BOCA RATON - Marci Zaroff, a 38-year-old Boca Raton mother of two, doesn't look like a pioneer, but that's what people in the organic clothing and fabric industry consider her.
Ten years ago, she founded Under the Canopy, now based in Boca Raton, and became part of the revolution that's taken organic apparel from hippie to hip.
That's organic as in fabrics made from organically grown cotton, soy, bamboo, linen, wool and natural silk. This year, Zaroff expects revenue at her 13-employee firm to reach $10 million.
Zaroff is riding the boom of the organic movement, which has made serious inroads into food and now is pushing apparel to the forefront.
Manufacturers and niche retailers Nike Inc. and Patagonia Inc. have joined, but so have mainstreamers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Nordstrom Inc.
"It's not just about what you put in your body anymore. It's about what you put on your body," Zaroff said on a recent morning at her corporate headquarters in a warehouse district off Dixie Highway.
"People are blown away when they start to learn about the negative side of the conventional cotton industry," she said. "It's been promoted as natural, but it's not. Cotton is one of the most heavily sprayed crops in the world. It's an extremely toxic industry."
Patricia O'Leary, senior director for agricultural research at Cotton Inc., an industry group in Cary, N.C., says U.S. Department of Agriculture reports show that it takes about 1.2 ounces of chemicals to treat the cotton for one T-shirt.
That's far less than the 5 ounces of pesticides and fertilizers the organic industry cites, but in any case, Zaroff said she finds people are increasingly interested in the idea of wearing clothes made from organically grown materials.
"I have spent a decade educating people about the market. There's definitely an explosion of interest," Zaroff said.
Sara Kowal, a 27-year-old Delray Beach resident and marketing executive at a financial firm, is a dedicated Under the Canopy fan who's been buying the store's clothes for seven or eight years.
Kowal uses nothing but Under the Canopy's towels and sheets, and her extensive wardrobe includes several robes, eight Chakra tank tops, numerous T-shirts, capri pants and yoga pants.
"The company is fashion-forward and has such a mission. I don't feel bad about spending my money and buying a whole wardrobe from them," Kowal said.
"I just really understand the value of the clothing," she said. "It has so much of a deeper meaning to me, as far as the natural side of it."
In March 2005, Under the Canopy's products made their first appearance at a Whole Foods Market when the leading organic grocer opened its largest-ever store (80,000 square feet) at its home base in Austin, Texas.
Whole Foods plans to incorporate Under the Canopy's clothing and home goods lines in its stores whenever possible, including in Boca Raton after a remodeling is complete, said Amy Schaefer, a spokeswoman at Whole Foods.
They also will be included when Whole Foods opens a store in London next year, Schaefer said.
"Marci is an amazing pioneer and innovator," said Rebecca Calahan Klein, president of the Organic Exchange, an Oakland, Calif.-based trade group.
The path that led Zaroff to start Under the Canopy began when she was a 15-year-old student at St. Andrew's School in Boca Raton. The daughter of a dentist, she was inspired by a book a friend gave her called Living in the Light, in which author Shakti Gawain outlines her philosophy of relying on one's intuition as a guiding force. By 16, Zaroff was a vegetarian.
At the University of California, Berkeley, she majored in finance and marketing but knew she wanted to do something that would make the world a better place.
"You're born an entrepreneur," Zaroff said. "I had a business card when I was 11 and had jobs all through high school, even though I didn't have to work."
After Berkeley, she became a consultant for Whole Foods' office in New York and founded Gulliver's Living and Learning Center in Manhattan, which offered classes such as yoga and cooking with natural food, as well as a spa and an organic-food cafe.
Soon, Zaroff realized clothing and home goods were the missing link in the lifestyle she espoused. She began researching organic farming as well as fabric production, and started Under the Canopy in 1996.
At that time, she said, most organic clothing was along the lines of beige burlap and was not something the average person would want to wear.
"The fabrics I found were crunchy and the styles were not good," Zaroff said. "I said, 'If I sell this, it will never work.' We needed to modernize the organic fiber industry."
Zaroff figured that once high-quality organic fabrics were made into an appealing style she calls California contemporary, the clothes would practically sell themselves. Today, the company's bestseller is a one-size-fits-all $48 cotton kimono.
"If you give people a way to buy what they like and something that is better for the environment and better for health, who doesn't want to be part of that?" Zaroff said.
An industry that's blossoming
From 2001 to 2005, U.S. sales of organic cotton apparel such as shirts, robes and jeans and home products including bath towels and sheets increased to $275 million annually from $86 million, according to the Organic Exchange. Global sales increased 35 percent annually to $583 million from $245 million and are projected to reach $2.6 billion by the end of 2008.
Of the more than 30 companies with significant organic cotton programs, Under the Canopy is the only one based in Florida, the Organic Exchange said. More than 1,200 retailers and manufacturers offer organic cotton products to consumers, up from a few hundred in 2001.
As president and founder, Zaroff handles everything from face-to-to face meetings with farmers in Peru who grow the cotton, to those who make the products in 11 countries (including the United States, China and India), to talking with major retailers who want to get in on the hot sector.
The company's name and mission were inspired by the rain forest. It also supports eco-friendly dyes and fair labor practices.
For the past few years, Under the Canopy's collections Baby & Kids, Home and Spa, Men and Women created by its team of four designers in Boca, were sold through its catalog and Web site. In August, the newest line will be available on the Web site.
Three months ago, Zaroff hired a chief executive officer, Mike Albala, who's been in the apparel industry for 35 years.
"He's here to get us to the next level," Zaroff said. "People are excited to support this industry. We are at a turning point now. This whole concept is on the verge of a major breakout."
Other organic industry figures agree, and they salute Zaroff's work.
Irwin Simon, chief executive officer and founder of Hain Celestial Group, a 13-year-old provider of 40 brands of natural and organic food, beverages and personal care products, said he admires Zaroff's entrepreneurship and understanding of the industry. Melville, N.Y.-based Hain Celestial buys Under the Canopy's cotton baby bibs as a tie-in with its Earth's Best baby foods.
"She reminds me of me in 1993 when I started Hain Celestial. People thought I was crazy," Simon said. "Now we are close to a billion dollars in size and a global company. I see similarities in what Marci is trying to do in regards to clothing products."
Even the world's largest retailer is getting in on the act.
Wal-Mart's organic cotton Baby George line, with one-piece and two-piece outfits and rompers at $10.82 and under, was offered for sale in all its stores in May. This month, organic cotton T-shirts priced at $6.87 hit the junior department, said Linda Blakley, a spokeswoman for Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart.
"It is about really carrying on what has been our legacy: making items accessible to a broad spectrum of consumers," she said. "Our research found that folks said if it (organic clothing) were available and affordably priced, they would be likely to buy it."
By infusing organic apparel with trendy designs and improved fabrics, people such as Zaroff have helped propel the organic apparel industry to the level of growth it's experiencing, said Barbara Haumann, a senior writer for the Organic Trade Association in Greenfield, Mass.
"It's the pioneers like her who have put products out there, really neat products that gained consumers' interest," she said.
For those who want to wear clothes with a message, organic fabrics are a way to do that.
"It's clothing that makes you think more deeply about things," Zaroff said.
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Under the Canopy: Organic Clothing with Cutting Edge Style
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Boca woman pioneer in organic apparel
By Susan Salisbury, Staff Writer
Palm Beach Post, June 26, 2006
Straight to the Source
