When we founded Olli & Lime, we made a commitment to support local businesses, first in the UK and now in the US. Though we pay much higher manufacturing costs than most of our competitors, we feel good about it.

Labor accounts for roughly 50% of product costs, and UK and US labor rates are among the world’s highest. Manufacturing off-shore is a much cheaper option, so it’s easy to see why so many large retailers take this route.

Bangladesh has the worst-paid workers, and some of the worst conditions, highlighted, in extreme fashion, by a recent garment factory collapse. It makes you think (or should do) about the real cost of cheap products.

The factory that makes O&L products is in rural North Carolina. It’s staffed with local workers, earning a fair wage, in safe, comfortable conditions. We’d pay a tiny fraction of our labor costs off-shore, but we don’t want to.

Materials also cost more domestically. Cotton percale, for our sheets and quilts, is printed and finished in South Carolina. Heavyweight cotton duck and twill, for our crib skirts, is processed, dyed and finished in Missouri.

And we’ll keep it this way. So, if O&L products seem relatively expensive, it’s because they cost us more to make. But we manufacture with a clear conscience, ensuring quality of products, and quality of life for workers.