The State of A50 2023

It’s that time of year and followers of our brand know that we value transparency into what’s going on at Authenticity50. We don’t know of any other brand that tells you exactly what’s going on and gives you the details on what to expect in the future. We appreciate YOU so much and thank you for your support - and we believe your support deserves more - a true look behind the scenes at A50! 

Our sheeting line 

Authenticity50 was founded via a Kickstarter campaign back in 2015. We were the first brand dedicated to bringing back Made in USA home goods and were the first to launch American-made sheets after they’d all gone overseas. Our Signature Sheets have been popular sellers ever since we’ve launched, despite challenges in the supply chain, crazy fluctuations in Supima cotton prices and challenges with weavers shutting down.

So we’ve decided to take our sheeting line in a new direction - one that will be great, just like our Signature Sheets, but easier to make consistently and with fewer supply chain bottlenecks. The sheets will be made with 100% American-grown cotton, from yarn spun and woven in South and North Carolina, finished in Tennessee and cut/sewn in New Jersey. 

That means our Signature Sheets will be put on a temporary hiatus while we focus on this new product line. We don’t know when we’ll bring the Signature Sheets back but we hope to re-release them in the future once the post-Covid kinks have been worked out of supply chains and we can get back to producing them steadily.

The new sheeting fabric is on loom at the moment and we plan to launch the product line in January or February. The specs will be in the 180 TC range and slightly thicker yarns than our Signature Sheets with a fantastic vintage-y finish that is one of a kind. Initially we were worried that we’d have to compromise on the wonderful feel our sheets are known for but after trying samples those fears have been laid to rest. The new fabric feels amazing and we can’t wait to get these sheets into your hands, and onto your beds! 

What does it mean to be GREEN?

As parents of young kids we care deeply about the world and believe we’re stewards of this planet for the next generation. Many brands nowadays are claiming to be ‘green’ and ‘eco-conscious’ but the fact of the matter is that they’re making their products in dirty, unregulated overseas factories and then shipping their products thousands of miles in disgusting container ships. These container ships create MORE pollution than all the cars on the planet! (Learn more)

The truth of the matter is that most organic fabrics made overseas are fake - the factories are paying the certification agencies which creates a major conflict of interest - see more in this NY Times article. The bottom line is making products cheaply in dirty factories on the other side of the globe is both a humanitarian tragedy and environmentally disastrous.

We’re proud of our Green and fair labor manufacturing partners. We’re rebuilding this country and making better products for fair prices.

2-3 Day Free Shipping

All orders come with Free Shipping and most orders will arrive in 2-3 business days! In addition we pay for carbon offsets on all orders so you can rest assured that your orders are shipping in as environmentally clean a fashion as possible. We have our inventory spread out at centers around the country so you get fast, accurate deliveries. It means we aren’t able to personalize the shipping as much with boxes, tissue paper and other niceties but it lowers shipping costs, allows us to keep prices low and gets you your orders faster - so we think the trade-offs are worth it. Please let us know if you feel otherwise - we’re always open to feedback!

Giving Back Campaigns

We’re very proud to have held 3 successful donation campaigns this year to contribute to various communities in need across the country, and we want to thank you all so much for your support. During the July 4th weekend, we supported the incredible Houses for Warriors organization with donated product during our Buy One, Give One pillow drive.

Founded by a Veteran who experienced homelessness first hand, they work very hard to provide shelter, comfort and permanent housing for service members who are in need. We sold 85 pillows that weekend, and our team sent a huge variety of requested A50 products to the HFW community. We’re honored to be able to provide some warmth and comfort to these veterans who gave so much for our country.

In August, we were personally impacted by the horrific and deadly wildfires that destroyed Lahaina, Hawaii. Steph is from O’ahu, Hawaii, and seeing this heartbreaking devastation made our whole team jump into action and find a way to help. With the support of our A50 community, our Heritage throw purchase campaign resulted in a $2,000 donation to the Hawaii Community Foundation - which provided immediate financial support and relief to residents needing critical basic supplies.

Last month, we also supported the EOD Warrior Foundation once again, with our 7th annual campaign. And yet again, our incredible A50 community came together to help! In just one day, we were able to donate $1,000 to this amazing organization, and we’re proud to say that we’ve given over $10,000 to date to the EODWF.

We have the most incredibly generous, thoughtful, and supportive fans and customers and we’re truly grateful that you’ve continued to donate to our various campaigns and drives. Thank you so much.

Fabulous Collaborations

You may know this already, but since 2021, we’ve been fortunate to collaborate with HGTV’s Dave & Jenny Marrs on various projects. Whether outfitting their beautiful vacation rental (which you may have seen on their spin-off show Fixer to Fabulous: Welcome Inn) stocking their new store, The Marrs Mercantile, being their go-to pillow or a gift guide favorite (see Jenny’s Instagram for more fun on that!) it’s been a wonderful experience for our whole team.

We even traveled to Arkansas for the first time this spring, to attend their special VIP grand opening party for the Marrs Mercantile. Click here to read all about the trip. It was so fun to visit Bentonville, it’s an incredibly vibrant, growing city with world class museums, art galleries, hiking trails and so much more. The Marrs team is fabulous, and it was so fun to see our Heritage Blankets in stock!

Dave and Jenny Marrs are as kind, genuine and authentic as you see on the small screen, and we’re honored that they love Authenticity50 products and our mission. With millions of fans around the world, and tens of thousands of social media followers, we’re truly grateful for their support of our American small business. If you haven’t already, check out Steph’s interview with Jenny here, where she shares some fabulous tips on how to create a relaxing space at home. And stay tuned, you might see us turn up in a home reveal in the future! ;)

A50 Renewed

Our A50 Renewed program continues to be a popular option for those customers who want to enjoy our great products at an incredible value. We’re really proud of this program; it renews our returned, used or defective products and gives them a second life, while eliminating waste from our landfills! It’s been very well received, and we’re looking forward to continuing the program as long as we can.

With an amazing renewal team based in Colorado (that also works with brands like Patagonia and The North Face), we’ve been able to offer drops at least twice a year. Quantities are always extremely limited, and items go very quickly - so check your email and phone (if you’re on our SMS list) for early access to these items. As once they’re sold out, they’re gone for good! Thanks for helping to make those drops a big success, it’s a win-win for customers, us and the planet!

New Products and Awards

We were really hoping to launch our new sheeting line in 2023, as well as a new blanket, but things never go as planned do they?! Manufacturing timelines and production schedules shift and change all the time, it’s just the nature of textiles and manufacturing locally. While we weren’t able to meet that goal for this year, we’re excited for new products to come in 2024. We’re always working hard behind the seams to bring you awesome new home goods that you’ll love forever, so please stay tuned.

Our super popular made in Maine Heritage Blankets continue to be a big hit, and won a Good Housekeeping 2023 Best Blanket Award! We're so proud to offer our customers a heirloom product like this, in five beautiful colors. They make the perfect holiday gift, so order one today while we’ve got your preferred size and color in stock!

Blogs & Content

We strive to have a blog that provides helpful information and resources on various topics related to sleep, wellness, and buying local, American made products. Whether it’s the best thread count for sheets, the importance of sleep, myths related to bedding, or getting the perfect gift in our American-made shopping guides, we hope our posts & articles are fun and informative too. Our customers often tell us we helped them find a new brand or product they didn’t know existed! We love supporting great Made in USA companies, and doing our part to help spread awareness of amazing things made right here. Thanks for helping us spread the word as well! :)

Thank You

We’re incredibly grateful to you, our valued customers and supporters, for joining us on this journey to revive American-made home goods and make them authentically seed-to-stitch® in the USA - using only domestic materials, manufacturing and labor. To bring life back to the proud towns that have been left behind, and to build a company that our friends & family would be proud of. Thanks to you, eight years on, we’ve been able to stay in business, grow our product line, and sustain more local jobs and partners across the country. We literally can’t do it without you, so THANK YOU so much for your support!

And if you can, please share Authenticity50 with your friends and family, or just forward this blog post to them so they can learn about us! Word of mouth has been such a great way to spread the word for us and we appreciate it so much when you do!It means so much to us that you have read this far, and that you want to know what’s going on with A50. Thanks for taking the time to see what we’ve been up to this year as we continue our commitment to make the best home goods in the world right here.

And please reach out to us and our team with any thoughts, feedback and ideas - we always love hearing from you!

 

Wishing you all a safe and healthy season ahead,

Jimmy, Steph and Team A50

"If you want to go fast, go alone - if you want to go far, go together."