While I mostly research and write on renewable energy, the overall domain of cleantech is equally interesting to me, and some of my reading and explorations are into sustainable products and materials.
In this context, I have been looking at the eco-friendly and sustainable products domain for quite a while. What I discovered was that for most people, use of these products had more of a feel-good, nice-to-have business case rather than a must-have business case.
In short, many of the eco-friendly products were not providing a compelling business case for use. This in turn has affected the growth of most of these product segments.
However, one product segment within eco-friendly products, especially eco-friendly and organic textiles, that could have a much more powerful business case and hence growth prospects, is organic and eco-friendly apparel for babies and infants.
Why is this so?
For the simple reason that babies and infants have skin that are far more sensitive than those for adults, and babies and infants are also far more vulnerable to allergens and even small amounts of harmful chemicals in their textiles than are adults.
These aspects make parents seek out eco-friendly textiles and apparel for their babies and infants, as this could make a big different to the baby/infant’s health. In this context, there appears to be a reasonably large market for organic apparel for babies – their clothes, towels, diapers, nappies and more .
