Kotn owns its Egyptian cotton supply chain from the farm to the finished T-shirt, paying more than 5,000 smallholder farmers guaranteed prices and funding two dozen schools in the Nile Delta. Four venture firms hold undisclosed minority stakes, but co-founders Rami Helali and Mackenzie Yeates still run the company as CEO and Chief Brand Officer. The people ultimately accountable for how Kotn treats its farmers and factory workers are still its founders, not an outside investor.