From Seed to Sheet: Boll & Branch Debuts Origin Track
When Boll & Branch was founded 10 years ago, the direct-to-consumer bedding brand made a decision that was either very intelligent or very lucky: to keep track of all the data from its supply chain. While this was done from a quality tracking standpoint, in 2024, this chronicling serves another essential purpose: traceability.
“I don’t know if this was on purpose of an accident because I can’t remember, but we decided to put all that source data into our core systems,” Scott Tannen, co-founder and CEO of Boll & Branch, told Sourcing Journal. “Sometimes the difference between intelligence and luck is very, very thin, but I think it speaks to our values across the business.”
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Now, utilizing that data—there are over 6,000 unique lot numbers for each product made—Boll & Branch is rolling out its own traceability platform, Origin Track, an innovation that “redefines” retail transparency.
“This technology is the heartbeat of Boll & Branch and transforms how we engage with our customers because when we reveal the origins of our products, we’re not just sharing facts; we’re opening a dialogue with our customers about the integrity and fairness of our decisions across the supply chain,” Tannen said. “From day one, we’ve pledged to offer transparency that’s both informative and actionable, ensuring every product we craft can be traced back to its raw materials. We are proud to say that our customers will no longer just own a product— they’ll understand its story.”
The luxury home textiles retailer says it’s the first in the space to showcase every production stage—from the farms where materials are sourced to where the cotton is spun and products constructed—with its proprietary platform. And the decision to build out this technology in-house versus using any number of the traceability platforms on the market, was a relatively “low lift” operation.
“The benefit was that all the data was already there; if we had to go back in time, it might have been impossible,” Tannen said. “My technical team would hate me if I said it wasn’t a big lift for them, but it actually wasn’t—it was more about landing on the idea; that was the hard part. It didn’t just come naturally because no one else is doing this.”
While many brands are sharing their transparency efforts, they’re limited to sharing data around a piece of their supply chain and not the entire supply chain from end-to-end. H&M, for example, can share the factory name and where the raw materials were sourced—the sixth or seventh step in the process of making cotton—but cannot share details about where the cotton was ginned, simply because the fast fashion giant doesn’t have access to that data, Boll & Branch said.
Origin Track, instead, offers an “immersive digital experience,” hosted on Boll & Branch’s website. Consumers can enter the unique lot number (sewn beneath the fabric care label on a product’s tag) into Origin Track to “unlock” their purchase’s journey. From there, the consumer is educated on the origins of the product—from learning about the farmers who grew the organic cotton to “discovering the artisans behind the final cut and sew.”
“We think Origin Track an opportunity to take transparency to a new place by giving the customer access to everything and letting them back their own decisions and choices as an educated consumer, and hopefully inspire other companies to do the same,” Tannen said. “To become more educated that the products they buy aren’t just about consumption, they’re about manufacturing. Their power as consumers, when they support businesses that are making good choices, has the opportunity to change the world.”
