I’ve got a few green product pet peeves, such as why doesn’t an actual green deodorant exist? I’m talking one that REALLY works! However, as a green parent, a bigger pet peeve of mine is why aren’t there any flipping eco-friendly clothing companies making clothes for kids?
And by kids, I mean kids ages 7 years to 15 years or so. For some reason unknown to me, eco-friendly clothing companies apparently believe that people come in three ages; baby, young child and adult. I have a nine year old. Do you know how hard it is to find eco-friendly clothing for a nine year old boy?! It’s seriously almost impossible.
I guess that organic and other eco-friendly clothing makers assume that ONLY babies and young kids deserve clothes that are free from chemicals. From elementary school to the teen years I suppose it’s fine to just swim in chemicals.
With this in mind, I’ve been considering where to get clothes for kids and rounded up some ideas.
OPTIONS BEYOND ACTUAL CLOTHING COMPANIES
Look at conventional stores: I’ve had some luck checking out clothing sites for small adult or tiny teen sizes – which works for shirts but not pants. Also, I’ll look at plain old stores online (or in person) because while some don’t advertise it, you can find organic kids clothing at these places, it just takes more time to look, because they also sell traditional fabrics.
Go local: Another option is to look at local head shops and eco-shops in your town. You can visit local green stores and sometimes find decent clothing for kids.
Thrift stores – used is eco-friendly in my opinion. While used does not = chemical-free, in my opinion it’s better and greener to buy used than all new. That said, once in a while my son deserves a new piece of clothing, so below are some clothing companies I found who do offer some clothes for older kids. By older I mean 7 years +. If the clothing store doesn’t offer a decent selection for this age group, I’m not listing them.
- Earth Creations – offers some organic tees in larger kid sizes. Not anything my son would love though.
- Sarah Waldo makes some cool clothing for girls up to age 10, but the site has not been updated for a while, so I’m not sure how much luck you’ll have finding pieces.
- Tea Collection – many styles of eco-friendly clothes but only if your kid is eight years old or under. I said I’d post anything over 7 years though, so…
- In rather unique news, Cecilia Cassini is a young (ten years old I believe) girl who makes clothing and according to reports, some of it is eco-friendly. The website is almost murder to browse (VERY slow loading, not set up well) but may be worth a look if you have daughters.
Wow. I literally have 100+ green clothing companies bookmarked, just looked through them all, and the above is all I came up with. How utterly disappointing.
It’s a super slim list I know so maybe other folks can add to it in the comments. AND if you are an eco-friendly clothing company here’s a newsflash – our kids do age you know. Why not get on board with this aging theory? It’d be nice.
[image via personal photos - Cedar]
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We love custom orders and often size up. In one year we have expanded from nb-4T and now include up to size 8. All we need is people asking for bigger sizes to make bigger sizes. Send us custom requests.
We have been having the same problem! I have been making woolies for my older kids even as they outgrow cloth diapers! My 7 year old, 13 year old and hubby all love to wear them! Wool is so durable that it’s almost impossible to destroy them ( a huge plus for active boys+). I do custom orders mostly for cloth diaper age and adults, but I’m definitely going to add the mid range!! Thanks so much for the heads up:)
I guess you’re only real option is to check out OMUNKY- Creative Eco-Friendly Apparel. My clothes are designed for kids, and adults with a silly sense of humor. They feature animals put in funny situations on shirts made from organic and recycled-cotton. Check it out and tell me what you think!
OMUNKY store
@Rick – I like some of your tee designs, actually I’m guessing my picky son might too. But it looks like adult small is the smallest size. Do they run small? If you let me know about how the sizes officially run and what sort of ink is used I might post about them.
@Sittingtree – you have some adorable stuff for winter tots – thanks for sharing your link
@Jennifer Each of my shirts has a size chart on their product page. My small sizes will fit young teens. My kid brother is fifteen and he and his friends wear mostly the large size. Also, my tiger shirt comes in youth sizes, which I will continue to expand on as time goes on. The shirts fit very similarly to American Apparel tees. As for the ink, my printers use a hybrid waterbase/standard ink to produce a very comfortable, beautiful print.
Hope this was helpful =)
Teacollection has some great stuff! I can’t believe ive never heard of it before
Please check out our line of kids clothing made from 100% recycled fibers (recycled colored cotton and recycled polyester from post consumer bottles). Short and long sleeve t shirts, jersey and fleece lounge pants and several hood styles for kids 6+. Great colors, features and designs!
I know this post is over a year old, but I am still frustrated! I have a seven year old and need cool, organic clothes for boys. Mark Heiman-question: I applaud your use of recycled fabrics, but do they omit VOCs or any other chemicals since they are made out of ….chemicals? Confused.
Hi Christine, Thanks for your question. I’m not sure that I can answer your question definitively but your asking sure made re do a bit of research. I have included some links here for your perusal. Apparently, the polyester will emit VOC’s but I couldn’t find anything that would quantify the amounts. I can tell you that if you look at the whole supply chain in a broader perspective, we use no new natural resources (land, water for irrigation, oil, cotton, dyes) so all of the chemicals, fertilizers, dyes, etc. used in conventional fabrics (and many “organic” fabrics are still very water intensive in the growing and finishing stages and are still dyed in conventional ways) are not used in our fabrics. We use no new chemical dyes since we use the color from the cotton waste materials that we use for the cotton content of our product. Our finishing process for our fabrics is about the same as you use in washing and drying your clothes at home. No formaldehydes are used and we test for lead and other heavy metals to assure that they are not present. We feel that our recycled fiber product is better than organic. here are the links:
http://www.epa.gov/iaq/voc.html
http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/indoorair/voc/
http://greenlivingqa.com/content/do-polyester-and-other-petrole
http://www.olivehospitalityconsulting.com/doc/digging_into_the_european_union_label_for_textiles.pdf
We’ve had so many people ask about organic clothing for the warmer months that we’ve begun working on a line of hemp/organic cotton shorts and pants for kids of all sizes {and maybe even adult sizes too}. You can see a test pair I made for my boys on my blog http://thesittingtree.blogspot.com/2011/06/happenings.html
Just a friendly update t all of you greenies. OMUNKY now stocks both Youth and Toddler sized tees. So if you are still frustrated (Christine) look no further.
OMUNKY store
i need to find some hemp jeans and some organic clothes for myself. im 16 but im kinda smaller than most teens. any ideas? jeans/shirts would be great!
@Jake, um here you go. Got you covered on the organic cotton tees. No such luck on the hemp here, sorry!
Jennifer, Danielle my sales associate from our Eco Friendly Children’s Boutique Summer For Kids in Montecito, told me about your great blog. I really enjoyed reading some of these articles. I thought I would add some USA Organic Manufacturers of Organic Clothing for older children. Teres Kids- my customers love and the clothing is very special. Sustainable Kids made in LA is also great but more for boys, not good sellers for girls, at least not at my store. I look forward to reading more posts from you. Thank you Adriana
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