Why are organic items more expensive than items made from traditionally grown materials? (and other information)

I want to take some time to address this question. It was brought up in some comments left on an article written about us, and is respectably due an answer.
1. Organic cotton fabric is more expensive than traditional cotton. Why is this? Because the natural ingredients used to farm organically are more expensive than the toxic chemicals used to farm traditional cotton. Again, why? Because more toxic chemicals are sold and used, they are cheaper to produce. Also, when the organic cotton fibers are woven into fabric, the manufacturers are required to organically clean all of their equipment before weaving the fabric, adding more cost to weaving the fabric. However, the benefits of organic cotton are endless. See our "Why Organics" tab on our b&b site.
This blog post also offers excellent information on why organic clothing is more expensive than traditional fabric clothing. Click here.
2. Our garments are produced by local seamstresses in the Twin Cities and they are paid fair wages for their work. By supporting b&b, you are supporting local employment and fair wage employment.
3. b&b garments are meant to be used for more than one child - which is why we use fun and colorful but still classic patterns. Organic cotton will far outlast traditional cotton.
When I created butters&beans, I created it to fill a hole in the market - colorful organic baby clothing that was fun and full of texture. I did not have any intention of creating an unattainable product.
The benefits of buying organic clothing are endless...you are supporting the health of your body and our planet. You are supporting the health of those who farm the raw materials we use and eat (people DIE farming with traditional toxic chemicals). You support the economy of the third world countries that grow the raw materials (75% of traditional cotton is grown in third world countries).
Buying organics is a personal choice. Choosing to shop at places such as Walmart is a personal choice. However, if we all chose to support organics, we could make a big difference.

Love my little Elliot!

And yes, his eyes really are THAT blue - they are not Photoshopped! The new b&b pattern is pretty cute too... :)

Break before craziness...

Well, almost a break. When I say a break, I mean my web developer is off today and I do not have any meetings or appointments. I have some media things to work on (media is hearting us already!), and some writing to do and some numbers to crunch, but that would be considered a break.
Tomorrow on the other hand is going to be one of "those" days. My Mother-In-Law gets in from Jersey (actually a wonderful thing - I adore her) at 1:30 so I have to pick her up from the airport, I have a meeting with my merchant account company at 3:00, and then we have the last of our cutting to finish up at 6:30. I also have to approve the final web design - just the basic design aspect of the home and secondary pages - so we can stay on deadline and move into the programming phase of development. This will mean a lot of emailing back and forth with my developer and constant checking of updates she makes to the current design. This may not sound like much to the average person, but you need to factor in all of the in between stuff like, um, kids? And having an extra person in the house. Janie is easy to have here - she is not one that needs to be entertained, but I know I'll want to sit and chat with her after she gets in and I won't really have the time to do that. Chatting will have to wait till Saturday...
Personal note is that my fat cat, Miles, thinks he's a dog. He's a huge Maine Coon, and is an indoor/outdoor cat. He does everything a dog does - meows to get outside and inside when he wants to, follows us around the yard and the house, hops up on the couch on our laps when we are watching TV, sleeps on his "bed" (a blanket on the chaise in the living room), rolls on his back so you can scratch his belly...I wonder if he was raised with dogs? He's the best cat ever and is huge but is so docile. "Beans" comes over and has tried to ride him on several occasions - failed every time unfortunately - and he just saunters away like it's not a big deal, but he's just not having it. Oh - and he chases and meows at the squirrels. And walks around the yard and pees on everything to mark his territory. Hilarious.

A little overwhelmed.

There is a lot going on right now, a lot to keep track of both in my head and in my planner. Bank stuff, budgeting, website stuff, media stuff, writing the bio/organics info, obviously production, the photo shoot, PR...a lot to handle. And then there's the kiddoos (priority) in between all of this. Lots of meetings...my phone rings constantly. I went over my phone plan last month by 2800 minutes - time for that unlimited plan. Luckily AT&T backdated my plan (one of the few things they've done right in the last five years).
Eight days till photo shoot!

More cutting...

I think this is going to be the news for the next week or so. It's quite a process, and there's four bolts of fabric that haven't even been touched yet. Yikeroos. We're going to be in a time crunch soon which is exactly what I didn't want. Photo shoot is in 11 days, and we need a least one of every piece in every size for pictures. I was cutting last night (with one wonderful friend that came over to help me) and got a few pieces done. I'm going to get as much as I can done today, and just keep plugging away at it by myself until we have another cutting night where all my seamstresses are here. We should be able to get the rest done at that point.
On the upside - the weather is MUCH nicer, the humidity broke and it cooled down. Only in Minnesota can you have a 40 degree temperature swing in a matter of 24 hours...feels like fall and is absolutely beautiful outside.