Alba keeps it 'Honest' with eco-friendly products

[January 18, 2012]  NEW YORK (AP) -- 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."

[Associated Press; By ALICIA RANCILIO]

Alicia Rancilio covers entertainment for The Associated Press. Follow her at http://twitter.com/aliciar.

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