The CB team has been busy packing up your Blank rewards (and 20,000 other tees from this year’s #ALLTHETEES). As of today, I’m happy to say that all of your tees are out the door and on their way to you, with one exception. Unfortunately, I discovered that all of our men’s tri-grey 2X tees were out of spec, which means some of the measurements didn’t match our pattern and the size chart, so I’m having them remade. We’re making them as quickly as we can, but those few tees will take a couple more weeks.

We knew there could be some hiccups and complications with production, especially since this is the first run of our first product, so we hope you understand. Shipping out more than 95% of rewards on time is not too shabby though!

A quick note about fit

Good or bad, we want your feedback! These are our first ever shirts, and while we feel pretty good about them, we know there’s room for improvement. Please email us at blank@cottonbureau.com with your thoughts.

So far, it sounds like many of you are happy with our women’s cotton tees, but our women’s tri-blend is running a little snug for some of you. When we tested our tees on 350 customers back in May, most of you said our women’s fits were too loose in the waist and hips, so we took the patterns in a little. Turns out, we may have taken them in too much, so more than likely, we’ll be tweaking the pattern on the tri-blend before our next production run in a couple of weeks.

And just a reminder to be sure to wash and dry your shirts to get to your true fit. Our shirts are pre-shrunk, but all pre-shrunk fabric (especially cotton) will still shrink in the dryer enough to affect the fit, so don’t be worried if your cotton tee seems a little loose right out of the bag. It gets better, we promise.

Thanks again for your generous support of Blank, and Happy Holidays!

It’s hard to believe it’s already been over a month since our Kickstarterwrapped. Hopefully you claimed your shirt at the time. If you haven’t, it’s not too late. You can still pre-order Blank in all sizes and colors on Cotton Bureau.

Now, let’s get to the good stuff.

Making t-shirts for the first time is a little bit like, well, like doing anything for the first time. You’re excited and nervous and you struggle right up until you think you’ve got it all figured out only to realize there’s still so much more to learn. No amount of wearing t-shirts or selling t-shirts or even comparing and contrasting t-shirts from dozens of your favorite brands and manufacturers quite prepares you for making your own. We read and watched and talked and listened for months, looking for just the right partner to take us from people who liked t-shirts to people who know them, inside and out. Thankfully, we found some really great teachers.

The fabric has been milled, the sewing is about to begin. It hasn’t been easy, but we’ve come a long way in the last year, and our friends in LA are a big reason why. We can’t wait to see years of hard work rewarded when you finally get your shirts in the mail. In the meantime, it’s our pleasure to introduce you to some of the men and women who have been holding our hands along the way

Meet Celseo. Celseo inspects, rests, and cuts the fabric into just the right shapes and sizes before sending it off to be assembled into the final product.

Meet Anna Maria. Anna Maria is a sewing technician. Every Blank tee is sewn by Anna Maria or one of the other talented men and women at the shop.

Meet Victor. Victor is our production manager. Creating and revising patterns, cutting and sewing thousands of shirts, and making sure they look, feel, and fit just right is a team effort. Victor keeps things running smoothly.

Meet Olga. Olga is our finishing manager. Her team meticulously checks our garments for errors. From there they trim, iron, fold and box them up for us.

Meet Jon. Jon is our day-to-day contact for every status update and tiny, nitpicky question. Jon’s been around since the very beginning. We couldn’t have done this without him.

Finally, meet Moe. Moe was the first person we spoke with at the factory back when we were just getting started. He’s the founder and owner, and we’ve grown quite fond of him. It’s unusual these days for t-shirts to be manufactured in the U.S., but Moe’s been doing it for decades and won’t have it any other way. We’re extremely thankful to have found him. Nobody outside of Cotton Bureau cares more about the mission and success of Blank than Moe. When you get yours in the mail, we hope you’ll feel the same way we do.

In addition to Moe, Jon, Olga, Victor, Anna Maria, and Celseo, there are dozens of other people who are just as committed to making great shirts. What we’ve learned over the last year about creels and dye lots and combing and handfeel could fill a book. Thankfully, it’s a book our friends at the factory already know cover to cover and one that you’ll never need to read. Moe, Jon, and the team are totally invested in making the best possible shirts for us, and it shows.

That’s it for now. We’ll have more photos to share, more updates on the ins and outs of manufacturing and the intricacies of what it takes to be in the t-shirt business in 2017 soon. You should follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, of course. Hope you enjoyed this quick factory tour!