New York ? Pink and blue are passe. The hot thing in the children’s market these days is green.

Parents are increasingly turned on by the idea of organic products – clothing, creams and food made without chemicals that they feel are too harsh to be used on their children.

While organic baby food has developed a strong following over past years – a $206 million industry last year, according to the most recent figures available from the Organic Trade Assn. – interest in organic clothes and cleansers is growing as quickly as the kids they target.

Sales of organic fibers for infant clothes and cloth diapers rose 40 percent between 2004 and 2005 to $40 million and fiber for the child-teen market grew 52 percent to $3 million. Meanwhile, organic personal care products, including baby care, rose 34 percent to $26 million.

Whether organic products offer any sort of health benefits is unclear; most experts say only the most sensitive children could have a problem with conventional clothing or personal care products. But parents seem more motivated by a desire to keep their kids untainted from some of the harshness and artificiality of the world for as long as they can.

“This is the first time – and I’ve been in business 10 years – that we’re catching up to organic food,” says Janice Masoud, founder of Under the Nile, an organic clothing company based in Milpitas, Calif., that specializes in children’s items.

Widespread launch

Rachel Hayes feeds her daughter, 1-year-old Amelia Gayle, some organic yogurt outside their home in New York. Hayes says that about 75 percent of the food she feeds to her daughter is all-natural or organic.

Under the Nile will launch a test program in 150 Target stores this coming holiday season with towel sets, swaddle blanket sets, a sherpa two-piece cardigan set and flannel footies. “It gives me chills that people are realizing organic cotton really is something special,” she says.

From her regular collection, the most popular items are bodysuits, buntings and baby gowns that can be worn home from the hospital – Masoud thinks that’s because they’re all pieces that are right next to a baby’s skin for long periods of time.

She says she cringes at the thought of the pesticides and insecticides used to grow some cotton rubbing against a newborn’s skin. She also notes that formaldehyde is sometimes used in fabric’s finishing process and as is polyvinyl chloride, known as PVC.

“Cotton is supposed to be a ‘natural fiber,”‘ says Masoud, who obtained “fair trade” certification for her brand, meaning that the co-op of Egyptian farmers that grows her cotton she buys her cotton from are paid more – and they, in turn, put the investment into their land.

“A mother would rather spend some dollars on her baby than herself. There are so many pollutants in the society today that moms are worried about for the kids, moms are trying not to add extra chemicals to their babies,” she says.

Improved prices

By going mainstream, though, the price of organic products is decreasing, Masoud says, noting that even price-conscious Wal-Mart is embracing organic baby clothes.

That said, manufacturers still pay 30-50 percent more for organic than conventionally grown cotton, according to Anne Dorsey, merchandise manager for Hanna Andersson’s baby apparel. “It’s not as easy to come by, farmers take a greater risk and there is a smaller yield,” she explains.

One year-old Amelia Gayle waits to be fed while holding a bottle of organic spaghetti and cheese at their home in New York. Her mother, Rachel Hayes, says, Anything

Hanna Andersson, a Portland, Ore.-based kiddie clothier, absorbs most of the additional cost because, when the company decided to shift toward organic cotton in 2003, it did so out of a sense of responsibility to the Earth and its customers, not necessarily to immediately make big bucks, Dorsey says. Organic cotton’s share of the collection continues to grow each season.

“It’s a sense of pride for us – and it distinguishes us in the marketplace. It’s a long-term investment,” she says.

Hanna Andersson extended its commitment to being green by adopting a European ecological certification process called Oko-Tex, which tests trims and fasteners for more than 100 substances.

“We have a group of customers who are interested in being stewards of the Earth,” Dorsey says.

Baby soft

Jessica Iclisoy, founder of California Baby, an all-natural line of bath and skin products, went into business 15 years ago after talking to the farmers she’d meet at markets when she was buying organic produce. She says she learned from them that there were botanicals that could accomplish the same thing as the chemicals in personal care products – lemon eucalyptus in place of DEET for insect repellent, for one.

It was as she was preparing to give birth to her first child that she decided to make a lifestyle change to be green.

“Women are told to clean up their lifestyle before they have kids,” Iclisoy says. “You’re told to stop drinking coffee, eat healthy. I read some books then that really scared me. They talked about pesticides and hormones in meat. … I looked at everything in my life. I looked at the skin care ingredients – a lot were allergy triggers or known carcinogens.”

Iclisoy’s son is now 15 and still uses the products that she created with his best interests in mind. “He loves them,” she says, “but I will tell you he takes the labels off the products. He doesn’t want it to say ‘baby’ on them.”

Rachel Hayes, a new mother in New York, says she decided to raise 1-year-old Amelia Grace Gayle as green as she could because it complements the innocence of a child. “She’s a young, untainted, tiny human being. Anything I can do to keep her additive-free, I will.”

Organic food is Hayes’ top priority, but, she says, she also likes the idea of incorporating organics into other areas of Amelia’s life.

Hayes, Cosmopolitan magazine’s beauty editor, is a fan of Earth’s Best Baby Care by Jason, a partnership between two well-known companies specializing in natural products.

“The Jason organic baby products – I do like their stuff. It smells good. For organic beauty products in general, they’ve come a long way. Ten years ago, you’d be wondering, ‘Is there a hair in it?’ It had a grungy, hippie vibe,” Hays says. “Now organic products are high-end, well-done. You trust how safe and clean they are. I’m definitely more open and more experimental for myself and Amelia.”

However, Hayes notes that many baby products – organic or not – often are gentle, fragrance-free and hypoallergenic.

She’s also not as strict with clothes. “I do feel good about putting her in organic cotton but I think regular cotton like Carter’s or Petit Bateau can be just as good. It’s more about how soft it is.”

Sensitivity issues

Hayes’ maternal intuition is right, says Dr. Susan Bayliss Mallory, pediatric dermatologist at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. It’s rare for babies to have a genuine allergic reaction to the chemicals used to treat fabrics, even formaldehyde, she says. They’re much more likely to suffer from irritant dermatitis – essentially sensitive skin. The children most susceptible to irritants are those considered atopic, which means they have a predisposition to asthma, hay fever and eczema.

As for absorption of chemicals from clothes and toiletries, Mallory says it can happen but, again, it’s uncommon. “To be absorbed, skin has to be moist. Otherwise, the skin has so many good layers of barriers.” She also doesn’t believe there to be a long-term effect on the skin.

But, to avoid skin reactions altogether, Mallory suggests seeking out the simplest and gentlest cleansers and lotions. In addition, choose fabrics that are soft to the touch and laundering new clothes before kids wear them, which softens fibers and washes out chemicals.

The “hand” – how a fabric feels – is exactly why Bella Bliss, an upscale children’s clothing company based in Lexington, Ky., sticks with Peruvian pima cotton, which as a long-staple cotton has a silky feel, instead of insisting on organic.

“We don’t use organic,” says managing partner Lisa McLean. “I know that our customers have gotten to know Bella Bliss for softness – everything is 100 percent cotton, machine washable, durable and easy care.”

She’s not ruling it out for the future, though.

“Organics are getting a lot more attention – they’re even going to be at Wal-Mart – but for my customer base, we haven’t seen the demand. … The future of organics rely in supply and demand,” McLean says.