Monthly Archives: February 2023

Clothing from Flour Sacks

Ethical Clothing, , , ,

I was talking to a group of ladies at a local sewing group and they told me all about how women used to repurpose flour sacks into dresses and clothes in the 1930’s during the great depression, when money was very tight.

The flour companies heard this was going on so they decided to start printing the flour sacks with patterns so that the clothing looked pretty. Some of them even came printed with instructions which would then wash out. You can read more about this and see images here.

When the clothes wore out, the fabric was reused again by being cut up and used for quilts.  When the 2nd world war began cotton was rationed for soldier’s uniforms so flour was packaged in paper bags and still is today.

At Impact Trading and Cotton Roots, we manufacture aprons and we have made them for customers from coffee sacks. Another great way to upcycle waste fabric. You can order coffee sack aprons from here.

Starting a Fashion Brand

Fashion, , , , , ,

We often get enquires from customers who are looking to start their own fashion brand. Sometimes they want ethical clothing such as Fairtrade or Organically certified products.
Often, they start with a small quantity of ready made, rebrandable items which can be labelled, printed and embroidered with the brand designs. This is a great way to start
At Cotton Roots we have tried to make this process simple by having a small selection of items which the customer can choose from look at the range here.

The minimum order level is 100 items which means you have options for a few items in a range of colours and sizes. The prices include the sewing in of a label which the customer can supply or can order direct from us here. For any print or embroidery on the garments, we can quote for this once the artwork has been supplied.


This process simplifies the first steps of starting a fashion business, we can then supply repeat orders of the same or increase quantities, at this point a customer may decide to start manufacturing clothing from scratch.

We love our Bakers’ Couches…

Food Industry, Organic stuff, , , , ,

….but what are they, and what do you use them for?

They are an essential but simple tool to help you produce stunning baguettes.

A couche (pronounced koosh) or baker’s cloth, is simply a “bed” or “resting place,”. It is a piece of thick canvas or linen that provides support for boules or baguettes during the proofing phase. Couche cloths are sometimes placed into baskets to support round boules, or they can be folded around baguettes.

Cloth is pleated to help shape the dough



When dusted and folded between lengths of dough it helps support and shape the dough. It also absorbs a little of the dough’s outer moisture to help develop a skin, hold the final shape and develop a crisp crust.

Did you know that Bakers’ Couches are best left unwashed. This way the yeasty, floury surface on the cloth is kept and helps to give the bread that unique crust that baguettes are known for.

We make our Baker’s Couches from 100% unbleached organic cotton, they are hand made to order by our skilled team in our farm-based factory.

Couche cloths can be branded


If you would like more information, contact our design team on 01908 290482 or email sales@cottonroots.co.uk