• The News & Observer, Tuesday, November 7, 2006 11 AM

Roxanne Quimby, who built Burt's Bees from a roadside stand into a multimillion-dollar natural cosmetics company, is starting a new ecologically minded company. Happy Green Bee sells children's clothing--colorful dresses, sleepers, socks, hats and leggings that Quimby designs--made from organic cotton.

"Organic cotton is not as popular as organic food," says Quimby, who sold 80% of Burt's Bees for $177 million to a Manhattan investment firm in 2003. "But its visibility is growing."

In the past few years, hundreds of retailers have started offering some type of organic clothing, and companies such as Nike and Patagonia now sell organics. It is grown without use of pesticides and fertilizers and by using methods and materials that have a less harmful effect on the environment. In 2005, U.S. organic fiber consumer sales grew 44 percent to $160 million.

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