Jessica Alba's 'Honest' Line Focuses On Eco-Friendly Products (PHOTOS)

NEW YORK -- Jessica Alba has another new baby. She's launched an e-commerce company at Honest.com (named after her 3-year-old daughter Honor) to sell eco-friendly and toxic-free baby products and household items for a monthly subscription.

Alba, who welcomed her second daughter Haven in 2011, said Tuesday the idea was born after she learned that toxic chemicals are in widely used, everyday products.

"I would buy what I thought was like an eco-brand and pay out the wazoo for it and then find out that it's made with the same ingredients as any other brand, but the packaging is a little more biodegradable and you're like `But I care about the product touching my kid. Is that OK?'"

She decided the best solution was to make available the kinds of products she would buy. To launch the business, she partnered with author and environmentalist Christopher Gavigan, ShoeDazzle founder Brian Lee and PriceGrabber.com executive Sean Kane.

The 30-year-old actress said the venture is "hands down" more nerve-racking than the opening of a new movie but also more gratifying.

"I came up with the idea. I had to pitch it to my partners and they came on board and together we created the company from scratch," she said. "From the packaging to the bottles to the product that's inside, the way that the interfacing is with the website, all of that is really from me ... it's taken three years to get here."

To make a purchase, consumers sign up on Honest.com and choose from subscription packages for products including diapers, shampoo and laundry detergent. The products are then delivered monthly to the buyer's door.

Alba plans to expand the line based on customer feedback.

"It's important that a brand that's meant for families actually listens to families, and it's not just some big corporate entity making these huge decisions," she said.

Alba recently worked to drum up support for the proposed Safe Chemicals Act, which would require products to be tested for chemicals before they are sold and would have the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency test products already on the market.

The federal legislation has been critized by the American Chemistry Council, which says the safety standards the measure proposes are "unachievable."

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Comments

[Susan Sawhill Apito]

11:13 AM on 01/21/2012

And if she is so honest...why are the actual ingredients in her products hidden? Where are the FDA required INCI names for the "actual" ingredients in her baby wipes? Honeysuckle? I would bet this is actually japanese honeysuckle extract, used as a preservative not as she claims "to moisturize"; and if so...it contains natural "parabens" which she claims her product do not contain.

And if not...what preservatives are used in the products? It's real easy to list all the things you don't use...not so honest to hide what you do use.

And how "honest" is it to break federal law: USDA regulations for organic claims (the NOP) does not allow companies to imply their products are organic unless they are USDA Certified Organic, and then the certifying agency needs to be listed. She implies her products are organic but her company is not USDA Certified -- not allowed!

[blu3y baby]

12:40 AM on 07/25/2012

Jealous, jealous, jealous...tsk tsk tsk

[Beatriz Sandoval]

02:16 PM on 01/20/2012

I think it's great that she's spreading the word on Eco-friendly products ! people need to be aware of alternative products that are better for our planet. I found some really cool sustainable products that are handmade: http://www.skinnyscoop.com/list/betty_sand/my-eco-friendly-finds

[troof]

05:54 PM on 01/18/2012

We raised our babies in the west coast oraganic hippie tradition. Toxic free was easily accomplished by simply staying away from most commercial products. Oraganic cotton diapers were purchased once and washed many times in organic soap. Babies were breast fed until they were 2. Clothes were cotton and mostly hand arounds from friends. Nobody made much money off us though.

[Bobo Macoute]

04:40 PM on 01/18/2012

You better spray that Enviro stuff in the Bunny's eyes before you expect me to put it on my kid.

[kwaut lizard]

03:33 PM on 01/18/2012

Hopefully Mrs Alba's efforts will help draw attention to the paucity of information regarding the safety and practical use of over 10,000 compounds that are discovered or invented each year. She is a responsible citizen recognizing the need to regulate such things as Brominated and Chlorinated Organic Compounds that are more readily found in our food, drink and immediate environment. The links to 'Cot Death' or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome from particular classes of common chemical compounds are incontestable now. I, for one, greatly admire her for this effort.

Responsible Living just got a lot prettier and a helluva lot sexier.

[baxtron]

02:11 PM on 01/18/2012

Why do I have to buy a monthly subscription? Can't you just put these products on the shelf and try to sell them from a store, whether the shelf is phyiscal or virtual?

[madcityy]

02:07 PM on 01/18/2012

MORE CRAP NOT TO GO SEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[driverstest]

12:31 PM on 01/18/2012

Another self absobed celebrity buying into "green" and overcharging customers for lousy products. Playing an make believe expert on film does not make you one an expert in real life.

[kimbanyc]

12:59 PM on 01/18/2012

YOU'RE FAMILIAR WITH THE PRODUCTS....

OR JUST ANOTHERBITTER REPUBLICAN?

[paganmist]

01:25 PM on 01/18/2012

Children (especially babies) are notoriously delicate. I mean, that's a no-brainer, right? They haven't been in the world that long, so their bodies are still forming, still toughening up. Their little immunity systems aren't as strong as ours. Their hearts, their veins, even their skulls aren't as tough or strong as an adult's.

And the unfortunate thing is that how healthy a person is as an adult is largely determined by how healthy they were as a child. I'm not just talking about eating healthy, I'm talking about things like allergies and illnesses. Getting sick as a baby could mean having diminished hearing as an adult.

So why exactly is it a bad thing to want to minimize the risks of harming one's baby by creating or using products that have little to no known allergens, chemicals, and/or harmful materials? I mean, there are adults for whom certain types of these things can send them to the hospital.

I realize that you have something against the concept of green (perhaps why you put it in quotes). Chances are, your opinions have been shaped negatively due to extreme opinions or hearing an idea over-played like a song on the radio.

At the same time, you're a human. You have a magnificent ability to ignore your feelings about a general topic, and judge something based on its own merits and whether or not it makes sense. Why not use it?

[thoreau101]

12:18 PM on 01/18/2012

Do they ever stop selling to the rubes? Lousy movies and phony products. It never ends.

[newleaf]

12:17 PM on 01/18/2012

geez, do I wish when I got up in the morning, that's the face I'd see in the mirror! lol She's so lucky to be so gorgeous. Her daughters are lucky too because she obviously cares about their health and safety as a top priority.

[WhatTheHolyHeck]

11:28 AM on 01/18/2012

Wracked, not racked.

[paganmist]

01:26 PM on 01/18/2012

I could hardly read the article because it kept jumping out at me.

[Counterglow]

10:55 AM on 01/18/2012

Ms. Alba's got her work cut out for her. These industries lie and cheat in so many ways, at so many levels of government, that it's almost impossible to make them accountable. Just one more example...and not even the best: Kleenex liked to put on their box that they didn't use old growth forest. What they meant was that they didn't use old growth forest in the box. The tissues inside were a different matter entirely.

[ldelp84227]

09:34 AM on 01/18/2012

American Chemistry Council, which says the safety standards the measure proposes are "unachievable. The reason the measure is unachievable is because they have had many years to put so many unsafe chemicals in products that they are over their heads. I watched the Senate hearings and they got mad because our leaders told they they had to do something now. The (TSCA) Toxic Substance Control Act was supposed to be enacted in the 70's so they have had a free ride all this time while people are so sick by now there is no choice but to do something. Perhaps the American Chemistry Council would like to put out funding for so many that have suffered for too long.

Jessica has been a spokesperson for safer products since she became pregnant. It is good to see someone famous to get involved since so many of them have fragrance lines. Fragrance is one of the biggest problems with people with reactive airways disease, asthma, chemically sensitive. It would be nice to check out her products but not sure how expensive they are for the sick that can't work because of these chemicals. I am sure her products will be tested and checked out. Way to go Jessica for trying to speak out for those that don't have a platform and have written for decades to get our leaders to listen to us that we are suffering from these products on the market today.