North Alabama Family-Owned Cotton Business received PPP and Continues to Grow Exponentially
Mark Yeager, who owns Red Land Farms started growing cotton in the 1980’s and in 2016, he had teamed up with his daughter, Anna Yeager Brakefield, to form Red Land Cotton, a cotton-based products business. Together they had met with other Alabama based mills and others in the Carolinas to research how to make heirloom bedding quality items. Anna stated, "That was really key to our success, to have those other small businesses help us out." Not long after, they were able to reverse engineer the original weave construction and yarn size to create linens that are truly heirloom-inspired. Their American-made cotton bedding, bed sheets, and bath towels are proudly made in the USA and crafted exclusively with cotton sourced directly from their North Alabama farm. The cotton is rain fed, never irrigated, and produced under the most up-to-date and sustainable farming techniques.
They are dedicated to bringing manufacturing back to the United States. Every item is artfully made and manufactured in the southern United States as part of a rich textile tradition that spans decades and generations. With its roots in the rich, red soil of North Alabama, their bed sheets, bath towels, and other home linens are made with the finest homegrown cotton their farm can produce.
When they first started the business, it was just the two of them, self-funded, and it was in a single room office of about 200 square feet. Now, the business employs 36 employees across all locations of production, it is an over 2,500 square foot operation with revenues growing 30% to 40% each year. Due to being a primarily e-commerce business, they were less impacted by the pandemic compared to other businesses. However, there were still moments in 2020 that had them questioning payroll. Therefore, they were able to obtain $25,000 from the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) to maintain their workforce during questionable times and it was fully forgiven. Since then, their business continues to grow exponentially.