You know the organic clothing movement is going mainstream, when you can roll up to your local Levi’s store and pickup a pair of organic jeans. Well, that’s just what I did last weekend at the Levi’s Boulder store in the 29th Street Mall. I wasn’t planning on buying organic jeans, but they were available in the style I was looking for and, by golly, they look just like my normal Levi’s 527s.
Little did I know that Levi’s had tried to launch organic cotton products back in 1993 (according to the store manager) and pulled back for reasons unknown.
Well Levi’s is back in the game now, offering a significant line of organic products via their website here.
We’re planning our March organic industry issue, so if you have input for our planning process, submit a comment and let me know what you think.
-Patrick
I’ve been researching the natural & organic personal care market for the last 3 weeks. It’s amazing how little information there is out there - even more surprising how some writers and market research firms completely miss the mark. This is one of the reasons that Nutrition Business Journal first researched the natural personal care market 10 years ago.
As with all the nutrition industry product sectors and sales channels that we research, our goal is to produce the most detailed analysis of the natural & organic personal care market.
On February 21st, we’ll be presenting the findings of over a month of research on the natural & organic personal market online. If you’re planning a new product launch, considering an investment or trying to get smart on the natural & organic personal care market, it is truly in your best interests to register for this web seminar.
For $495, you receive 6 login points to this web seminar for your team.
NBJ’s mission is to deliver more research per dollar than any other market research firm. So, get your whole team up to speed on the business issues facing the natural personal care industry. Register today.
The company that recently shelled out $925 million for Burt’s Bees (a 5.6x revenue multiple!) just announced that it is launching a “green” line of cleaning products, according to www.sfgate.com.
The entire natural household product is very hot right now for new product launches, VC investment and acquistion. NBJ’s January 2008 issue is on Natural Personal Care, Cosmeceuticals & Natural Household products. Early estimates indicate another year of double digit growth for NPC and nearly 2x that NPC growth for natural household products.
Stay tuned for more on NPC from NBJ. In the meantime, if you need to get up to speed quickly on this hot sector, check out some of NBJ’s past research issues on NPC.
I find the development of the Chinese economy fascinating. The BBC reports today that the Chinese governement has issued price controls on consumer goods to curb inflation. Apparently, the hundreds of millions of low-income Chinese families spend 30-50% of their income on food.
Right before the holidays, I was honored to speak a the UNPA’s China II Seminar in Salt Lake City, UT. It was a very educational one day event hosted by Loren Israelsen and his competent staff.
One noteworthy presentation detailed a A.M. Todd’s efforts to find a manufacturing partner in China. They spent $2 million on this search, visiting 25 facilities when they had originally planned on visiting only 7-8 facilities. The executives from A.M. Todd presented a great slideshow from their travels and what struck me was how much the quality and cleanliness of the facilities vary in China. Surely, one can find significant differences in the quality and cleanliness of facilities in the United States, but the point was driven home….to insure the quality of your finished product, you need to know the quality of your supply.
China is amidst an industrial revolution and it will continue to hit potholes in the road it travels, but one thing is for sure - China’s manufacturing capabilities are improving rapidly and will overtake those offered in the United States sooner than we probably think.
For more on the Chinese Nutrition & Supplement Industry, please read NBJ’s report on this dynamic market.
-Patrick
Last spring, I attended the Investors’ Circle conference in San Francisco. It was an inspiring event, to say the least…and one that I felt the nutrition industry was under represented at.
Investors’ Circle is network of angel investors, venture capitalists, philanthropic investors and entrepreneurs who are using private capital to promote the transition of business to a sustainable future. Since 1992, the Investors’ Circle network has invested more than $120 million in 190 companies and small funds.
If your company is socially responsible, looking for investment and interested in presenting at the IC 2008 Spring Conference & Venture Fair in San Francisco, you must apply by February 1st via www.investorscircle.net .
Full details can be found on the IC website.
