Organic Shopping. Going for the Cheap? Please Don't.

I honestly think the world of people who have made the commitment to vegan and/or organic changes in their lives, and like most, am beginning to reflect a more relaxed attitude that seems to come with that lifestyle.

What is most exciting, and a big reason I got into the business of organic bedding and textiles, is the deep connection to Fair Trade practices that promise living wages, health care and dignity to farm workers around the world. As Fair Trade products become more popular here, more and more families around the globe are now living in decent housing and eating better.

Talk about an obvious solution to global hunger! Fair Trade, and organic certification, of course, do add to the cost, which is difficult for some consumers to understand. It is unfortunate that some organic retailers respond by taking the Wal-Mart approach, and cheapening organic products to attract customers. That's not easy to do, because organic cotton and organic wool are not nearly as plentiful as those online hawkers would suggest!

("LOWEST PRICES!", "HUGE SELECTION", "LOWEST PRICES ON THE WEB!", etc. Ugh.)

Of course the most helpless will lose. In the business world, it's now trendy to strip wages and fire employees in order to undercut prices. (I'll save my opinions about offshoring American jobs for another day.)

We must find it particularly egregious to do this to an organic industry that has always been deeply committed to humane Fair Trade initiatives. On organic farms and cooperatives overseas, the tactic repeatedly devastates the lives of innocent farm workers.

Ethical organic retailers gladly walk that difficult line between responsibility to the industry and Fair Trade initiatives, and offering our customers competitive pricing whenever possible. Those same ethical retailers (at least in my clique) are appalled at the cheapening of an organic industry we truly support.

I would wish that savvy organic consumers everywhere would boycott, shun, or do whatever is their style, to denounce that behavior. Sadly though, there will be a few who won't pay attention and will continue trying to buy organic bedding and organic cotton products on the cheap.

Please don't.