How We Make Things

We are a small brand and this is a short page. We would rather tell you the handful of things we actually know than write three pages of language that sounds good and says nothing.

The short version

Material: 95% organic cotton / 5% elastane on earlier runs, 96% / 4% on the most recent ones.
Certification: Organic Content Standard (OCS 100). Current Transaction Certificate ITS-OCS-C-0260045, issued by Intertek on 16 September 2026.
Cotton grown in: Turkey (Şanlıurfa, Aydın, Adana) and Tajikistan (Sughd).
Made in: a family-run factory in northern Portugal. Not outsourced to a subcontractor.
Packaging: mostly paper, licensed under the German Packaging Act — still with one thin plastic layer we haven't replaced yet.
What we don't have: a carbon footprint figure, or social and environmental audits beyond what EU law requires.

Two members of the Blu team working on the boxer brief pattern at a desk — Most of the work behind a pair of boxer briefs looks like this.

The fabric

Organic cotton with a small amount of elastane — 95% cotton to 5% elastane on our earlier runs, 96% to 4% on the most recent ones. The elastane is what lets the waistband keep its shape instead of stretching out after a few washes. A boxer brief made only of cotton would sag. We haven't found a way around that yet and we're not going to pretend otherwise.

The certificate, and exactly what it covers

The cotton is certified organic to the Organic Content Standard (OCS 100). Our manufacturer is OCS-certified, and individual production runs are covered by Transaction Certificates issued by Intertek, an independent certification body.

Our current certificate is ITS-OCS-C-0260045, issued 16 September 2026. It covers 1,220 garments produced in January and April 2026 and shipped to us that March and May: black boy shorts, and black boxer briefs in the 5cm and 7cm lengths. It also records that production was not outsourced to a subcontractor.

It does not cover our 11cm length or the grey marl. Those are made by the same factory, but we don't hold certificates for those particular runs, so we're not going to claim them. When we do, this page will say so.

Where the cotton comes from

Line drawing of an organic cotton boll

The organic cotton in those runs was grown in Turkey — the Şanlıurfa, Aydın and Adana regions — and in Tajikistan, in Sughd.

We know that because it's recorded on the certificate, not because we've been to the farms. We haven't. But the paperwork traces back that far, and we'd rather tell you the region than say “responsibly sourced” and leave it there.

What the certification does and doesn't cover

This is the part most brands skip, so here it is plainly.

The Organic Content Standard verifies one thing: that the organic material claimed in a product is really there, and can be traced through the supply chain. It is a content and traceability standard. It does not certify working conditions, wages, dyeing chemistry or water use. Those are separate standards and we don't currently hold them.

Transaction Certificates also cover specific production runs rather than a brand as a whole — which is why we name the certificate and the runs above, instead of making a blanket claim about everything we've ever made.

Where they're made

Made in Portugal stamp with an outline of the country

Our boxer briefs are produced in a family-run factory in northern Portugal with more than 30 years of underwear manufacturing behind them. The certificate confirms production isn't outsourced — the people certified to make them are the people who make them.

We went looking in person. Several factories weren't interested in working with a brand our size, and others weren't the right fit. The one we found agreed to develop a new cut with us rather than adapt an existing men's pattern — they had never produced this style before. That relationship is the reason the product exists.

The Douro riverfront in Porto, northern Portugal, at dusk — Porto. The factory is about an hour inland from here.

Portugal matters to us for practical reasons as much as ethical ones: it's inside the EU, so it's covered by EU labour law, and it's close enough that we can visit.

Packaging, including the part we haven't solved

Most of what we send is paper. Cardboard and kraft paper look better and are better for the planet than the alternatives. Our packaging is licensed under the German Packaging Act through a dual system, which means we pay for the recycling of what we put into circulation.

We still use a thin plastic layer to protect your boxer briefs from moisture in transit. We know that isn't good enough. We're working on replacing it with a paper-based or biodegradable alternative, and until we find one that actually keeps the product dry, it stays.

We'd rather write that down than quietly leave it out.

Making things last

The most sustainable pair of boxer briefs is the one you don't replace. That's most of why we obsess over the waistband — a band that rolls or stretches out is the reason most underwear gets thrown away long before the fabric wears through.

Folded Blu boxer briefs showing the tag-free BLU waistband — No label to scratch, and a band built not to roll. Both are durability decisions as much as comfort ones.

Washing them at 30°C on a gentle cycle and skipping the tumble dryer makes them last considerably longer, and it's most of the environmental footprint of a garment anyway.

Black Blu boxer briefs hanging to dry in an open window above Berlin rooftops — Our own window in Berlin. No dryer.

What we don't know yet

We don't have a carbon footprint figure for our products. We don't hold social or environmental audits for our factory beyond what EU law requires. We're a small team and those things take resources we don't have yet.

If any of that changes, this page changes with it.