Eco-Friendly Mama: Safe product recommendations with a focus on organic and Made in USA!

Hello! My name is Althea & I’m so lucky to have this organic cotton swaddle blanket & hat to keep me warm & snuggly J Growing Up Wild is an Etsy shop based in Boise, Idaho. Kelly, the Mama behind this business, puts her heart & soul into every item she creates, just as if she was making them for her own family. ‘About’ info from her site: “Growing Up Wild is more than just the organic labels that many of my clothes carry. It is about creating quality items that are good to your baby and good to our planet. It is the little things that I do as I create to ensure that I am being environmentally friendly in my practices. I try to utilize every last fabric scrap so that there is very little waste, to walk to ship items whenever possible and to run my home (since that is where I hand make each item) in a sustainable way. Every item I sell is pre-washed in Charlie’s Soap and shipped to you ready to wear! All items are made one at a time, by hand in my smoke and pet free home studio in Idaho. All of my designs are made without hazardous decorations such as beads, buttons or sequins. My shop is the joining of my two loves- little ones and nature. I believe kids should get to experience the joys of running barefoot outside, watching birds soar, climbing trees and splashing in creeks. Each item in my shop is inspired by that belief. Most items were originally designed for one of my two boys but then morphed into a product I hoped others would love as much as our family does. My days are filled with a constant hum of sewing, laughter, cuddles, fabric and at times even tears.”

I’ve had Growing Up Wild on my Made in the USA Master list under the shoe category for some time after they were recommended by others, but had not personally owned any items. I was so honored to have Kelly offer to make me a matching organic blanket & hat of my choice for my new bundle of joy. Since we didn’t know if we were having a girl or boy (I STRONGLY encourage you to hold off, it was SO exciting not to know), I picked out this gender-neutral print. You may, or may not know that cotton is one of the most heavily-sprayed crops grown in the US. So having this organic cotton blanket & hat as one of the 1^st materials to touch my newborns skin made me a very happy Mama, both for my newborns sake & for the environment as well! They are SO incredibly soft and very light-weight, making them perfect for swaddling my July baby (who loves to be swaddled). There are numerous themes & colors available. They can be personalized and are available in newborn & toddler sizes. The hat has plenty of room to grow with my babe, who was 10# at birth- the hat & the blanket will both see many, many months of use.  Most of the blankets run $45 themselves, or $55 for the blanket/hat set. What a great item to put on your baby shower registry if you are an expecting Mama!

Categories of offerings from her Etsy shop, with several items in each category: Organic bodysuits, organic gift sets (matching onesies/t-shirt & shoe sets), organic shoes (0-18m, absolutely adorable offerings!), organic hats & blankets, organic teething toys (very cute wooden rings with fabric animals & shapes), toddler t-shirts, organic burp cloths, non-organic shoes (0-18m), sale & supplies, dresses.

Where she gets her fabrics: “The organic knit fabric for my swaddle blankets and hats is produced in the USA and GOTS certified. I buy most of my printed fabrics through a WAHM in Oregon (I like to pay it forward so people buying from me can actually help support two families), the printed fabrics are nearly all made in India though. The few fabrics that I don’t buy through that WAHM (cedarhousefabrics.com) are purchased directly from Jennifer at Monaluna (a US based company) as I buy from her by the bolt. My plain colored knit prints and the organic sweatshirt fleece that line many of my shoes are grown and milled in the USA. I wish more fabrics were 100% made in the USA. I always have my eyes open but currently the fabrics I buy through Near Sea Naturals are the only ones that meet my quality standards, are GOTS certified and made in the USA.” I have asked numerous clothing/cloth product manufacturers where they get their fabric & can tell you most of them say “it’s too expensive to get US-made fabric”. I feel Kelly is going out of her way to support Made in the US, and I TRULY appreciate her effort!!

THANK YOU Kelly for sharing your beautiful creations with me! And thanks for making great, safe, environmentally-friendly products using US-sourced materials as much as possible. Keep up the great work!!

Please visit her Etsy shop & Facebook page to browse her beautiful product offerings!
 
Spend $75 or more and use coupon code GONATURAL to save 15%!
Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/GrowingUpWild (424 feedback, 100% positive!)
FB page: https://www.facebook.com/growingupwild