Birmingham

Root and Sprout offers families an eco-friendly existence

By Mary Beth Almond
C & G Staff Writer

BIRMINGHAM — One person’s trash is literally someone else’s treasure at Birmingham’s new eco-boutique Root and Sprout.

The store, located at 474 N. Old Woodward, features hundreds of unique items made from all-natural, organic, sustainable or recycled materials.

Root and Sprout co-owners Susan Kelke, a mother of three, and her former nanny, Kelly Daniels, believe the only way to assure that the next generation will be environmentally responsible is to guide them from birth. That’s why every product offered at their store supports their vision of a cleaner, kinder earth.

“I think a lot of people — including myself, a year ago — are kind of oblivious to what they personally can do. They know the basics, like recycling, and they know there’s more they can do, they just don’t know what. Shopping here is going to give them an idea about what they can do to fit their lifestyle,” Kelke said.

Many of the boutique’s products have earned a following among eco- and style-conscious consumers.

“The root of Root and Sprout was finding companies that are giving back and doing great things for the environment, for women, for children, and all the different charities that they are working with themselves. As soon as we saw what they were doing, we thought, how can you go wrong putting them all into one shop,” Daniels said.

Green-minded moms can help protect the world their children will inherit by using non-toxic household cleaning products, cooking with organic and fair trade food items, purchasing chemical-free beauty products, and sporting handbags and jewelry made from recycled materials.

Some of Kelke’s favorite products include Littleearth’s recycled license plate purses, Smart Glass’s jewelry made from recycled wine and Coke bottles, and Ecoist’s handbags made from repurposed food packages that have been discarded by manufacturers due to misprints, overages, or discontinued candy lines.

Those looking for the latest in beauty products can freshen up with the all-natural lipsticks, nail polish, lip gloss and lip balms of PeaceKeeper Cause-Metics — which gives all of its after-tax distributable profits to women’s health advocacy and human rights efforts.

Babies can go green from the get-go with soft bamboo layettes, organic children’s clothing and shoes, eco-friendly diapers and chemical-free baby products and bottles.

Because of the recent concerns over leaching chemicals in plastic baby bottles, Daniels said one of her favorite items in the store are the Babylife wee-go glass baby bottles — which are bisphenol A, phthalate, PVC and polycarbonate-free and covered with a modern silicone sleeve. Stainless steel baby bottles are also available.

Also popular are the biodegradable diapers, by gDiapers — a healthier alternative to most disposables that uses no elemental chlorine and no perfumes. Since you can flush gDiapers down the toilet, Daniels said there’s no guilt about filling landfills with the typical plastic diapers, which can take up to 500 years to biodegrade.

“It’s one of my favorite products simply because of what it’s saving out of the landfills,” Daniels said.

After learning that cotton crops comprise less than 3 percent of the world’s agriculture, but use 25 percent of the world’s insecticides, Kelke and Daniels were on the hunt for the softest organic cotton children’s clothing around. They discovered Baby Blend Tees, Kee-Ka, Kate Quinn Organics, and Empress Baby — which are created from 100 percent organic cotton and low-impact dyes.

Elsie’s Original Germ Fighter Wipes, which were developed by a new mom after she learned that anti-bacterial wipes contained alcohol and chloride, are another popular item. A favorite of celebrity moms Gwyneth Paltrow and Katie Holmes, the wipes contain no harsh chemicals or hard to understand ingredients and are gentle enough for  sensitive skin.

Besides offering eco-friendly products at Root and Sprout, Kelke and Daniels have also salvaged antique furniture and given it a new look for use as product displays throughout the store.

“We encourage people to come into the store to see all the different options that are out there — that they may or may not know about — that are safer for their families and they can feel good about purchasing,” Daniels said.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Mary Beth Almond at malmond@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1060.