Dead Ground
Better for
real people.
Something had to grow here eventually. Dead Ground is an ethics first brand built by Zech Noel, a union electrician who was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest.
Dead Ground  /  Our Statement
Better for real people
Why we exist
The current system
was built to exploit you
and this planet.
Current options
What the market gives you. Both are a bad deal.
Option 01
Overpay
in dollars.
The ethical brands charging $120 for a t-shirt because sustainability is a luxury product. You pay for the story, not the shirt. The margin goes to investors.
Not affordable. Still a business model.
Option 02
Overpay
in conscience.
The cheap brands built on overseas labor, toxic dyes, and landfill-bound fabric. Affordable on your wallet. A disaster for the people who made it and the ground it came from.
Not ethical. Still everywhere.
We are
the other option.
The position
More affordable.
Nothing hidden.
A portion of every sale goes toward undoing the damage.
Built from a supply chain with nothing to hide. Priced so you do not have to choose between your values and your bills.
The manifesto

Dead Ground exists to prove the model is wrong. That you can make something right, price it honestly, give back, and still build a real business.

For another brand to compete with our model, they would have to change theirs. Pay better wages. Source recycled materials without harsh chemicals or toxins. Price it honestly instead of marking it up for shareholders. Then donate a portion of every sale to real, verified organizations.

At that point, we fixed the problem we set out to solve.

Any brand that wants to compete with us has to fix the industry to do it. We are fine with that.

Zech Noel
Founder, Dead Ground LLC
Revive the ground
The impact
Material
Reclaimed
Cotton
Trash fabric by Everybody.World. Reclaimed waste cotton, manufactured in Los Angeles. The supply chain is documented, the supplier is named, and the process is verifiable.
Process
Made in
Portland
Designed, printed, shipped, and sold from Portland, Oregon. Non-toxic inks. Local people. Real address.
Giving
Named
Partners
Na'ah Illahee Fund, Indigenous Environmental Network, and Worker Rights Consortium. A portion of every sale. Published annually.
Pricing
Honest
Margin
Materials. Giving. Operations. A margin that keeps the model honest. That is it.
That is the mission.
One small company. One honest model. Built so the industry has to fix itself to compete.
Who we give to
Na'ah Illahee Fund
An Indigenous-led intermediary based in the Pacific Northwest. Founded in 2005, they move resources to grassroots Native communities through regranting, advocacy, and capacity building, strengthening Indigenous economies, protecting land and water, and sustaining cultural practices for generations.
Visit naahillahee.org →
Indigenous Environmental Network
Founded in 1990, IEN is a grassroots alliance of Indigenous peoples protecting the sacredness of Mother Earth from contamination and exploitation. They organize campaigns, build tribal capacity, and advocate for Indigenous land, water, air, and sacred sites, including landmark work against the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines.
Visit ienearth.org →
Worker Rights Consortium
Founded in 2000, the WRC is an independent labor rights organization that investigates factories making apparel and goods sold in the US. They interview workers off-site, away from management, to uncover the abuses brands routinely miss or ignore. They then hold those brands publicly accountable for fixing them.
Visit workersrights.org →
Giving to date
$0
Three named organizations. Every dollar published.
Days since launch0
Pricing
What does a $25 shirt
actually cost?

Not you. The people who made it.

A basic t-shirt from a major fast fashion retailer sells for around $25. The documented manufacturing cost at volume runs $2 to $5. A 2022 Channel 4 investigation found workers in fast fashion supply chains paid as little as 3 cents per garment, working 18-hour shifts with one rest day per month. The brand keeps the rest.

That $25 did not go to the person who sewed it. It did not go to environmental remediation. It did not go to a nonprofit. It went to a shareholder.

A Dead Ground tee costs $38. Here is where that money actually goes.

Fast Fashion Better-Looking Brands Dead Ground
Retail price ~$25 ~$55 $38
Where it's made Overseas, high volume Overseas, lower volume Los Angeles + Portland, OR
Made in USA ✕ ✕ ✓
Livable wage verified ✕ Varies ✓
Recycled or reclaimed material ✕ Varies ✓
No virgin materials ✕ ✕ ✓
No toxic dyes or harsh chemicals ✕ Varies ✓
Supply chain publicly named ✕ ✕ ✓
Gives to verified nonprofits ✕ ✕ ✓
Independent labor certification ✕ ✕ ✓
Where the margin goes Shareholders Investors Operations + giving
Sources: Manufacturing cost data via Successful Fashion Designer (2025) and Fashion Atlas Group (2026). Labor conditions via Channel 4, Untold: Inside the Shein Machine (2022). Supply chain transparency ratings via Eco-Stylist and Good On You (2024-2025). Better-looking brand data via Ecocult and Eco-Stylist independent audits (2024).
Material
Reclaimed
waste cotton.

Everybody.World is an independent, woman and minority-owned business based in Los Angeles, California. Their specialty is garments made from 100% Reclaimed Waste Cotton, landfill-destined fibers left over from the yarn manufacturing process. Not offcuts of existing garments. Pre-consumer waste that would otherwise be discarded.

Every stage of production, from knitting to finishing, happens in fair-wage factories in Los Angeles. The supply chain stays entirely in the USA. No handoff to an unknown overseas facility. No hidden steps.

This is the material inside every Dead Ground garment.

Verify the supplier: everybody.world
✓
100% Reclaimed Waste Cotton. No virgin fiber. No new raw materials extracted.
✓
Made entirely in Los Angeles. Every stage. Knitting, dyeing, finishing, cutting, sewing.
✓
Fair wages paid at every stage. Small and family-run factories with generations of expertise.
✓
Less water, less energy, fewer chemicals than conventional cotton manufacturing.
✓
Woman and minority-owned. Independent since 2016. No outside investors changing the model.
✓
Biodegradable fabric designed to minimize end-of-life environmental impact.
Process
Designed, printed, shipped,
and sold from Portland.
Every step after the blank leaves Los Angeles happens right here in the Pacific Northwest. Non-toxic water-based inks. Local people. No overseas finishing. No mystery in the middle.
01
Designed
Conceived and developed in Portland, Oregon by a union electrician who has been buying band merch since he was fifteen.
02
Printed
Screen printed in Portland using non-toxic, water-based inks. No plastisol. No harsh solvents. Real people, real shop, real address.
03
Shipped
Fulfilled from Portland, Oregon. When you order, it comes from here. Not a warehouse in New Jersey. Not a fulfillment center overseas.
04
Sold
Direct to you. No middleman markup. No retail margin stacked on top. The price you see is the price we built the model around.
Common questions
Where are your products made? +
Blanks from Everybody.World in Los Angeles using reclaimed waste cotton. Printed in Portland, Oregon. Shipped from Portland.
Where does my money go? +
A portion of every sale goes to Na'ah Illahee Fund, Indigenous Environmental Network, and Worker Rights Consortium. We publish totals above.
Why are your prices lower than other ethical brands? +
Because the markup in ethical fashion is often as inflated as the marketing. We price to cover materials, giving, and operations. That is it.
What is your return policy? +
We accept returns within 30 days of delivery on unworn, unwashed items with original tags attached. Email hello@deadground.co with your order number.
How do I know you are actually ethical? +
Our supplier is named. Our giving partners are named. Our donation totals are published on this page. If something does not add up, email us.