U.S.A. is one of the world’s leading producers of cotton yarn. To keep things all-American and support domestic manufacturing, BTSA sources its yarn and raw textiles locally, specifically from near-shore suppliers to reduce carbon emissions. We’ve tapped the country’s best cotton mills for their natural fibers, as we strongly believe in their quality and consistency across all BTSA products. Our long-running relationships with these mills also offer us the flexibility to collaborate on innovative solutions for the best blankwear on the market.

Knitting is where we spin cotton yarn into raw fabric. We have very exact specifications for our blanks, so we make sure 100% of our Knitting process is done vertically in Los Angeles using our domestically sourced raw materials. After Knitting, we move to the Finishing step. This is where we turn freshly spun fabric into wearable material, ready to be dyed to your color of choice. Fabric Finishing is a crucial step for us, as it sets everything up for the final product. As such, we’re perpetually analyzing and tweaking this process to constantly get better results.

As you can now probably tell, we at BTSA are nerds about our manufacturing process. This is why we overtly delve into rigorous spec-testing protocols, data analysis and creative innovations during not just our Knitting and Finishing steps, but all elements of what makes a BTSA garment. Our end product means a lot to us, so aspects like guaranteeing fully pre-shrunk blanks that can be dyed to your specifications in small or large batches aren’t just a requirement, it’s what we take pride in.

After collecting data, testing it, and applying it to the garments, we’re ready to start cutting our fabric into controlled batches. Traditionally, this creates lots of wasted material. At BTSA, we have protocols that mitigate scrap waste to an absolute minimum. The few unavoidable scraps we get are sent to the recycling facilities we work with to re-enter a new manufacturing life cycle. As open as we are about nerding out on fabric processes, we also strive to be as ecologically efficient and realistic as possible in every step we take.

While precise fabric cuts are crucial, ensuring that each piece is held together both durably and beautifully is just as important. We don’t cut corners, so our sewing process adopts as, if not more, of a rigorous process as all other steps. With this being such a pivotal part of our manufacturing, we stand firm in supporting a SWEAT SHOP-FREE supply chain that guarantees NO FORCED LABOR. This allows us to be represented as a SMETA Pillar II Social Audited Manufacturer. You can read more about what that is here.

We have fun with our creative process, but we want the same for you. This is why we’ve built BTSA to allow all products to be custom-dyed to any color. This is made possible through our PFD inventory system, short for “Prepared for Dye.” This means our garments are truly blank in color. Traditionally, blank apparel manufacturers produce and stock pre-selected colors, which limits the palette to a set menu. At BTSA, you can find any Pantone code, punch it in, and then we start dying. That was a vision at BTSA since day one. We wanted to provide a simple yet fully customizable experience for businesses big or small. This is why our low MOQs have stayed the same since launch. We’ll also always circle back to being eco-conscious at every step, including garment and dye stocking. We buy our dyes at just the right amount to not overstock. It’s a formula we’re proud of and helps our PDF inventory remain sustainable and at a waste minimum. For a more explanation of our “Custom Color Development” process, click here.

In keeping our user experience simple, we still want to go that extra mile by having BTSA staff available for consultation throughout the entire process. We’re here to help inform you about our practices, provide industry education, and guide you through our unique Garment Dyeing process so that you feel confident in your order. Plus help save you time, energy and money. The Garment Dying process itself sees you choosing your color to then be developed and approved by BTSA standards. Depending on your order size, we then take the PFD inventory to dye in batches. This process produces a fully shrunken-to-spec product with deep color saturation and quality hand feel. We also offer any possible dying method and speciality treatment to fully customize your order. To list a few examples, our facility is capable of pigment dyeing, tie-dying, dip dying, hand distressing, sun fade effects, mineral wash, acid wash... the list goes on. You tell us what you want, and we deliver. To top it off, we ensure a safe garment dying process by exclusively using Blue Sign- and GOTS-approved dyes, which are noted to be non-harmful to our planet. Using minimal amounts of water to dye, we’re doing what we can to keep our ecological footprint as low as possible.

Our final step—and just as crucial as the rest—is our Quality Check and Packing process. While this step is industry standard, our QC and packing teams are vetted, trusted and happy. It’s a company-wide effort to bring out the very best garments in the blank apparel space, and this shared ethos is something we’re just as proud of as the product itself. Our dedicated team of experts oversee every single step of the BTSA process—from ordering to manufacturing to delivering—all the while ensuring a minimized ecological footprint and commitment to USA-domestic production.