Arts & Culture

Small Southern Brands That Make Sustainability a Priority

These past honorees in our Made in the South Awards employ the use of natural textiles, native plants, and other eco-friendly items
Three photos: a can of pecanmilk, a patterned shirt, and a canister of peanuts

Photo: Fredrik Brodén

(From left) Treehouse Naturals Original Pecanmilk, Richter Goods Men’s Pearl Snap Shirt, and Hubbard Peanut Company Single Origin Redskin Peanuts.

Even before G&G’s Made in the South Awards began crowning Sustainability Award winners in 2022, many of our honorees had long prioritized the environment, both in their products and their practices. Small Southern makers know more than anyone that often, taking the slower, more deliberate route results in products that look, feel, and taste well worth the effort it takes to make them. We’ve rounded up eight of our past winners and runners-up who are creating positive impacts on the South—and the planet.

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Hubbard Peanut Company

Single Origin Redskin Peanuts

Sedley, Virginia

2024 Sustainability Award Winner

A canister of peanuts
photo: Fredrik Brodén

The humble peanut, in and of itself, is a sustainability champion. Technically a legume, peanuts require minimal water and give back to the earth by depositing nitrogen into the soil. At Hubbard Peanut Company, fourth-generation farmer Elisha Barnes knows that relishing in the traditional practice of manually curing his crop (before shelling, cooking, and salting it) makes for a snack to feel good about—in recyclable cans, no less.


Cicil

Rugs

Durham, North Carolina

2022 Sustainability Award Winner

A gray rug with a scalloped border
photo: Fredrik Brodén

Laura Tripp and Caroline Cockerham first met working at conservation behemoth Patagonia, so it’s not a surprise that their company, Cicil, bills eco-consciousness as its top priority. Cicil specializes in natural, made-to-order rugs that use cast-off wool in dark varieties that are typically undesirable because they can’t be dyed. Cicil saves those bundles from a wasteful fate by turning them into cozy weaves that flatter any floor.


Yaupon Brothers American Tea Co.

Lavender Coconut Yaupon Holly Tea

Edgewater, Florida

2023 Sustainability Award Winner

A canister of loose leaf tea
photo: Fredrik Brodén

In 2015, the White brothers began planting the seeds for more sustainable caffeine consumption, which is nothing to scoff at when you consider that 90 percent of Americans consume caffeine daily. Yaupon holly is the only plant native to North America that contains caffeine, and Yaupon Brothers American Tea Co. handpicks each leaf on organic farms in Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama, packaging them in compostable tea bags to reduce waste.


Molyan

Chain-Stitched Jackets

Austin, Texas

2024 Style Runner-Up

An embroidered jacket
photo: Fredrik Brodén

The Texas-based luxury clothing label Molyan cites handcraft and sustainability as the pillars of its practice, and it shows. The hand-embroidered, small-batch jackets are crafted with 100 percent duck canvas cotton, while their eye-catching geometric designs are made using organically dyed threads; all of their fabric and materials are ethically sourced, too. The result is a stitched-to-order heirloom piece whose every element feels intentional.


Richter Goods

Men’s Pearl Snap Shirts

San Antonio, Texas

2023 Style Winner

Men's patterned shirt with snaps
photo: Fredrik Brodén

The Richter Goods team is all about minimizing waste, which is why they purposefully keep their inventory low and restock based on demand. Their western-style shirts are produced entirely in-house, aided by their ten-person team of seamstresses, machinists, and pattern makers, which ensures a low environmental impact, fair labor conditions, and standout wardrobe pieces.


Appalachian Beekeeping Collective

Black Locust Honey

Lewisburg, West Virginia

2021 Food Winner

An open jar of honey
photo: Fredrik Brodén

The nonprofit Appalachian Headwaters was built on sustainability, founded in 2016 to reverse ecosystem damage caused by coal mining. As they planted trees, they realized they would also need some pollinators, so the Appalachian Beekeeping Collective emerged. Now it’s a win-win-win situation: Landowners who keep bees are supported with a second source of income, the pollinator population is cultivated and protected, and the public is supplied with sumptuous, golden West Virginia honey.


Treehouse Naturals

Original Pecanmilk

Atlanta, Georgia

2023 Drink Runner-Up

A can of pecanmilk
photo: Fredrik Brodén

When Bess Weyandt and Kate Carter began their quest to distribute homemade nut milks, they looked close to home: Pecans are the only nut native to North America, and they thrive in Georgia’s long, hot summers. If you’re ordering these high-quality cans from afar, never fear—Treehouse Naturals purchases carbon offsets and plants a tree for every order shipped.


Saint Virginia Handcrafted Textiles

Big Square Scarf

Gainesville, Virginia

2019 Style Runner-Up

A pink scarf
photo: David Rinella

Amy Hindman’s textile studio and atelier values the efficacy of the ripple effect. Hindman crafts her colorful scarves with organic fibers and hand-dyes them with naturally derived colors—materials she sources from a host of farmers whose practices improve soil, air, and water quality, which in turn improves the quality of life for the rest of us. Owning a multi-hued, one-of-a-kind scarf doesn’t hurt, either.


Grace Roberts, a 2025 intern at Garden & Gun, grew up in Pennington, New Jersey, and graduated from the University of St Andrews.


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