In 2004, Kesselman searched for a supplier who could sell him natural and unbleached fiber, which would be considered vegan. He could only find one, and there was a catch: He had to place an order for at least $1 million. “I hedged my whole business,” Kesselman says, and scraped up enough to place the initial order. “My best friend told me I was an idiot to put ‘vegan’ on the package. But it worked out.”