Maggie’s Baby Products Pass Safety Inspection

In August 2008, the U.S. Congress passed the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) with limits on the amounts of lead, phthalates, and other chemicals in children’s products that went into effect on February 10, 2009:

As of February 10, 2009, it is illegal for ANYONE (manufacturer, importer, retailer) to sell ANY children’s product (toys, clothing, books, games, furniture, etc… intended for children 12 years old and under) with a lead content of more than 600 ppm (parts per million); that level then drops to 300 ppm on August 14, 2009. In addition, a regulation of phthalates (chemicals usually released from soft plastics/vinyls) also goes into effect limiting the amounts and types of phthalates in only certain children’s products (toys that can fit in a child’s mouth and products that facilitate in the care of a child, like feeding and sleeping).

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is in charge of enforcing these regulations, and over the past few months up to this very day, their policies of what (products), how (requirements), and when (deadlines) have been in a constant state of revision as they try to best interpret the intentions of the law as well as balance the concerns and capabilities of the various and vast children’s product industries. Although the rules of enforcement have and will continue to change, the basic laws limiting the amounts of lead (in all children’s products) and phthalates (in toys and certain children’s products) currently remains the same.

Therefore, Maggie’s Organics wants to reassure our customers that all of our children’s products as of Feb 10, 2009 (children’s socks, tights, baby bodysuits, and stuffed animals), meet these standards. We have tested a sample of each size and color of all the children’s products that we currently had in stock as of that date for lead content as well as a number of other harmful chemicals. As we expected, each product passed with lead content levels BELOW “Levels of Detection” (<>

The First Round of Customer Images!

Amelia Marks from Ypsilanti, MI: Bike Helmet Doubles as a Penguin Bed.
















Caelyn from Virginia: I don’t care if its summer, I’ll still wear the scarf.

















Joe and Stu, roommates at the University of Michigan: Tie-dye for life!







































Lindsay from Ann Arbor, MI: Me and my purple cow (I named him Kombucha).














Stan Dyer of Denver, CO: I love my socks made with 100% certified organic cotton.














Penny Cole: Representing Maggie’s at Burning Man!

























Lindsay from Ann Arbor, MI: Fighting for Women and the Environment

Maggie’s and Bioneers

For several years, Maggie’s has been involved one way or another with a very interesting group of folks called Bioneers. They provide educational solutions that focus on sustaining the earth and our existence based upon science and other social oriented data. Typically they hold an annual conference in Marin, CA that is simulcast to other locations across the country. We have teamed up to be the official supplier of Bioneers merchandise and anyone can place an order off of our website.

From the Bioneers.org website:
Bioneers is a nonprofit educational organization that highlights breakthrough solutions for restoring people and planet. Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world’s most pressing environmental and social challenges. A celebration of the genius of nature and human creativity, Bioneers connects people with solutions and each other. Its acclaimed annual national and local conferences are complemented by extensive media outreach including an award-winning radio series, book series, and a role in media projects such as Leonardo DiCaprio’s film The 11th Hour.

Every year, the Bioneers Conference draws thousands of people together who are passionate about solutions. From how mushrooms can save the world, to how Google Earth is protecting the rainforests, the practical solutions that come from the Bioneers Conference address many of our most pressing environmental problems. In addition to its main conference in San Rafael, California, the Bioneers Conference is transmitted to more than 18 locations nationwide--acting as a hub of information for people who are hungry for change and working to make a real difference in their local communities.

We are proud to say that we are now the official provider of “Bioneers Gear”! We have many items that feature the Bioneers logo and will provide this merchandise on-line, at each satellite conference and of course at the main session in Marin, CA in October 2009. Check out the gear on the Partners Page of our website, and check out the Bioneers website to learn more about what they are involved with!

- Doug Wilson

Give us your Photos!

Hello Blog Readers!!

We at Maggie's Organics are big fans of our own products. We tend to wear them all the time. But outside of the office, we rarely get to see our clothing and leg ware "in action". That's where you come in. We want to invite all of you to upload pictures of yourselves wearing our products to the Maggie’s Facebook group, or if you'd prefer to just email them to us, please send them to tcaldron@organicclothes.com. You may even find your photo as part of our website and/or blog to offer another view of our products in action. Just think your beautiful feet with our socks could end up being a model for others to see all across the world-wide web!

We would love to see you in creative, funny or even awkward situations. Remember that time at airport security, and you took off your shoes, and you had our tie dye socks on! Take a shot of it and share with everyone!!

Please note that there are a couple of requirements for the photos you send us. Firstly, the image must be between 300x300 and 2000x2000 pixels in size. All modern digital cameras should by default fall into this range (some camera phones may have to have the settings adjusted). Preferably, each dimension would fall between 500 and 1500 pixels. We will take a look at images that are smaller than 300 x 300, but it is unlikely that we will be able to use them. Secondly, we'd like you to send a caption (just one or two sentences) describing the situation, what you were thinking at the time, etc. to go along with your photo.

Boring Legal Note: By submitting the images, you agree that they become the property of Maggie’s Organics / Clean Clothes, Inc. and you give us permission to publish them on electronic and print media at any time and without notice. You also give us permission to edit them in order to make them appropriate for inclusion (such as changing the image dimensions). You also agree that prior to submission, you held the legal rights to the image and that it is not a copyright violation for us to use them for any purpose. You also agree that you are aware that not all submissions may be used, and they are chosen at our discretion.

Thanks! We look forward to seeing you with our gear in action! We also are anxious to share them with others!

Socks made in the USA

When we began in 1992, we had purchased thousands of dollars of Certified Organic Cotton from our farmers. We knew that we wanted to tell the world what we had learned about chemicals and cotton, but really had no clue how to convert our fiber into something that people would want to wear. After many months of research, we set out to simply make a great pair of socks. We wanted to be the pair of socks that everyone looked for when they opened their drawer in the morning. Nothing fancy, just durable, comfortable, and made in a way that protected as many of the earth’s resources as possible.

We are proud of our results, and especially proud of the fact that every pair of Maggie’s socks since we began has been made in the USA. It’s been tough, we have made mistakes along the way, and we have felt the pain of several mills closing due to foreign competition. But we have persevered! Today we work with a total of eight independent family-run businesses in North Carolina, as well as two tie dyers in the U.S. and Canada, who truly are our partners in creating our products and servicing our customers. We now offer a wide variety of socks that keep feet of all ages warm in the winter, cool in the summer, and dry all year long.

We could make all of our socks off-shore for a fraction of the cost that we are paying today, but we are committed to staying put. We believe in our products, especially in the people who make them.