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Riding the Green Wave
Small business owners around the state are finding a market for products and services that promote sustainability.
Green Tee Clothing Company - Miami
 Danny Leder (L) and Jose Beguiristain design and make T-shirts from organically grown cotton. [Photo: Daniel Portnoy] |
Beguiristain, a Miami apparel industry veteran, teamed with designer Danny Leder to produce and distribute T-shirts made of organically grown cotton and bamboo, and with price tags far lower than the $80 to $100 range that many fashionable boutiques charge. The two partners call it a “perfect marriage.” Leder pairs his design background with the production capacity of Beguiristain, whose principal company, B-Line Apparel, supplies corporate-branded T-shirts to large customers like Bacardi, Progressive Insurance and Royal Caribbean International. B-Line’s Miami facility can churn out up to 20,000 shirts a day. (Annual sales are about $7 million.)
Organic cotton and bamboo, acquired from India and Turkey, are grown without pesticides, fertilizers or other chemicals. The raw material cost is 30% to 40% higher. And other eco-friendly practices, such as using water-based paints for printing and demanding improved working conditions for overseas laborers, further raise the cost of production. “Once you start getting into the green movement you realize there are so many other things you can do better,” says Leder.
For now Green Tee’s line is available in trendy boutiques like Urban Outfitters, BASE and Fred Segal. The company, which launched in late 2007 and includes one other design person in addition to Beguiristain and Leder, hopes to top $500,000 in sales its first year. As demand for their and others organic clothing increases, farming practices will adapt, apparel production costs will drop and consumers will find broader, more affordable organic clothing options. “When the price comes down everybody wins,” says Beguiristain.
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