A Year in Review: 2021

What a year! Packed full of all the good, the challenging and the rewarding. From expanding our mill, to new product launches, organic cotton additions, GOTS (re)certification, and even a Swim Club! Here’s a look at what we’ve been up to in 2021.

GOTS certified – again!

In 2020, following a rigorous audit, we received our Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) certification. This year, we renewed it. The Global Organic Textile Standard is the world-leading processing standard for organic fibres, and provides credible assurance along the entire supply chain – from fibres to finished products, and through the full spectrum of ethical land and labour practices.

Read more about our first GOTS certification on our blog, We Gots It, or about our search for the finest organic cotton, Love is Like That. 

Phase Two

In 2017 we built the Mungo Mill – a culmination of a shared dream for open and transparent textile production.

Over the last year we’ve been expanding this vision. In 2021 we opened the doors to ‘Phase 2’ – adding to our existing double-volume building to now bring warping, weaving, CMT, pressing, packing, despatch and wholesale all under one roof.

Read more about it on our blog, Breaking Ground. Opening ‘Phase 2’ of the Mungo Mill.

New on the Shelf

This year we had a number of newbies to our towel, bed, kitchen, apparel and cushion cover ranges.

New in towels: we refreshed some our favourites with new colourways; adding Hermit Crab to the Folly Beach Towel range, a new darker palette of Willow Weave Towels, and added ‘Emerald Green’ and ‘Rose Quartz’ our best-selling Itawuli range. Our most recent to join the flat-weave ranks was the new Willow Beach Towel.

In the Bed Linen range, we added the dreamy Grey Mist, the sophisticated Space Grey, and most recently Burnt Umber and Marigold.

Heeding the call for darker dishcloth range, we launched the Slate Waffle Weave Tea Towels. White Selvedge Serviettes complemented our Table Linen offering, and new Moholo Dog Blankets were designed for our favourite furry friends.

In apparel we added the luxuriously soft Bamboo Scarf, and one-of-a-kind Linen Scarf. Festive Skipping Block Cushion Covers rounded up our ranges for the year.

New in Organic

In 2019 we launched our first organic cotton towel, The Aegean. This came as part of a company-wide shift towards using organic fibres, and in its stead we pursuit certification for our mill and textiles via the Global Organic Textile Standard. We have since finessed the fibres on a range of other products – relaunching our Summer Towels, Cellular and Cot Baby Blankets, and Belgian Waffle Towels in organic cotton.

A Kikoi for a Cause

Every year we invite students from The Crags Primary School to attend a tour and workshop at our mill. Under the guidance of our designer, Lenore, and our MOVE coordinator, Janet, each student designs their own kikoi colourway. From the simulations, a winning design is chosen, put into production at our mill and sold in aid of the Kids of Kurland foundation. ‘Yanga’ was woven by Yongama Madikizela and is now available to shop online and in our stores.

Read more about our 2021 workshop on our blog, ‘Kids of Kurland Kikoi 2021 – A Kikoi for a Cause’.

A Storybook Woven to Life

Inspired by the sweet tale of Bonbon and his trusty adventure companion, ‘Blanket’, we wove to life the Bonbon Blanket. A colourful, pure cotton kids blanket that was sold alongside the heart-warming storybook that brought it to life.

All proceeds from the sale of this blanket were donated to Shine Literacy, an NPO that empowers young children across South Africa through literacy and learning programmes.

Read the fully story on our blog, ‘A Storybook Woven to Life.’

Mungo Swim Club

In 2021 we launched the Mungo ‘Swim Club’ – a 5-day challenge with the idea to support personal wellbeing, and to give a little something back…

For all those who joined us for the full 5 days, we pledged to donate towards Waves for Change on their behalf. Each swimmer also received a Mungo Towel of their choice.

Participants from Plett, Clifton, Dalebrook and St James locations joined us for morning swims at 6:30am, Tuesday to Saturday. The incredible commitment all round meant we will be sponsoring 231 Surf Therapy sessions to Waves for Change – one for each person who completed the challenge.

Waves for Change is a registered South African non-profit organisation. Since 2009 they have been working with youth from stressed environments to develop a community-based, child-friendly mental health service through Surf Therapy.

Mungo Around the Globe

This year we were fortunate to expand our range on our Mungo USA and Mungo EU. Based in Detroit and Rotterdam, our two satellites sites offer quick, streamlined and flat-rate shipping for our international customers.

Location, Location

This year we were fortunate to visit some incredible locations, affording us arresting views and inspired interiors.

Read more about our trip to Langskuur, and the historic homestead on which it’s based on our blog, ‘Langskuur – a barn revived and reimagined.‘

Thank You

We’ve already got big dreams for 2022. But for now, we’d like to extend a big thank you for your support, and wish you all a happy holidays. Here’s looking at you, 2022.