Blessed Earth began in mid-2004 by Radha Theresa and Raithe Handiman. When Radha wanted to buy organic cotton underwear and couldn’t find any, the idea was born to manufacture it and sell it by mail order.

At the time there were only a few people importing baby wear and bed-linen into Australia, so it was a huge process trying to work out how to source the fabric and then get it made into products.

The other big problem they faced was that the idea of organic underwear needed to be cultivated in the public consciousness, so all their limited funds went into advertising and they began writing magazine articles explaining the importance of having organic cotton next to our skin.

After a slow start, people from all over Australia began finding them, mostly looking for relief from allergies. The business grew and soon incorporated clothing and bed-linen.

A year later they opened their first shop in Melbourne. There the opportunity arose to begin manufacturing and selling organic mattresses, which soon became the mainstay of their business.

In mid-2007 they moved their business to Montville on the Sunshine Coast hinterland of Queensland.

Soon after arriving, they successfully applied for Demeter certification for many of their products including underwear, clothing, bed-linen and wool bedding, most of which they manufacture in Australia.

Having worked in the organic textiles industry these past 4 years, Radha and Raithe know how easy it is for traders to misrepresent the organic status of what they are importing to sell here. This is often done carelessly if not intentionally – perhaps the overseas vendor says the product is organic and that claim is conveniently taken at face value. Or, the fabric used might have been organic but the manufacturing/dyeing process could have been quite toxic.

In the absence of regulatory controls over “organic” claims made with regard to textiles in Australia, all sorts of claims are being made that are blatant green-washing. The web is now full of retailers claiming “organic cotton” without a shred of proof, or any attempt to offer certification details.

The other trend is that conventional importers are reacting to demand from customers and buying in so-called “organic” fabric and products, without really understanding – or perhaps really caring about – how genuinely organic the products are.

Blessed Earth specializes in only certified organic textiles and will continue to set the benchmark for quality and integrity within the industry in Australia. The only real way of guaranteeing that is to obtain certification within Australia.

That means that the local organic certification agencies have satisfied themselves as to the validity of any certification claims.

Raithe & Radha
for Blessed Earth