"When the planes still swoop down and aerial spray a field in order to kill a predator insect with pesticides, we are in the Dark Ages of commerce. Maybe one thousandth of this aerial insecticide actully prevents the infestation. The ballance goes to the leaves, into the soil, into the water, into all forms of wildlife, into ourselves. What is good for the ballance sheet is wasteful of resouces and harmful to life." Paul Hawken, Ecology of Commerce

Conventional (also known as traditional or commercial) grown cotton is ordinarily one of the crops most heavily sprayed with pesticides. To bring this delicate plant to harvest, it is heavily sprayed 30 to 40 times a season in extreme cases with pesticides so poisonous they gradually render fields barren. To create finished goods, fabrics are usually colored with toxic dyes and finished with formaldehyde. Worldwide, conventional cotton farming uses only about 3% of the farmland but consumes approximately 25 percent of the chemicals, pesticides and fertilizers. In the United States alone, approximately 600 thousand tons of pesticides and chemical fertilizers are applied to cotton fields each season. To complicate matters, insects are quickly becoming resistant to recommended rates of pesticide application and ever increasing amounts are needed to be effective. Consumers and environmental groups are becoming more alarmed and more vocal. Certified organic cotton is cotton grown in fields where the use of pesticides has been discontinued for at least 3 years and where rigorous controls help rebuild the soil's natural fertility. Organic farming is a farming system which relies on natural inputs only. No synthetically produced pesticides or fertilizers are used. Mother Nature is allowed to have much more of an influence. Beneficial insects are allowed to flourish to keep pest insects in check. Crop rotations with legumes help maintain fertility and soil microbiology. Weeds are controlled with precision tillage and the old fashioned hoe. The successful organic farm requires much more intensive and innovative management.

Joli Bebe Boutique, with its Joli Bebe Organic brand of infant, toddler apparel and accessories and the Jolie Maman brand of organic nursing and maternity apparel strives to bring another element to its organic consumer. From conception Joli Bebe Boutique has dedicated itself to the protection of the earth and all its inhabitants. 1% of all sales of the Joli Bebe Organic and Jolie Maman brand are given back to 1% for the planet. Because its not enough to just want what is best for the earth, we all must do our part.