Abagail Leavitt wants you to think for a moment about baby butts. More specifically, about what goes on them.
Like many new mothers, Leavitt is often preoccupied with diapers. But in addition to thinking about those that go on her son, she also runs her own natural diaper and baby clothes company, Peace Love and Cloth.
When Leavitt learned she was pregnant two years ago, she began searching for affordable cloth diaper options. She couldn’t find an option she liked, and couldn’t find any cloth-diaper companies in Maine, so she decided to make the diapers herself. Then, she made a few extra for friends. Soon, she found herself running a company out of her Brunswick home.
“I just got really into it, I guess,” she said.
She has to stay on good terms with her workforce. Leavitt enlisted the sewing and knitting help of the important women in her life: her son’s two grandmothers and a family friend. Together, they make the majority of the company’s diapers, diaper covers and baby clothes. Leavitt fits her own knitting in after her son has gone to bed.
To complete the family affair, Leavitt’s son, Everett Skye, is the principal model for Peace Love and Cloth merchandise. He can be found grinning in all the company’s literature.
“He is kind of cute,” Leavitt admitted.
What sets her products apart from cloth diapers that can be found at Wal-Mart or Target is the material. All the cotton used is certified organic, while the majority of the wool is hand-spun and hand-dyed from small Maine farms. Some clothes are made up of organic alpaca wool from Bolivia.
Leavitt gets a few double takes when she mentions wool baby clothes. Many Americans have the impression that wool is scratchy to the skin. But Leavitt believes that scratchiness actually stems from the chemicals used to treat non-organic wool.
“That’s what people are allergic to,” Leavitt said.
Her producers don’t use any chemicals on their wool, and the material is soft to the touch. Since the wool isn’t treated, it also retains a natural water-repelling substance called lanolin, making it the perfect product for baby clothes and diaper covers.
Leavitt also loves wool because it’s warm and breathable. With a woodstove to heat her home, she often puts her son to bed in a wool outfit.
“Look at sheep, they have these thick wool coats, but they never get overheated,” Leavitt said.
Leavitt said the choice to use organic over conventional cotton was easy. Conventionally-grown cotton is a pesticide-intensive crop; organic cotton advocates estimate that it takes 1/3 pound of chemicals to produce enough cotton for one t-shirt. Much of those chemicals stay in the fabric, and are prone to leach out when the fabric gets wet.
Pesticide exposure has been linked to a host of health problems, including birth defects, respiratory problems, developmental delays and infertility. Studies estimate that there have been more than 20,000 deaths among cotton harvesters from accidental pesticide exposure.
Leavitt argues that buying organic cotton isn’t just better for a baby’s health — it’s better for the environment as well. Cotton statistics seem to strengthen her argument.
A recent article in Ode magazine documented that in India, one of the world’s main cotton producing countries, cotton production uses 5 percent of the country’s agricultural land, but 54 percent of its pesticides. The high cost for these pesticides is sending farmers from developing countries deeper and deeper into debt. In one Indian cotton-producing region, some 2,300 cotton farmers committed suicide because of their bills in the last six years.
Organic cotton is more than twice as expensive as regular cotton, but Leavitt feels the extra cost is worth it. In addition to being safer for babies, she argued, it’s also much softer.
“If you want something really natural, you might as well go all the way with organic,” she said.
So far, Leavitt hasn’t had much time to market her products, between keeping her son in diapers and working an outside job as a visiting public health nurse for postpartum mothers. Instead, she’s relied on fliers and booths at Maine festivals and craft shows.
But demand for the clothes and diapers has been strong, and she’s considering expanding the product line.
Still, she doesn’t picture needing to expand her workforce much beyond her knitting circle of family and friends.
“I’ll put my mom to work more,” she laughed.
For more information about Peace Love and Cloth, email abagaileve@wildmail.com.