LolliDoo™ Seamstresses - The Revival of Cottage Industry

Did you know that LolliDoo™ cloth diapers are made by moms who sew while babies nap?


Go Green Sustainable Industries is a small family run company located in Newman Lake, WA. We are a cottage industry - supporting local seamstresses. Our seamstresses work mostly from home and come into the shop on Fridays, often with babies, to drop off finished diapers, pick up fabric and snap.


It is our mission to support families in small business while improving the health and well-being of society and our environment by transforming commonly used toxic and disposable products into healthy innovative new products that are comprised of recycled and organic materials and can once again be recycled.


Why?


It's about time companies acted responsibly.

I'm not insinuating that we are the only company with morals - just that we don't see enough of them. Melissa and I set out to create change and while we are just at the beginning stages; we are already making a difference, one step at a time.

Cloth Diapering JUST Overnight Can Save $329 Or More

How easy is this? Purchase just one LolliDoo™ Overnight eco-pocket™. Use it only at night. In the morning throw it in the wash with your towels or whatever clothing needs washed that day. Repeat every night.

You can save a lot of money and your baby will wrapped in super soft and dry comfort all night. It's a win-win situation.

An average cost of disposable diapers is .30¢
An average LolliDoo™ Overnight eco-pocket™ is $38

While the upfront cost can be daunting. When you multiply .30¢ x 2.5 years -you get $329. This is supposing that you only use one disposable diaper a night. If your child needs nighttime diaper for four years (which is about average) then you save $438!

Go ahead - make your life a little easier :)

Have You Been "Greenwashed"?

Currently worldwide Green is the key word that companies are eager to demonstrate. I stumbled upon this article this morning and was motivated to stand up and say something:

The average citizen is finding it more and more difficult to tell the difference between those companies genuinely dedicated to making a difference and those that are using a green curtain to conceal dark motives. Consumers are constantly bombarded by corporate campaigns touting green goals, programs, and accomplishments. Even when corporations voluntarily strengthen their record on the environment, they often use multi-million dollar advertising campaigns to exaggerate these minor improvements as major achievements.

Sometimes, not even the intentions are genuine. Some companies, when forced by legislation or a court decision to improve their environmental track record, promote the resulting changes as if they had taken the step voluntarily. And at the same time that many corporations are touting their new green image (and their CEOs are giving lectures on corporate ecological ethics), their lobbyists are working night and day in Washington to gut environmental protections.

To read the full article click here.

Are you tired of seeing the words, Green, Eco, Bio, Natural and Environmentally Friendly in association with products that common sense tells you are most certainly NOT?

I am.

According to Wikipedia:

Greenwashing is a term describing the deceptive use of green PR or green marketing in order to promote a misleading perception that a company's policies or products are environmentally friendly. The term green sheen has similarly been used to describe organizations that attempt to show that they are adopting practices beneficial to the environment.

A new survey suggests that over 95% of all companies claiming to be green are guilty of at least one count of greenwashing. The upside is that 5% of companies claiming to be green actually are. I can say that we are one of them :)

You can avoid being Greenwashed.

1. Look at labels.
For example: If a product claims to be recycled - the company must list the recycled content percentage. If a cleaning product claims to be green it may be that just the packaging is green. You want the product to be: Biodegradable, phosphate free, chlorine free, bleach free and scented with natural oils or fragrances.

2. Look for the country of origin.
There are several reasons to see where your product was manufactured. One reason is that if it was made outside the USA or Canada you want to make sure it has a "Fair Trade" label. Fair trade doesn't equate environmental responsibility but it does mean that children weren't making your product. Another reason to check the country of origin, especially when using creams and supplements, is that other countries do not have the same health and safety guidelines which are enforced in the USA and Canada. Do you really want to use a face cream that was made in Asia, quick and cheap, without the USA Health Codes? Oftentimes big companies who buy such products to sell here do not do their due diligence. Just a warning...

3. Food products must be labeled.
Organic food products will be labeled "USDA Organic" if they are truly organic.

4. Use common sense
If a product is disposable, even if it's organic, it should be biodegradable or compostable if it's truly green. If you look at a product and think, "how in the world can this be environmentally friendly" - chances are that it's not.

What we are doing to make LolliDoo as green as possible

Right Now

• We use new machine motors that consume 63% less energy than traditional clutch-motors
• Our packaging is made from printer waste and 100% reused
• LolliDoo Diapers are recycled, recyclable and reusable, and all cotton is certified organic
• Our office paper is recycled and we use both sides and recycle what we don't need to keep
• Fabric scraps are made into Mama Pads (coming soon)
  
• We designed our diapers so that they dry quickly on the line or in the dryer
• LolliDoo Diapers wash beautifully in cold water
• All printed materials that we distribute are printed on recycled paper with vegetable based inks
• Instead of mailing retailers information, we are using email as often as possible
• LolliDoo Diapers are shipped in recycled cardboard boxes
• All textile components of LolliDoo® Diapers come from the United States. Buying products made in the USA supports our local economy by providing jobs, which support families and generate domestic spending. Buying domestic also reduces the environmental impact by eliminating energy to ship goods internationally.
  
• Certified organic cotton is soft against baby’s skin and is highly absorbent. Certified organic cotton fibers are grown using safe and sustainable practices that respect both the earth and baby‘s health. Fibers are turned into textiles using eco-friendly processing that does not compromise workers’ health and reduces water, electricity and toxic runoff.
• Recycled fleece is a smooth, supple fleece produced from recycled beverage bottles. Recycled fleece is a low pill fleece that exceeds all industry standards for strength, shrinkage and color fastness. Recycling protects natural resources and saves space in landfills: Recycled fleece enables billions of plastic containers to be recycled each year, instead of them being buried in a landfill.
  
  

In the future:

Our main "green" goal is to sustain ourselves on wind and solar power while powering up neighboring low income housing with our surplus wind and solar energy.


Did you know?

The amount of water used to launder cloth diapers at home is about 50 to 70 gallons of water every 2-3 days; this is about the same as a toilet-trained child or adult flushing the toilet five to six times a day.

It is illegal for solid waste to enter our landfills, so even disposable diapering families should put the poo in the potty.