The Green Revolution is making itself in the most high impact place on Earth: The nursery. Crud is out, organic is in, and there’s no sign of the process stopping at baby nappies and bassinets. The entire kids market is heading for quality, partly because of parents sick of overpriced garbage and partly because the kids seem to be far more responsive to the better things Green products provide.
Young kids and Green products
The “cottage industry” of early Green kids products was as surprised as the big corporations when this market exploded. It started innocently enough, with organic nappies and a marked return to natural fibres. Then it hit supermarket level, with organic baby food and toys.
The toys were the writing on the wall for the old style manufacturers. As all parents know, junk toys are real liabilities. They’re either dangerous, too expensive, or both. Revelations of lead paint and deadly, breakable alloys and plastics didn’t exactly endear these toys to parents much, either.
Green toys, particularly for very young kids, are all designed for safety and durability. It’s hard to kill a sturdy wooden horse or a tough wool duck. Even the dog will give up eventually. They also don’t litter the home with sharp bits and stomach-pump standard potentially poisonous bits and pieces. The Green toys were so successful that the big manufacturers soon got the message, and all of them now run the ultra- safe Green toy ranges.
(Who knows, maybe they’ll even get the message that these things are cheaper to produce one day, too.)
Then came clothing, and the stampede was well and truly under way. The news that so many synthetic clothes are also fire traps capable of causing second degree burns to young children was the start of the reversion to wool, cotton, and some peace of mind. Everything from nappy covers to teddy bears evolved to meet everyone’s preferred product ranges.
The Green design options also gave a lot of scope for some real creativity for designers of everything kid- related. Having finally penetrated the market’s consciousness, Green kids products took on a life of their own. Most importantly for designers and sales people alike, the ability to show very high value margins for Green kids products got the financial managers interested.
The fact is that Green products are better economically for the entire product spectrum from materials suppliers to end users. Everybody benefits from a sustainable supply, good quality materials, and the ability to cover production costs at almost a molecular level.
Not that the industries are complaining much, either. Manufacturers were less than thrilled with the “every product a potential lawsuit” effect, and weren’t to sorry to ditch these albatrosses around their legal necks. The baby food, clothing and toy industries were well pleased with the sales response, and even the advertisers didn’t have to tread so cautiously through the text checking for possible nooses in product descriptions.
(The words “Safe for Baby” in an ad had better be accurate, or else. Some wars are more peaceful than a situation where infuriated parents get active.)
Green kids do rule the world, and the world doesn’t mind a bit.
Recent Comments