Welcome to Creator Chat. In this series, you will meet small business owners from various fields making strides to create a better world for everyone. Meet Brianna, founder of Anact, eco-friendly, mildew smelling free, durable, absorbent towels.
We can’t wait to hear more about Anact, but first can you tell us a bit about yourself/your background?
My dad was a college basketball coach so I grew up around the country but call Jacksonville, FL home. I expanded Anact to Austin in 2022. My background has always been in the humanitarian space working on human rights. I never expected to end up in the textile industry though. I had just finished a stint working on the border of northern Uganda and was taking a break in DC when Under Armour reached out to me about a job position in their supply chain department. I accepted that job so I could learn the ropes and build out their CSR program, which I later did. From there, I operated in the sustainability realm of apparel brands until I took the leap to start Anact in 2018 and haven't looked back since!
What was the inspiration behind Anact?
I have hated the smell of mildewy bath towels my entire life. When I discovered hemp naturally resists the growth of bacteria, I instantly wanted a hemp towel but couldn't find any on the market. My best friend would always listen to me talk about my thoughts about what needed to happen to change the textile industry so she inspired me to make a product, brand, and vision to solve my problems of mildewy towels while making my industry better at the same time. The reason that I named it Anact was to inspire myself and others to take one act a day to make the world a better place.
We love that. One act a day – so simple, yet so impactful. What trends are you seeing in your field right now?
• More people getting educated about hemp
• Requests for traceability certificates and fair-trade products
• No production in China
Clean water is a passion of ours and we were shocked when we saw that Anact towels saves 58 days of drinking water! What are some of the other advantages of Anact towels? Both personally and for the planet.
• We use a proprietary weave for our towel to make it the best performing towel on the market.
• We're chemical/dye free which protects the planet, the factory worker, and your skin!
• Hemp naturally resists the growth of bacteria so no mildewy towels!
• We ship plastic free :)
Tell us some of the sustainable small businesses you like to support.
• Latika (at HEB) for bath salts
• Daybird for sunscreen needs
• JuiceLand for juice/smoothies
• Parker & Scott for gifts (love Raw Republic too)
• Manbar for regenerative and healthy snacks