FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
OUR COMPANY
Q. What is your vision?
A. KOOSHOO has been founded for a simple reason: to consciously create fashionable and fun products to accessorize life’s journey. We want to celebrate natures amazing textiles and give customers the opportunity to express their beautiful individuality as human beings while wearing our products.
Q. What does KOOSHOO mean?
A. The word KOOSHOO means "feeling good" in Norfolk, the language of Norfolk Island in the South Pacific. Rachel, our co-founder, grew up on the small sub-tropical paradise known best in history as the final landing point of the Mutineers on the Bounty. The language is a hybrid of Tahitian and Old English. On Norfolk one will typically be greeted by "Wataweih yorli?" meaning, "Hi, how are you?" to which most respond, "Kooshoo", meaning "feeling good".
Q. Where are KOOSHOO products made?
A. All products are proudly designed in Canada.
Our Organic Hair Ties and Organic Scrunchies are made at a Fairtrade certified social good factory in southern India where profits are used to fund important health-focused causes. Read more about this facility and why transparency matters here.
Our Organic Twist Headbands are made by a multi-generation family business in Los Angeles, CA. Read about some of our incredible LA based suppliers in this 2 part series about ethical manufacturing in the USA.
MATERIALS
Q. What fabrics and materials do you use?
A. We are very deliberate in our choice of fabrics and packaging and will only use those that adhere to our standards of leaving the world in a better place than before we started.
Our Organic Hair Ties and Organic Scrunchies are made of just 2 materials: organic cotton and natural tree rubber. Both materials are fair trade certified and grown/harvested in India. Our organic cotton is also GOTS and OEKO-TEX certified.
Our Organic Twist Headbands are made of 92% GOTS certified organic cotton and 8% spandex. The organic cotton is grown in India then milled, dyed, cut and sewn in Los Angeles, CA.
Packaging for all products is 100% recycled FSC certified paper.
All products are shipped 100% plastic-free using paper shipping materials (including paper tape).
Q. Why Organic Cotton?
A. The short answer: You can feel the difference and it really is so much better for our world.
Conventional cotton, on the other hand, covers 2.5% of the world’s cultivated land yet uses 25% of the world’s insecticides (considered the most harmful to human and animal life) and 10% of all agricultural chemicals. In short, it’s a crop that is extremely hard on our earth and the people/communities that grow it. It has been estimated that up to 1/3 of a pound of chemicals are required to grow enough cotton for a Tshirt. The World Health Organization estimates that 20,000 people annually die from pesticide poisoning in developing countries, many of whom from cotton farming.
Organic cotton, by contrast, is grown without insecticides, pesticides or chemical fertilizers, meaning it’s health comes down to a balance of crop rotation, compost and cover crop strategies. When you consider that much of the developing world's cotton suppliers still pick cotton by hand – and the developing world produces the vast majority of cotton – then you can understand the implications of removing chemicals from the equation.
This is a topic we are very passionate about and encourage you to learn more about the subject if inclined. Treehugger, the Organic Trade Association and Gaiam all present excellent articles about organic cotton.
And just in case that hasn’t resonated, you really can feel the difference!
Q. Why Natural Tree Rubber?
A. There are two options for the stretch you find in elastic products: synthetic rubber or natural rubber.
Synthetic rubber is made of petrochemicals and it's main advantage over its natural rubber counterpart is how long it lasts. While this is a great property to have when building time capsules and high rises, it's not one you need in your hair ties.
Natural rubber is tapped from a tree, much like maple syrup. Rubber trees can yield rubber for 20 years. Sadly, not all natural rubber is harvested the same way. The rubber industry is responsible for much deforestation across South East Asia.
We're proud to purchase our rubber from a fair trade rubber plantation at the far southern tip of India. The plantation is certified by the Fair Rubber Association. Their trees are FSC certified and fair trade premiums are used to fund a free hospital that caters to surrounding villages. There is even a pension fund for workers - the first of its kind for any rubber plantation in the world. To learn more about the important work that the Fair Rubber Association is doing, visit FairRubber.org.
SIZING
Q. How do I choose which style will work for me?
A. All KOOSHOO products are made to celebrate our innate individuality as humans and therefore deliberately designed to be worn in several ways. For example, our HU line is very versatile due to its ties and can be worn as a skinny, Rafa Nadal headband, bandana-style like Audrey Hepburn or any number of styles in between. This versatility applies to the ENSO, AUREA and Shawls as well. To find your best fit, we recommend reading the sizing question below and viewing our how-to-wear videos to see what product appeals most to you.
SHIPPING, RETURNS & WHOLESALE
Q. What countries do you ship to?
A. We ship worldwide from our warehouse in Idaho, USA. We also have warehouses in Canada, the UK and Australia.
Q. What are your shipping rates:
A. FREE shipping in North America on orders of $50 and over. For orders under $50 the following flat fee will apply:
- $3.95 for the USA
- $6.95 for Canada
For international orders rates vary per country and will be calculated at checkout. All international orders are shipped with tracking.
Q. How long does it take my order to ship?
A. Depends where you live:
If you live in the USA:
Orders are shipped with USPS and typically take 3-5 business days to arrive. You will receive a confirmation email as soon as your order ships. If the item is in stock and your order is placed before 9am PST, your order will ship same day, otherwise it will ship the following business day.
If you live in Canada:
Orders are shipped with USPS to the Canadian border where they clear customs and travel forwards with Canada Post. Please note no tracking code will be provided for these shipments. Average delivery time is between 5 and 15 business days. We know this is far from ideal (we’re Canadians ourselves) though at this time, it is the best option that Canada Post offers. Please know that even if it takes 17 business days, we guarantee you will receive your product. If you would like to expedite your shipping for an additional cost, this option is provided by flat fee. If you are ordering several products we’d suggest opting for this. Canadian province by province taxes do apply. Duties subject to the Canada Inspection agency though in our experience, are seldom charged.
If you live internationally:
Orders are shipped with USPS Priority Mail International and will typically arrive in 5-15 business days. Additional costs for international shipping apply. Please use our shopping cart for an estimation of shipping cost. Duties and taxes subject to destination country.
Q. I entered the wrong shipping address — what can I do?
A. Please get in touch with us at connect@kooshoo.com as soon as possible. If your order hasn’t shipped yet we will happily make the necessary changes for you.
Q. Can I return or exchange my items?
A. We want you to love your KOOSHOO products as much as we loved making them. If, for some reason, they didn’t work for you please email us at returns@kooshoo.com and we will refund or exchange your purchase in its entirety. Please note our refund policy applies to products in their original condition and being returned within 30 days of the original purchase date. If you encounter an issue with your product’s quality please also write to us at returns@kooshoo.com. We stand behind our goods 100%.
Q. Can I access your wholesale prices?
A. If you own a studio, retail store or online store, please visit our Wholesale Information section or write to us at wholesale@kooshoo.com.
Have another question? Send us an email at connect@kooshoo.com or connect with us on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. We’ll get back to you as soon as possible.