EllaNews

We currently produce our baby carriers in Guatemala (the Wraps) and Dallas (everything else). While manufacturing in the US has been challenging, I was willing to keep doing it indefinitely in order to “employ my neighbors”. In my mind, the complexities and costs (cash and intangible) of manufacturing overseas is generally not worth the potential cost savings.

But then two things happened:

1. At the beginning of 2005, we, as a company, made a committment to convert as many of our products to sustainable fibers as possible (organic cotton, hemp, recycled poly, etc).
2. Between early 2005 and late 2006, three US organic cotton fabric mills shut down.

So Ellaroo was left with dwindling US sources and a very tough decision to make: give up on organic cotton or give up on US production. After grappling with our fabric crisis for over six months, and very nearly sinking our little ship, we chose organic cotton. As a heavy user of fabric, our responsibility to the earth is just too great to ignore:
Organic vs Conventional from Harmony Art
Organic Exchange talks about organic cotton (pdf)

But we couldn’t give up on our core values, which include fair labor standards, among other things. Which is why we’ve been tremendously fortunate to have found our new production partner in India, Natural Origins. This team of fabric mill, sewing facilities, and embellishers is as committed to high quality, combined with environmental and social responsibility, as we are.

Once again, I’ll be dragging you along, dear reader, while I explore this process. My family and I will be traveling to India during the last two weeks of February to visit the facilities and explore the region in which our products are now being produced. (We still maintain production in Dallas and Guatemala.)

I’ll return with stories and pictures. Wish us luck!

-V