SUFFOLK—While most T-shirts are made overseas, a Virginia farm family is keeping every component of garment production in the U.S. from seed to shirt—just as the nation’s agriculture leaders call for a revival of American cotton and rural manufacturing.
In Suffolk, Bosselman Farms has partnered with a garment manufacturer in Ohio to create a fully domestic cotton-to-shirt supply chain through Old Myrtle Cotton Co. The effort aligns with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s newly announced Great American Cotton Plan, aimed at restoring profitability for growers, rebuilding domestic textile manufacturing, and increasing demand for U.S.-grown cotton.
When volunteers at this year’s State Fair of Virginia pull on their Old Myrtle Cotton Co. T-shirts, they’ll be showcasing a fully American-made cotton supply chain backed by Virginia farmers, Farm Bureau support, and a broader national push to strengthen the industry.
“They’re going to be a natural, undyed cotton with the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation centennial logo,” said Whitney Perkins, executive director of the Virginia Foundation for Agriculture, Innovation and Rural Sustainability. “And there will be a state fair display following the journey of Virginia cotton to T-shirts, with an opportunity for guests to order their own shirts from Old Myrtle!”
She worked with fourth-generation farmer David Bosselman on value-added grant opportunities to establish the T-shirt company.
The family’s commitment to domestic T-shirt production is a rare model in an industry where most textile production is outsourced.
Just look at your T-shirt tag, Bosselman said.
“Honduras, Vietnam, China, Taiwan and all over Indonesia,” he listed.
The USDA’s “Plant Not Plastic” initiative encourages consumers also to inspect labels for materials made with natural American cotton fibers rather than synthetic, plastic-based alternatives.
“You can buy a shirt like that a dime a dozen,” Bosselman said. “Even though it costs a little bit more to be 100% American made, I think that our quality is far better than what we’re getting from overseas.”
Old Myrtle’s natural undyed cotton T-shirts are manufactured through a process that retains the organic off-white color.
“The twisting process with longer fibers makes the material a little bit stronger,” Bosselman said. “It even has those tiny specks of seed trash in there like nothing’s been done to it.”
In addition to their naturally grown line, the company features soft, dyed T-shirts from the Pantone Matching Color System. The unique garment-dyeing process gives apparel an already broken-in feel and a vintage, faded look.
“You can touch it and the quality speaks for itself,” Perkins said.
See the cotton display in the Meadow Pavilion at the State Fair of Virginia, running Sept.25 through Oct. 4, at The Meadow Event Park in Caroline County.
