If you have been keeping an eye on Really Eco Baby you will have noticed that the latest additions to our eco friendly range of gifts for babies and families are supplied by Green Fibres. We are very careful with what we choose to stock and we are completely convinced by Green Fibres' credentials. We now stock their baby towels and facecloths which are luxuriously soft, thick and completely natural.

Green Fibres is, unsurprisingly perhaps, based in Totnes in Devon. We say unsurprisingly because we (the two of us, NapNap's founding partners) met through our local transition town group - the community led eco-movement that started in Totnes. The Transition Towns movement is all about reducing our dependency on oil, reducing our reliance on artificial means of crop/food production, increasing local industry and boosting community. 

Of course, cotton can't be grown in the UK (at least I don't think it can?) but Green Fibres sources all its materials from organic and fairtrade producers. They are passionate about what they do and are a vocal voice in the industry, pushing for better conditions for workers and more awareness about the intensive methods employed in the production of some cottons.

So we are proud to stock Green Fibres' products. They are beautifully produced and there is no compromise in quality - exactly what you want for that lucky new baby. 

Welcome to 2012 and welcome to our first sale. It has been a very exciting first 8 months for NapNap and first few months for Really Eco Baby so we thought we'd go all out and offer some recession busting discounts. Top favourites are the range of sleepsuits that we have. We have a growing range of organic baby clothes, and stars of our sale in particular are:

The Little Green Radicals 'Let it Bee' sleepsuit has 60% off (£6!!)

Gorgeous Gossypium sleepsuits with 20% off (now only £12.80)

And Ella and Otto organic unisex luxury at 30% off (£12.60)

So we hope you have a baby to treat with our eco gifts and goodies. And don't forget that we have a few super ethical and unusual gifts for mums and other members of the family too. Our best seller this Christmas was the 'Mum Nest' - apparently perfect for grandmas and other relations as well as a well-deserved box of goodies for any new or expectant mum. And guess what? It's reduced too.

Happy New Year!

Most of us try to avoid packaging as much as possible: just stuffing a carrier bag in our handbag means we usually can refuse the plastic bags offered in shops. But sometimes, there is no getting away from it: the other day, my boyfriend bought some work shirts. Each of them came in 1 plastic bag, with 8 plastic pins, 1 large piece of cardboard and the collar was held with 1 stip of cardboard and 1 strip of plastic. I possibly might have forgiven all that waste if the shirts came already ironed, but no! Good luck if you took a shirt out, tried it on, find out you have to return it and had to fold it all again.

So at The Really Eco Baby Shop, we keep all the boxes/large envelopes we receive and use them again. Don't worry, your order will be packed very carefully but it means we do not overcharge our customers for expensive packaging we had to buy. Our delivery fee stays low and we throw away less.

On this note, a little tip for Christmas: wrap your presents in nice magazines: choose pages related to the recipients: perfume ads for mum, toys ads for kids,... they will look really pretty!

It is so easy to buy cheap plastic toys. We do it too for our own children so no smug claims on ethical perfection here. However, we do try and avoid them as much as possible and we certainly take great care when choosing the toys we stock here on Really Eco Baby. 

On Sunday in the Observer was a telling reminder of how we need to be much more discriminating about what we buy. Read the full article here. Here at Really Eco Baby we stock toys from Russimco and Kenana. Russimco will always check their suppliers carefully to make sure workers are treated and paid fairly. Their values can be found here. And Kenana was set up in Kenya to support women and communities there. Read all about Kenana here.

So treat someone this Christmas with a clear conscience. And not only are the companies' ethical credentials sound: Russimco toys do not need batteries and are environmentally packaged; and Kenana wool is naturally dyed and you will be contributing to a wonderful cooperative project.