pressure from our primary client – who in turn was under price pressure from mostly fast-fashion competitors. This made our model increasingly unstable. As a response, in early 2023 we decided to transition to small batch manufacturing for a wider variety of customers.
New opportunities
This comes with new challenges (hello marketing expense), but also many new opportunities. Unlike other brands, since we manufacture what we sell we’re able to let customers know who made their clothes. We've also become nimble and fast and can cater to a variety of needs.
Industry-leading quality
We've taken our years of experience producing for other retailers to create high quality garments sewn by true craftspeople who construct them to last. Once you wear a Clean Tee, we think you’ll become a fan, especially because you can be proud of how your tee was made.