Our bestselling product categories
What is our drive
Designing and manufacturing sustainable products using natural bast fibers is our passion at Natural Materials Unlimited. We firmly believe that by making products out of sustainable materials, we can help to make the world a more sustainable place.
All of our products are custom made, and we work closely with our clients to ensure that they get exactly what they want.
We use only the highest quality natural fibers, and we are constantly exploring new ways to use them in our products. If you are interested in making a difference with your product, then get in touch with us today. We would be more than happy to help you turn your vision into reality.
Our brands
You've never met a company like ours.
Manufacturing with customer service.
Clean. Local. Low-Carbon.
Our Mission?
Putting planet, people & profit first, we’re working together to build a regenerative future with BAST fibers.
Step 1: Define the product
Is it feasible? – Schedule a Zoom call!
- We begin by looking at your design, diving into the details of your product: fabric (type quality of fibre, color)
- Our specialists will help you create a go-to-market plan.
- Together we’ll define your project’s goals, as defined by your budget and timescale.
Step 2: Develop your product
Is your idea scalable?
- Optional (paid) market analyses: keyword, competitor & SWOT
- Our experienced team optimize your drawings for responsive, iterative lean manufacturing
- Size of your initial order, predicted market uptake? We support dropshipping from the EU or Michigan, USA!
Step 3: Create your product
Do the prototypes work?
- You get prototypes in hand, ready to test and iterate. What’s your prototyping budget and optimal timescale?
- When you’re happy with the prototype, we test it. To make sure you and your customers will be thrilled with your amazing new product’s final form!
- The product is ready for your sign off – and production can begin!
Custom white labeled products
With over a decade’s experience in startups and lean manufacturing. We guide you from concept to final creation. Make it a reality today.
Let’s work together
Our friendly team would love to hear from you.
- sales@naturalmaterials.pl
Phone
- +48 662 331 212
- +1 (419) 930-8826
When we are talking about natural materials we are talking about anything that is grown in nature. The bast fiber family is very broad and specific to each region globally. In Europe people traditionally wore clothing from wool and bast fibers.
We consider ropes multiple yarns twisted together. We are able to acquire natural hemp ropes and linen ropes of varying qualities ranging from 3mm all the way up to 60mm. The rope is sold by the length, normally in 50 meter sections but the over all cost is determined by the weight of the rope.
If you are looking for very cheap rope you need to find Jute rope from India. If you are invested in finding jute rope from India we have partners in India who are able to produce this for you. Jute is a traditional material grown and processed in India and around that area of the world.
We do not typically dye a product ourselves. We have done it in the past but it is very technical and time consuming. That is why we work with professional dyeing companies in Poland like Kanaka. Many of the products that we make are dye free. However, working with high quality partners like Kanaka who is GOTS certified makes us feel better about it!
Generally speaking if this is the first time working with us for producing your product then we require a 75% pre-payment and the additional 25% plus the cost of shipping is due at the end of the production cycle. Once we have an established relationship the pre-payment requirement drops to 50%. We are able to process credit cards and take direct bank transfers.
The short answer is yes!
The long answer is below…
We believe that a high tide raises all ships. If you succeed, we succeed. The same goes for out employees.
Here is how are business model and profit margins to support this structure.Wages for a Triple Bottom Line Company
When NMU was started we wanted it to put people first. We use the “piecework model”.
How to determine their wage?The first step is to develop a LEAN manufacturing product. This means getting our hands dirty. Michael Klepacz develops each manufacturing step. He determine where the bottlenecks are and what improvements to make. Then he performs the tasks at a moderate pace and determine how many units I can produce in a 7 hour period. Then we adjust that for 8 hours, 8 hours because of break times and to reduce the pace over the work day.
Let’s say I am able to create 300 items in 7 hours. I want a “moderate pace” with time for breaks and lunch – I bump that to 8 hours from 7. In manufacturing, cycle times are an important KPI to track.300/8 = 37.5 units per hour. A cycle time of 1.6 minutes per unit.If I want my employee to earn $15 per hour that means they will get paid $0.40 per unit.In 8 hours a person should be able to make at least 300 units per day at 40 cents per unit. This comes out to $120 per day working at a moderate pace.
Training at NMU is based on an hourly wage. We want employees to learn how to make a product properly, not how to make a product “fast”. We remind them that speed comes with efficiency and muscle memory. When we are training people they are made aware of the median cycle time for the product.
This model works well in the flexible manufacturing model that we created. In fact, because of how flexible we are COVID did not make any impact on our output. NMU is a “Decentralized Factory”. We encourage the top quality performers to work from home and we construct machines for them. Our employees are happy. Life is good.
Yes, you can try us for free for 30 days. Our friendly team will work with you to get you up and running as soon as possible.
Our job as manufacturer is to work with you, our client, to determine what your needs are and create a product that your clients want. We will never agree to make a product that we think will not function well in the market. Why so? Because typically for the first production run we are not able to break even on the investment that we put into designing and producing your product. We need your product to be a winner so you can be a winner. This leads to you reordering with us. A win-win for all.
Lead times vary greatly between suppliers. A few real world examples. The metal hardware that we use for for accessories is generally readily available. However some of the buckles that we use from YKK can have a lead time of 6 weeks or more.
Rope generally has a very short lead time as well because the mills try to maintain certain stock levels, but the problem with natural rope can be availability. For example hemp rope is generally not available in the spring because it is sold out from the harvest of the previous year. That said, linen rope does not have these issues because the supply for linen fibers is huge.
Webbing also depends. If we are importing the webbing from outside of Poland it can take 3-6 weeks for delivery. This is one of the reasons that we started to make webbing for ourselves. The only catch 22 with making our own webbing is that it really only makes sense financially at larger quantities. It is out goal in the future to be able to keep stock of the most popular webbings and in different colors as well.