Looking Ahead:
The Future of Organic Fiber and Personal Care

By Peter Murray


In the last issue of Organic Processing Magazine, we discussed the considerations for certification in the three primary sectors of the organic industry: food, fiber and personal care. While it has become clear that certification is necessary to produce and market organic food, the current regulatory environment for organic fiber and personal care seems to raise more questions than it answers. For example, while food companies enjoy a distinct advantage when marketing certified organic foods or foods made with organic ingredients as opposed to those labeled as only containing organic ingredients, the same cannot be said for either the organic textile or personal care market.

Under the current National Organic Program (NOP) regulatory scheme, organic fiber products may only be labeled as “made with organic ingredients.” Although the raw fiber materials must be certified organic, products that are processed further are prohibited from making additional claims. This is made clear in the preamble to the NOP final rules that were implemented in October 2002. The waters are even muddier for personal care products. While it may appear evident to some that organic food standards do not apply to personal care, unfortunately there are no industry specific standards in this country to adjudge these products against. Moreover, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has issued a policy statement that all products making an organic label claim, regardless of construct or origin, must comply with the NOP regulations.

As anyone close to the organic regulatory community will attest—official policies and pronouncements notwithstanding—it takes staff, time and resources to enforce regulations. To date, with many confusing and often misleading labeling claims, particularly in the organic personal care market, it is a “caveat emptor” environment. Reading product ingredient labels also can be exasperating to the chemically challenged buyer, since many of the functional ingredients in a personal care or fiber product are multi-syllabic, highly technical terms. They offer no solace for the environmentally conscious consumer trying to limit their exposure to synthetic materials. So, what are the challenges for these manufacturers, and can they be overcome?

The Future for Fiber
Labeling is particularly challenging for the apparel industry. Organic fiber products are typically only labeled with fiber content figures. The many materials that are used to clean, brighten, color and finish fabric are not required to be disclosed. While it would require a 10-inch label to list all the materials typically used to produce a conventionally manufactured apparel item, the upcoming American Organic Standards (AOS) Fiber Processing standards should help build consumer confidence in the sustainable practices used to process organic textile products. However, even organically produced textile items will undergo significant processing involving the use of various materials, some of which will be synthetic. The goal of the processing standards then is to limit these materials in favor of environmentally benign chemicals, eschewing all harmful synthetics when possible.

Regrettably, the traditional fiber industry suffers from its own struggles with global consolidation, depressed prices for raw fiber and a generally flat market for sales of finished apparel. Of course, these factors affect the organic market, as well. One of the challenges posed by the impending standards will be determining just what impact, if any, they pose to manufacturers and marketers of organic fiber products. Will environmentally conscious companies embrace the standards as a way of differentiating their products in the marketplace? Or will these additional regulations in an already embattled industry force some of the players to abandon their organic practices in favor of a cheaper but more competitive product? According to Bená Burda, president of Maggie’s/Clean Clothes, Inc., in Ann Arbor, MI, “The jury is still out as to whether organic marketers and manufacturers will actually implement the standards, once approved.”

Probably the greatest hamstring on the developing organic fiber industry has been the lack of domestic manufacturing infrastructure for small- and medium-sized companies looking to have their products produced stateside. The offshore movement of spinning, fabricating and particularly assembling have until recently all but eliminated the potential for new and smaller players to engage the market. While a few entrepreneurs have responded to this challenge, the result has been that very few companies now control the spinning of organic yarn and construction of organic fabric here in the U.S. And much of the clothing assembly is now contracted overseas or in Mexico. Typically, these maquiladores require large minimum orders, which are difficult for the specialty or niche operator to fulfill. Shipping costs and tariffs place additional monetary burdens on the finished product resulting in prices that seem out of reach for the average consumer.

One bright spot on the horizon, says Burda, “is that although there are fewer domestic manufacturers, the poor economic environment vexing the textile industry is spurring these operators to consider more niche-oriented or smaller volume producers. Large companies have begun to hear the buzz about organic production and some of them recognize that it offers an opportunity for them to “green up” their operations in response to consumer demand.”

However, even if companies can find a domestic supplier for their organic products, they must compete in a marketplace where low prices rule the roost. With prices for conventional cotton at a 30-year low, a mass-produced white tee shirt can cost a screen printer as little as 0.68¢ a shirt. This compares with an average of $3.00 or more for one produced with organic cotton and processed sustainably. This situation is somewhat ameliorated with higher priced and fashion-oriented clothing. Forward-thinking companies like Under the Canopy are opting to entice the organic consumer with trendy, well-designed clothing aimed at the more affluent consumer. It is here that the price differential between conventional and organic apparel is less pronounced. Marci Zaroff, founder and president of Under the Canopy, Boca Raton, FL, is very optimistic about the future for organic apparel. Her company’s focus has been and is to market sustainably produced clothing that fulfills her company’s values of style, quality and fit.

In addition, Zaroff, too, expresses both surprise and satisfaction at the interest shown by the larger manufacturing firms to invest their company’s resources in this small but growing market. Her efforts to build strategic alliances with such companies is now paying off as these companies seek to participate in what they perceive to be a profitable and growing market.

Getting Personal (Care, That Is)
Meanwhile, conditions for producing and marketing organic personal care products in the U.S. are positive and continuing to improve, the lack of organic standards notwithstanding. Consumer perception of the importance of using body care products that reinforce their commitment to a sustainable lifestyle is growing rapidly. And it appears that the mass market is preparing to enter the fray with large companies like Coty, Crabtree & Evelyn, Bath & Body Works and the Body Shop gearing up or seriously considering organically produced body care products. Established manufacturers such as Bradford Soap Works, Aubrey’s, Jason’s and Dr. Bronner’s have certified their facilities and are formulating and selling products made with organic ingredients.

David Bronner, president of Escondido, CA-based Dr. Bronner’s, is upbeat about the future of organic personal care. He predicts that the market will grow markedly. However, he tempers his optimism with the perspective that this growth is contingent upon the industry approving a meaningful and rigorous set of organic regulations that will protect the integrity of the term “organic.”

His worry about the Organic Trade Association’s (OTA) personal care taskforce in their concerted efforts to develop a coherent and acceptable set of organic standards for personal care is illustrated by a number of issues that have divided the group. Two of his greatest concerns are the water content in hydrosols being allowed for organic label declarations and the use of synthetic detergents, surfactants and preservatives in organic personal care products. He pointedly states, “For ‘organic body care’, the active core functional ingredients should be made from certified organic materials, rather than using secondary ingredients like hydrosols as a kind of pollution credit for otherwise conventional synthetic formulations to claim organic status.”

In the meantime, while the organic community debates and decides on acceptable ingredients and processes for personal care, the mass market continues to exploit the confusion and lack of consensus for producing and labeling organic body care products. Steve LeGraw, president of West Warwick, RI-based Bradford Soap Works, the country’s first certified soap manufacturer, sees the lack of accepted standards hampering the growth of organic personal body care, particularly in mass channels of distribution. LeGraw states, “Until an agreed-upon standard is implemented that will guide mass retailers in marketing and selling such products to the average consumer, the demand for such products will likely remain somewhat level.”

The Success Curve
In the same manner that a well-informed consumer base has driven the growth of organic food, so will educating the buying public be a critical component for both organic fiber and personal care. And since consumers are generally less cognizant of the processes typically required to produce both apparel and personal care products, this task takes on a heightened significance. It underscores the importance of the AOS fiber processing standards being approved and promulgated, as well as the OTA personal care taskforce’s standards work.

That being said, these two industries face quite different challenges in getting their messages out and understood. While organic fiber producers may have to contend with a general lack of understanding of how the production of fabrics and finished apparel items differs from their conventional competitors, conversely, they don’t have to overcome a plethora of competing product claims such as is found in the personal care industry, which are often contradictory, if not outright misleading. Do a few organic ingredients in an otherwise conventionally manufactured product make it “green”?

As mentioned, the organic fiber industry suffers from a general business malaise that afflicts the entire textile industry while the personal care industry, although relatively flat in sales overall, is showing significant advances in the sales of natural and organically labeled products. The manufacture of certified organic products in either industry, dependent as they will be on a set of standards that will pass muster with the organic community at large, can only benefit the market economies of both.

Despite the growing pains that will be inevitable as these producers and marketers adjust to new organic standards, I expect a success curve, particularly for organic personal care, as similar if not quite as strong, to that enjoyed by the organic food industry for the past 12 years. The development of non-food items grown and processed organically is nothing if not a natural outgrowth of the ever-increasing recognition that sustainable business development will be the key to the restoration and enhancement of the natural resources that have been exploited and abused for too long without compunction and thought for the future.

Peter Murray, president of Sustainable Systems Design, has more than 25 years’ management and consulting experience in the organic food, fiber and personal care businesses. He has an extensive background in organic certification and policy development, which includes serving with the world’s largest private certifier as chair of the International Certification Committee for four years. He can be reached at petermurray@comcast.net.