It’s been quite a while since we officially updated the profile of our co-founder and co-owner, Anna Yeager Brakefield. So much has transpired since the beginning of Red Land Cotton that we felt it was time to share more!
Anna and her 2 brothers, Mark and Joe, spent their early childhood in rural Lawrence County, Alabama. Their childhood home was literally in the middle of cotton fields. The red dirt that grows the cotton for Red Land Cotton products also provided the background of the lives of the Yeager children.
After graduating from Hartselle High School, Anna headed to Auburn University where she got a degree in Graphic Design and met the love of her life and future husband, Nick Brakefield. That degree proved very useful when one month after graduation she flew to New York City to work with a large branding and advertising agency in Manhattan, KBS+P. There’s just nothing like the lessons that can be learned in one of the biggest cities in the world.
During her 2 year stint in the Big Apple, Nick was finishing pharmacy school at Auburn University School of Pharmacy. As graduation loomed closer, (LOOMED. See what we did there? Wink! Wink!) Nick asked Anna to be his wife. The young couple compromised to make a life together in Nashville where Anna worked at a small branding firm and Nick would go on to get a job in pharmacy at Vanderbilt Hospital.
That very year (2015) the Yeagers gathered for Thanksgiving. During the meal, Anna’s farmer father, Mark Yeager, made a life changing proposition:
He proposed that they create a sheet company that had an entirely American Made supply chain. He and Anna’s brothers would produce all the cotton for the company on their family farm if Anna would be willing to handle design, branding and marketing.
And just like that, Red Land Cotton was born.
Within a year, Anna and her father had their first sheets in hand and were ready for their first Christmas season. We all started that first season packing and shipping out of the office at Yeager Gin Company. That actually went on for about a year. Mark’s private office was turned into inventory storage. We need to show y’all pictures from that time. It was pretty hilarious!
Soon the business had grown and it was necessary to find a place to conduct a store front, house inventory and pack and ship that was NOT a gin office. Anna and Mark found a small building on Moulton’s Historic Square and for the first time, Red Land Cotton had a real home.
During this time, Anna and Nick had their first child, a beautiful little girl named Katharine Nadine. Through bottles and sleepless nights, business zoom calls and raising a baby, Anna and her team made sure that Red Land Cotton continued to flourish.
Four years later, the little building on the Square could no longer house their burgeoning business. Sad to leave their friends on the Square, Anna and her dad had to decide whether to buy or build a new home for Red Land Cotton. Their search for a building was fruitless, so building it was!
Plans were drawn up and the building of the new Red Land Cotton store and distribution center was finished when God blessed Anna and Nick with a son, George Dallas Brakefield. Right after his birth, Anna and Nick decided the time had come to get closer to her work because the business was growing exponentially and new products were launching and whew! Red Land Cotton needed Anna on a daily basis.
So with a toddler and a new baby in tow, the Brakefields made their way to Huntsville, Alabama where they now reside. Anna drops her babies off at daycare and drives an hour into Moulton every day to oversee all things Red Land Cotton while Nick drives and hour and a half into Nashville 3 days a week to continue his work as a pharmacist at Vanderbilt. Katharine Nadine is currently 3 years old and George Dallas just had his 1st birthday. Life is busy, but life is good.
It’s not easy being a mother of 2 and running a growing textile business, but with the support of her husband and her amazing team at Red Land Cotton, things get done! Some days Anna laughs to keep from crying and other days she feels like a BOSS, but most days are just pleasant and productive. But if anyone ever wants to talk about being a wife, mother and business owner-Anna Yeager Brakefield is definitely your person.
So here’s to our fearless leader, Anna Yeager Brakefield-Wife. Mother. BOSS. You make us what we are-an American Made farm to home heirloom quality linen company designed, branded and marketed by the woman herself.
Anna and her 2 brothers, Mark and Joe, spent their early childhood in rural Lawrence County, Alabama. Their childhood home was literally in the middle of cotton fields. The red dirt that grows the cotton for Red Land Cotton products also provided the background of the lives of the Yeager children.
After graduating from Hartselle High School, Anna headed to Auburn University where she got a degree in Graphic Design and met the love of her life and future husband, Nick Brakefield. That degree proved very useful when one month after graduation she flew to New York City to work with a large branding and advertising agency in Manhattan, KBS+P. There’s just nothing like the lessons that can be learned in one of the biggest cities in the world.
During her 2 year stint in the Big Apple, Nick was finishing pharmacy school at Auburn University School of Pharmacy. As graduation loomed closer, (LOOMED. See what we did there? Wink! Wink!) Nick asked Anna to be his wife. The young couple compromised to make a life together in Nashville where Anna worked at a small branding firm and Nick would go on to get a job in pharmacy at Vanderbilt Hospital.
That very year (2015) the Yeagers gathered for Thanksgiving. During the meal, Anna’s farmer father, Mark Yeager, made a life changing proposition:
He proposed that they create a sheet company that had an entirely American Made supply chain. He and Anna’s brothers would produce all the cotton for the company on their family farm if Anna would be willing to handle design, branding and marketing.
And just like that, Red Land Cotton was born.
Within a year, Anna and her father had their first sheets in hand and were ready for their first Christmas season. We all started that first season packing and shipping out of the office at Yeager Gin Company. That actually went on for about a year. Mark’s private office was turned into inventory storage. We need to show y’all pictures from that time. It was pretty hilarious!
Soon the business had grown and it was necessary to find a place to conduct a store front, house inventory and pack and ship that was NOT a gin office. Anna and Mark found a small building on Moulton’s Historic Square and for the first time, Red Land Cotton had a real home.
During this time, Anna and Nick had their first child, a beautiful little girl named Katharine Nadine. Through bottles and sleepless nights, business zoom calls and raising a baby, Anna and her team made sure that Red Land Cotton continued to flourish.
Four years later, the little building on the Square could no longer house their burgeoning business. Sad to leave their friends on the Square, Anna and her dad had to decide whether to buy or build a new home for Red Land Cotton. Their search for a building was fruitless, so building it was!
Plans were drawn up and the building of the new Red Land Cotton store and distribution center was finished when God blessed Anna and Nick with a son, George Dallas Brakefield. Right after his birth, Anna and Nick decided the time had come to get closer to her work because the business was growing exponentially and new products were launching and whew! Red Land Cotton needed Anna on a daily basis.
So with a toddler and a new baby in tow, the Brakefields made their way to Huntsville, Alabama where they now reside. Anna drops her babies off at daycare and drives an hour into Moulton every day to oversee all things Red Land Cotton while Nick drives and hour and a half into Nashville 3 days a week to continue his work as a pharmacist at Vanderbilt. Katharine Nadine is currently 3 years old and George Dallas just had his 1st birthday. Life is busy, but life is good.
It’s not easy being a mother of 2 and running a growing textile business, but with the support of her husband and her amazing team at Red Land Cotton, things get done! Some days Anna laughs to keep from crying and other days she feels like a BOSS, but most days are just pleasant and productive. But if anyone ever wants to talk about being a wife, mother and business owner-Anna Yeager Brakefield is definitely your person.
So here’s to our fearless leader, Anna Yeager Brakefield-Wife. Mother. BOSS. You make us what we are-an American Made farm to home heirloom quality linen company designed, branded and marketed by the woman herself.
Donette Mullinix
Great article! I love the connection with Auburn (our daughter was in Alpha Chi with Anna) and the grown/made in Alabama connection. We love our sheets and after sleeping on our one king sized set for 2 years, they still look and feel new!
Karla Meyette
I love your story; it is so All-American. I also love the sheets and towels you all produce! For years I have looked for USA made sheets and finally found you. So glad I did! Cheers!
Carol Foley
I loved reading the story of Anna and Red Land Cotton.This southern family all they had to learn and what they did to become Red Land.I want to say a big Thank You as I have enjoyed my sheets and my matching blanket.Just what I wanted.
Yvette Pfankuch
Hi, I just love your product, I came across your sheets in Red Bay and fell in love the comfort from your sheets gave us such a good nite sleep that I had to purchase more and even a comforter. Can’t wait for my next purchase!! Thank you!!
Carolyn Clark
Wonderful story!! Love your products. USA & Southern—great combination. Best wishes for continued success.