ENTREPRENEURS
When it comes to quality bed linen, these two start-ups have got you covered
She began her career in digital media, but when Mare-Alet Nel gave birth to her first daughter, Isabella, in 2009, it prompted her to re-evaluate her priorities and open her eyes to other opportunities – specifically entrepreneurship. When Isabella turned three, Mare-Alet started looking for Afrikaans educational toys and couldn’t find any, so decided to make her own. She started Diere Maatjies, a range of Afrikaans-speaking toys (they speak when you squeeze the paws!) in 2012, then launched Bloom & Bale a year ago after seeing a gap in the market for good, affordable bed linen.
‘You need to pursue something you’re passionate about,’ says Mare-Alet. ‘That’s why I started Bloom & Bale – it’s the perfect combination of my twin passions for good-quality bedding and sustainable business practices.’
Bloom & Bale sells organic cotton bedding with a thread count of 300. But with such a wide variety of bed linen available, you may be wondering what the fuss over organic cotton bedding is all about.
‘We believe everyone should buy organic Fair Trade bedding, as the impact on the world is just so much
better. This cotton is grown without the use of synthetic agricultural chemicals; farmers never use genetically modified seeds; they conserve soil through crop rotation; and crops retain water more efficiently thanks to increased organic matter in the soil. Weeds are controlled through physical removal rather than chemical destruction and insects are kept at bay by maintaining a balance between “pests” and their natural predators through healthy soils.’
The cotton Bloom & Bale uses is 100% certified by the GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) and both the farmers who produce it and the bedding manufacturers are Fair Trade-certified. Better working environments for everyone are a top priority, says Mare-Alet.
‘We’ve ensured that our production process, from seed to sale, adheres to strict quality and sustainable standards,’ she says. ‘Climate change is real, and we make the problem bigger with the things we consume, whether it’s the food we eat or clothes we buy.’
Production, from farming the cotton to the manufacturing of the bedding, takes place in Kolkata because Mare-Alet says she couldn’t find local organic cotton producers. Fortunately, technology has made it easy to manage the entire process from South Africa. Mare-Alet prefers to keep her team lean and focused, as the business is in its start-up phase, so she only has a production executive based in India and, in SA, a key accounts manager and an operations assistant. She handles the rest herself, including marketing, which she does through Facebook and Instagram.
The brand launched with a pure white range to test the market, but the response has been so positive that Mare-Alet is planning a bigger bedroom range and will be launching a range of towels and throws. She sells only online, which has been working well. ‘We can deliver great quality, affordable bedding to any door in South Africa within three days.’ And when it comes to challenges? ‘There are numerous challenges with any start-up. I have to ask myself, “How do you compete more effectively? How do you build a brand if you don’t have millions in marketing funds?” These difficulties are normal. You can’t fix everything, so pick a challenge, laser-focus on a solution and make it happen.’
The Bloom & Bale team makes a point of celebrating every victory: their first sale, the first customer on their online platform and first successful delivery. Mare-Alet says she was thrilled when, on a weekend away, she entered the guesthouse and saw a note that read: ‘We use only Bloom & Bale bedding’.
‘It’s amazing to “bump” into your own product!’ www.bloomandbale.co.za