Maud N Lil Organic Cotton

Maud N Lil is an Australian based design company which has been specialising in certified organic cotton as a resource since 1993. The business operates as a partnership owned and run by Manda Epton and Vicki Hilcke. Manda obtained a BA (Hons) Design degree in fashion and textiles from Ravensbourne College, London in 1991. She became interested in textile/ environmental issues whilst completing her degree and is the founding member of the business. Vicki is a fully qualified patternmaker with extensive retail and production experience in the UK and Australian fashion industries. She also managed and co-ordinated a PR consultancy firm before becoming a partner in the business. The focus on organic cotton evolved as the pair realised the influence and damage of this important and versatile crop. They believe there is a very real need to provide well designed products made from sustainable textiles as a market option both locally in Australia and internationally. During the early nineties the business supplied Greenpeace, Australia with merchandise for their mail order catalogue which led to a natural progression to other cause marketing clients including WWF (World Wildlife Fund for Nature), Amnesty International, The Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney) and New Internationalist. By 1995 Maud N Lil had designed and developed their own toy range the "Creatures of Comfort" - a soft toy range for newborns and small children; which is close to the range we have today. In 2003 Maud N Lil moved their production offshore to countries where the certified organic cotton is grown and processed and where they could support Social Compliance principles and Oeketex (European accreditors of environmentally sound textile processing) facilities.