KEY POINTS:
Babies have it all, don't they? Lying around in the warm, smiling at shapes? They also have a growing range of ethical babygro options. Like organic baby food, organic-cotton baby clothes are starting to make a mark on the market.
In Britain you can get them in some supermarkets, and internationally on hundreds of websites to fit over real nappies, and/or without fasteners made from nickel, a potential allergen.
The market is in its infancy in New Zealand, with specialist retailers such as Grey Lynn's Nature Baby leading the way, but it's a trend that will take off.
People are getting the message that conventional cotton soaks up a quarter of the world's agrichemicals and that many fibres are treated with everything from fire retardants to formaldehyde.
Who in their right mind wants this on a baby's skin? Strange, then, that as soon as they're toddling, we clothe them in Teflon-imbued synthetics of uncertain provenance featuring plastic iron-on logos.
Don't blame the parents - they write to me all the time asking for options. But you could blame the retailers for failing to provide any. They assume that value-obsessed consumers think small clothes should have a small price tag.
The other traditional problem is that very ethical clothes used to come in any colour so long as it was porridge or white, thus avoiding the environmental problems associated with most dyes. This has never been attractive to younger consumers, who have a preferred colour palette of lime green and Barbie pink. Disney's Loved By Nature range for smaller children, launched overseas last year, seems to break those rules by using Natural Colour Cotton that grows in green, brown and beige shades.
Kids are also easily pleased by a picture of a cartoon or film character, playing into the hands of multinationals who produce the majority of their branded wear in Asia, although it's hard to tell where or in what conditions.
On the other hand, ethical clothes should work for kids. They don't do many formal engagements or need business attire, so T-shirts and denims (both have proven ethical alternatives) are perfect targets.
The reuse of kids' clothes needs to be promoted more heavily, too. Proponents there say there are so many children's clothes in circulation that they are philosophically opposed to buying any.
Trade Me has a booming market in second-hand clothes, helping the recycling cause. Making the decision to recirculate kids' clothes should be child's play.Observer
- additional reporting: Herald staff
