From the ground up
My Child: Spring 2007

Not content with the conventional baby products that were available to them and their families, these mums forged the way in today’s major growth industry – organics

Tammy Fenner’s second child Lucy suffered repeated bouts of eczema as a baby. Tammy tried everything, but found most products dried her daughter’s skin out even more. At her wits’ end, she added avocado oil to Lucy’s bath. It worked wonders and now, four year later, Tammy runs Avado Organics, a range of skincare products based on organic avocado oil. Tammy is not the first mum to seek an alternative to chemicals found in products for babies.

Queensland mother and owner of Eco Child, an organic baby store in Mooloolaba, Carly Earl says, ‘There’s no history of chronic illness or allergy in my family, so when Oliver developed severe allergies and eczema at five months, I was devastated. We researched extensively and sought as much professional advice as possible, as well as trying different diets, skincare, clothing, bedding and cleaning products to eliminate allergens from his life. This was the inspiration for my business.’

Organics is nothing new to Australia, but the boom in organic baby businesses coincides with an increase in the movement’s momentum. Look under “baby products” on online directory Green Pages Australia and you will find 40 companies offering nappies, skincare, cotton wraps, clothing, gifts and more. Less than a decade ago, there were just three companies struggling to bring the best to babies of Australia. ‘Aromababy, Gaia Organic Cotton and I all started at the same time,’ says Jannine Barron from Nature’s Child. ‘We were way ahead of our time.’

Jannine’s business has grown from a shared home office to a garage open to the public once a week, to a thriving online and wholesale business with a huge range of natural and organic products. ‘I had needs for my baby but found that what I wanted wasn’t on the market,’ says Jannine. ‘I didn’t know anything about business – I just had the thought, I hate these disposables. It was all so innocent, I can’t tell you.’

Organic growth
Oganics is a movement, not an industry, says Catriona Macmillan from the Organic Traders and Consumers Network: ‘When you buy organics, it’s not a brand name, but something that has evolved over 50 years.’

The organic movement started when industrialised farming was introduced in the 1940s, and is based on the premise that from healthy land and soil comes healthy animals, produce and, ultimately, people. From a fringe movement led by farmers and those consumers willing to seek out chemical-free produce, organics has burgeoned into a $400 million sector in Australia, with consumption growing at up to 40 percent per annum.

‘A few years ago, I became aware of a change in people’s attitude to the environment, and in the last two years interest has boomed,’ says Jannine. ‘The major turning point was the first Organics Expo two years ago when I introduced my wholesale range. We sold out – everyone sold out. People just showed up with money wanting to spend on organics.’

If Nature’s Child has benefited from being well established when the boom began, then EcoDirect was born at the right time. Sinead Roberts cofounded EcoDirect after her baby suffered nappy rash wearing disposable nappies. She discovered Moltex Eco Nappies in Europe and began distributing them here with Sioned Guard three years ago. The pair handed out flyers to raise awareness, garnering a great response. ‘There was a lot of interest from that small amount of advertising,’ says Sioned. ‘We had hundreds of requests for samples by the time the first shipment arrived.’

EcoDirect has branched out to produce its own range of wipes and skincare made with certified organic ingredients and free from chemicals such as parabens, petrochemicals and sulphates.

Parent power
While organics is growing as a sector, its most abundant fans are too little to know any different. It seems mothers are spending up big on organic textiles, skincare and food for their babies, even if they’re not choosing them for themselves. ‘Research shows that a woman becomes more environmentally aware when she has a baby,’ says Katie Patrick, founder of Green Pages Australia. ‘She suddenly cares about the future of the planet for her child, whereas before she might not have been all that concerned.’

Amanda Searancke from NUI, which produces blankets and babies’ wear from organic merino wool, agrees. ‘One of the first areas people make the transition to organics in is for their children. Babies are a lot more susceptible to environmental pollutants than adults and parents are very aware of keeping their new baby safe from harm.’

Recently launched Organic Bubs did research while developing their frozen baby and toddler meals that showed 88 percent of parents would always feed their babies organic food if they could, believing it to be better for the child. Co-founder Kristy Carr says she was surprised at the extent of the demand: ‘The trend is bigger than just people wanting to eat organic food. Parents are more savvy and are starting to study labels.’ The company’s extensive research painted a clear picture: parents are dissatisfied with their options and want food for their babies that looks, tastes and smells as good as homemade.

It was exactly this ideal that led Dooley Crighton Bellamy to create Australia’s first home grown organic baby food in 2004, starting with baby porridge and baby rice. Bellamy’s Organic Farms Tasmania also produces rusks, apple snacks and the only Australian-made certified organic infant formula.

Australia has been slower to adopt organics than Europe and the US, where organic baby food is the norm, rather than the exception. Macmillan says this is partly because we haven’t had the same food scares that have occurred overseas: ‘Mad cow disease, the GMO threat and the Alar scare in the US, which found unsafe levels of pesticide in apple concentrate, all caused mothers in those countries to think twice about food, especially for their babies.’

It’s all about education
As those who make a living from organics know, profit margins are slight. The high cost of ingredients and production, combined with the need to keep prices affordable for the consumer, mean many do it for love, not money. Jannine says, ‘There’s no way I could’ve done this without being passionate. I would have shut the door long ago. Sometimes if we’re all feeling down or are really busy, I tell my staff, “each day is about 10 more chemical-free babies”. I want to make it a thousand a day.’

Developing an organic product comes with specific challenges: ‘We planned to have Organic Bubs up in six months and it took two years,’ says Kristy. ‘Everything had to be organic – our storage system, the cleaning products, everything. And of course, organic produce is seasonal, so we have to change our menu every three months.’

Distribution is another consideration. Bellamy’s led the way by getting their products into supermarkets, and Avado Organics has had a major coup getting the baby range into Franklins, but most producers and distributors of organic baby products have relied on alternate outlets, selling online or through boutiques and health shops.

Ally Schulz from Minimink says we still have a long way to go to convince retailers that organics are in hot demand. When selling in her line of organic clothing for babies, she is often faced with the retailer telling her that they already stock one organic range, therefore don’t need another.

For organic textiles, image can be a problem. Kimberly Klaus from Bright Pineapple organic clothing says, ‘When people first hear the term “organic clothing”, they think of tree-hugging hippies in scratchy hemp cloths. There’s a huge educational aspect to selling organic clothes.’
Part of that education is overcoming the perception that organics are expensive. ‘It’s not a case of the supplier hiking the price up because it’s organic,’ says Sioned. ‘The fact is that organics cost more to produce.’

Jannine agrees, saying that the challenge across the industry is being able to offer something to everyone. She is in the enviable position that her reusable nappies actually save parents money. If anything, the biggest issue facing the organics movement could be supply of raw ingredients.

Mirabai Winford from Purebaby believes this to be the case for textiles: ‘Supply of certified organic cotton is limited and new farmland takes years to become certified. As the popularity of organic cotton grows among large companies and drives prices down, the smaller ones will find it difficult to source and manufacture cotton products.’

Looking to the future
‘Organics is not a fad, it’s a trend,’ says Jannine, ‘and trends don’t go away. The recent change in awareness is powerful and sustainable – if you have any doubt, look at the major brands.’

Major companies are scrabbling to jump on the organics bandwagon, with Coles leading the way for the supermarkets and chains like Macro Wholefoods proving the power of pesticide-free.