Our State Magazine and UNC-TV have long focused on all things Carolina. Their similar mindsets led to a collaboration: the Emmy award-winning Our State series, which highlights the best North Carolina has to offer. The April 4th, 2016 segment focused on Cotton of the Carolinas: a fully transparent, Carolina-manufactured apparel brand created by TS Designs.
The segment focuses on both the Cotton of the Carolinas transparent supply chain (which is unique to the brand) and on TS Designs’ customer Mindful Supply. The commitment to local production and USA jobs is apparent in every frame, despite the challenges that producing a fully US grown and made t-shirt can bring.
Cotton of the Carolinas was developed by TS Designs to create a network of farmers and manufacturers from the region dedicated to a local market that grows, manufactures and sells its shirts in the Carolinas.
The Cotton of the Carolinas program focuses on three main objectives:
- Supporting Local Economies – the farmers and manufacturers involved in the Cotton of the Carolinas product employ more than 500 people in the Carolinas.
- Low Transportation Footprint – Cotton of the Carolinas production travels less than 600 miles from cotton field to printed/dyed shirt. A globally sourced shirt can travel more than 17,000 miles before becoming a finished shirt.
- Transparency – You can track the path of your shirt here: whereyourclothing.com. There you can find the names and contact information of each member of our Cotton of the Carolinas supply chain.
Join us on the Cotton of the Carolinas journey. “Dirt to Shirt” was produced by UNC-TV in partnership with Our State Magazine, and with generous funding by BB&T. Directed by Morgan Potts.