Macgee Cloth: Transparency in Sourcing

One of our motivations in creating a bespoke textile mill was to find suppliers of ecologically grown and processed fibres to use in our blankets. Textile production today is the second most environmentally degrading industry in the world due to a lack of regulatory oversight in the countries where large and small weaving mills currently operate. On many textile websites you'll find the word ‘sustainability’ used but not defined beyond that. We'd like to change that.

We want to create a textile company where a buyer is certain of the exact source of all fibres in our blankets. We use organic, ring-spun cotton in our warp and either lambswool or the same cotton in the weft. The cotton is grown and marketed by the Texas Organic Cotton Marketing Cooperative, and certified by the Texas Department of Agriculture. Not only is it grown organically but most Co-op members practice dryland farming techniques, relying on natural weather cycles rather than large amounts of irrigation water to grow their cotton.

The lambswool is produced and spun in the UK at Gledhill Spinners. Although the Gledhill family has only operated it for about eighty years, the Pingle Mill in Delph has been spinning wool/weaving since 1777. The wool is processed under the labour and environmental impact regulations of the European Union.

We use minimal packaging material and all our packaging comes from 100% recycled paper fiber and it is entirely 100% recyclable. We welcome any, and especially vigorous competition from other textile producers on this and hope that every producer can tell their customer exactly where their fibres are sourced rather than simply printing “sustainable” in the description of their environmental impact.