On today’s episode, I sit down with Shay Carrillo, Founder & CEO of Madre Linen, a home goods brand focused on building a fully traceable, ethically sourced linen supply chain from the ground up.

In this conversation, we talk about how the business actually came together, starting with hand-sewn napkins and an early wholesale order from Heath Ceramics that forced Shay to figure out manufacturing almost overnight.

We also get into how linen is produced at a material level, what it takes to source fabric with a transparent supply chain, and why she ultimately built a new brand after realizing she couldn’t trace where her original materials were coming from.

We spend time on the economics of producing domestically, how tariffs and input costs impact margins, and why wholesale, despite reaching over 100 stores, ultimately didn’t work as a profitable channel.

Shay also walks through how she’s thinking about distribution today across DTC, rentals, and B2B, and what needs to happen operationally to grow the business from here.

I learned so much during my conversation with Shay, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.