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BabyGanics Made Daily News!
2 years ago
BabyGanics Made Daily News!
I am so very excited about the below Daily News article i stumbled across! I have been a fan of BabyGanics products for almost 2 years now and I think it is really great that they are finally getting the exposure they deserve. It’s nice to see the faces and family behind the products. It really means alot to me that their are people that care about the health of their family and world they live in as much as I do and the best part is that they are taking action and making a difference with some really great products!!
Itching to launch a business
Household cleaners gave their dog a rash, prompted green product line
BY ELIZABETH LAZAROWITZDAILY NEWS BUSINESS WRITER
Monday, June 18th 2007, 4:00 AMKevin Schwartz, with his wife Alison and son, Tyler, and the line of green cleaning products he developed.
It was an itchy problem. Kevin Schwartz’s dog Tucker had a rash on his chin, right at the spot where the Lab mix liked to rest his face on the living room’s glass coffee table.
On a hunch, Schwartz, 30, quit using glass cleaner, and Tucker’s skin cleared up. But that diagnosis two years ago proved alarming: Schwartz and his wife Alison were planning on expanding their family and didn’t want chemicals in the house.
Since they didn’t want a dirty table, or windows or mirrors, either, the former software salesman from Wantaugh, L.I., had a plan: he would try to create chemical-free cleaning products.
“When you’re a consumer seeking out a product and you can’t find something that meets your needs – that’s when I realized there was an opportunity,” Schwartz said. He had some experience; he already ran a business, KAS Direct, that sold nutritional supplements for pets.
He pursued his new interest by contacting labs and chemists to find one that could create the kind of formulas he wanted. He paid for toxicity tests as well as focus groups made up mostly of moms. The entire process – “basically a lot of leg work, research, travel, etc.” – required initial bank loans of $250,000.
The result: cleaning products PetGanics and BabyGanics, both free of chemicals.
To counter skeptics who doubt the nontoxic claim of his products, Schwartz has a ready response. He drinks them.
Sales are growing fast, and his company’s revenues have more than doubled, topping $2 million.
He said growing demand for green products has pushed down the cost of raw materials, and lower retail prices have helped lure new customers.
“Four or five years ago, [a natural cleaning product] would retail at four or five times the price of a regular cleaner,” Schwartz said. His products range between $5 and $6 for a 32-ounce bottle.
Eco-friendly household products still make up a small portion of the overall market, but they’re no longer relegated to a corner of a specialty store. A number of eco-friendly labels, including Seventh Generation, Ecover, Earth Friendly and Method have recently found their way onto mainstream store shelves.
Last fall, a new state law began requiring public schools to start using cleaning and maintenance products that are “environmentally sensitive” to lessen the impact on kids’ health.
While Schwartz bills his cleaners as organic, only some of the materials are grown organically. But to ensure they’re safe, he uses ingredients made from soy, sugar cane and coconut. He hired a chemist and worked for about 18 months to find potions that could really clean without being hazardous.
Schwartz’s guess that there was a market for his products has proven correct. BabyGanics hit the shelves of its first major chain, buybuy Baby, a year ago and quickly expanded to Babies “R” Us and about 50 Bed Bath & Beyond stores. With Wal-Mart and Target planning to test the cleaners in selected stores, Schwartz’s products will soon be available in more than 1,200 shops nationwide. Such growth can make for insomnia.
“When we were going from a handful of stores to every Babies “R” Us, I couldn’t even imagine what that shipment was going to look like, and I was promising it was going to happen,” Schwartz said.
At around the same time last fall, Schwartz had another reason for sleepless nights – his son Tyler, the inspiration for the product line, was born. Despite the excitement at work, he said, “you really remember what’s important.”
elazarowitz@nydailynews.com
I am so very excited about the below Daily News article i stumbled across! I have been a fan of BabyGanics products for almost 2 years now and I think it is really great that they are finally getting the exposure they deserve. It’s nice to see the faces and family behind the products. It really means alot to me that their are people that care about the health of their family and world they live in as much as I do and the best part is that they are taking action and making a difference with some really great products!!
Itching to launch a business
Household cleaners gave their dog a rash, prompted green product line
BY ELIZABETH LAZAROWITZDAILY NEWS BUSINESS WRITER
Monday, June 18th 2007, 4:00 AMKevin Schwartz, with his wife Alison and son, Tyler, and the line of green cleaning products he developed.
It was an itchy problem. Kevin Schwartz’s dog Tucker had a rash on his chin, right at the spot where the Lab mix liked to rest his face on the living room’s glass coffee table.
On a hunch, Schwartz, 30, quit using glass cleaner, and Tucker’s skin cleared up. But that diagnosis two years ago proved alarming: Schwartz and his wife Alison were planning on expanding their family and didn’t want chemicals in the house.
Since they didn’t want a dirty table, or windows or mirrors, either, the former software salesman from Wantaugh, L.I., had a plan: he would try to create chemical-free cleaning products.
“When you’re a consumer seeking out a product and you can’t find something that meets your needs – that’s when I realized there was an opportunity,” Schwartz said. He had some experience; he already ran a business, KAS Direct, that sold nutritional supplements for pets.
He pursued his new interest by contacting labs and chemists to find one that could create the kind of formulas he wanted. He paid for toxicity tests as well as focus groups made up mostly of moms. The entire process – “basically a lot of leg work, research, travel, etc.” – required initial bank loans of $250,000.
The result: cleaning products PetGanics and BabyGanics, both free of chemicals.
To counter skeptics who doubt the nontoxic claim of his products, Schwartz has a ready response. He drinks them.
Sales are growing fast, and his company’s revenues have more than doubled, topping $2 million.
He said growing demand for green products has pushed down the cost of raw materials, and lower retail prices have helped lure new customers.
“Four or five years ago, [a natural cleaning product] would retail at four or five times the price of a regular cleaner,” Schwartz said. His products range between $5 and $6 for a 32-ounce bottle.
Eco-friendly household products still make up a small portion of the overall market, but they’re no longer relegated to a corner of a specialty store. A number of eco-friendly labels, including Seventh Generation, Ecover, Earth Friendly and Method have recently found their way onto mainstream store shelves.
Last fall, a new state law began requiring public schools to start using cleaning and maintenance products that are “environmentally sensitive” to lessen the impact on kids’ health.
While Schwartz bills his cleaners as organic, only some of the materials are grown organically. But to ensure they’re safe, he uses ingredients made from soy, sugar cane and coconut. He hired a chemist and worked for about 18 months to find potions that could really clean without being hazardous.
Schwartz’s guess that there was a market for his products has proven correct. BabyGanics hit the shelves of its first major chain, buybuy Baby, a year ago and quickly expanded to Babies “R” Us and about 50 Bed Bath & Beyond stores. With Wal-Mart and Target planning to test the cleaners in selected stores, Schwartz’s products will soon be available in more than 1,200 shops nationwide. Such growth can make for insomnia.
“When we were going from a handful of stores to every Babies “R” Us, I couldn’t even imagine what that shipment was going to look like, and I was promising it was going to happen,” Schwartz said.
At around the same time last fall, Schwartz had another reason for sleepless nights – his son Tyler, the inspiration for the product line, was born. Despite the excitement at work, he said, “you really remember what’s important.”
elazarowitz@nydailynews.com
