Whether it’s BPA in the baby bottles and sippy cups, phthalates and detergents in the baby wash or mercury and lead in the apple juice, modern parents have a nightmare slogging through mountains of information to try and find the best possible products for their children. Other parents who choose to live green lifestyles find it difficult to locate baby products that are friendly to the environment while at the same time being child-friendly.
Enter Honest.com, an eco-friendly and toxic-free baby products and household items for a monthly subscription. Honest.com is a process, more than a place to buy products. It starts by asking you questions regarding your childrens’ product needs, then it customizes a “bundle” for you, whether it’s diapers and wipes or other “family essentials” such as bath products, laundry detergent, hand soaps and sanitizers, home cleaning products or sunscreens.
Keeping a home with babies and children (or adults, for that matter) clean without harsh chemicals is another challenge. Many homes have indoor air that is more polluted than outdoor air, thanks to cleaning products that contain dangerous chemicals.
Honest.com, which was founded by actress Jessica Alba, provides a variety of eco-friendly baby, child and home products by monthly subscription. Once you identify your needs, the products are shipped directly to you, eliminating the need to continually run to the grocery store for diapers, wipes and other products, as well as the need to examine labels to determine what’s safe and what’s dangerous. Above all, it strives to make purchasing eco-friendly products affordable. Alba says she started the company based on her own experiences.
Alba told the Associated Press (News - Alert), “I would buy what I thought was like an eco-brand and pay out the wazoo for it and then find out that it’s made with the same ingredients as any other brand, but the packaging is a little more biodegradable and you’re like ‘But I care about the product touching my kid. Is that OK?’”
To launch the business, Alba partnered with author and environmentalist Christopher Gavigan, ShoeDazzle founder Brian Lee and PriceGrabber.com executive Sean Kane.
“I came up with the idea. I had to pitch it to my partners and they came on board and together we created the company from scratch,” said Alba. “From the packaging to the bottles to the product that’s inside, the way that the interfacing is with the website, all of that is really from me ... it’s taken three years to get here.”
Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO East 2012, taking place Jan. 31-Feb. 3 2012, in Miami, FL. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. For more information on registering for ITEXPO registration, click here.
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Tracey Schelmetic is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Tracey's articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
Jennifer Russell
