Growing up on a farm in central Michigan, Sandy Martin, co-owner of green 3 organic women’s apparel of Oshkosh, remembers going out to watch the crop-dusting planes spray pesticides on the family’s oat fields. Her father later suffered from lung ailments that required him to use an oxygen tank.

So it’s not surprising that when she was starting her business in 2005, she was attracted to a Web site about organic clothing. Now, with her husband, Jim, and Jim’s stepdaughter, Rachel Schwalbe, the third member of the “green 3,” the business sells 100% organic cotton and wool T-shirts, sweaters and other casual women’s apparel through more than 300 specialty stores in 42 states and overseas.

Conventionally grown cotton, according to the Pesticide Action Network, uses more than 25% of all insecticides and 10% of all pesticides dumped on agricultural fields around the world.

“It takes one-third pound of pesticides to produce the cotton for just one (conventional) T-shirt,” Jim Martin points out.

And much of the cotton comes from Third World countries where safety regulations and procedures to protect farm workers are far less stringent and effective than those in force in the United States.

In contrast, green 3 uses cotton produced on farms in this country that do not use any pesticides or insecticides. The resulting threads are carefully woven at six knitting companies and sewn for green 3 at factories in North Carolina.

You can tell the difference in softness, Sandy says of her company’s products. The company produces garments, which she says are “modern classics, wardrobe building basics and fashion pieces. They have the fit appropriate to the target customer.” Green 3 targets “women 30 and above who are health conscious, lead an active life and are aware of fashion.”

Organic wool comes from sheep that meet standards of the Organic Trade Association. These include not dipping the sheep in insecticides to control external parasites, using organic feed and forage and raising them in a way that does not exceed the carrying capacity of the land.

The company also uses only 100% eco-friendly dyes with no heavy metal components on its garments. The dyes are water-based, and unlike some vegetable-based dyes do not lose their color over time.

Sandy brought more than 20 years’ experience in the corporate fashion industry to the job when she started the business from her home three years ago. Her last position was with Kohl’s Department Stores.

Jim, a former executive vice president and general manager of OshKosh B’Gosh, joined her shortly after Carter’s Inc. bought his former company and began downsizing its Oshkosh operations.

His stepdaughter, Rachel, a senior at Lourdes High School, is already “pretty involved” in the merchandising, he says. “Dinner conversations are skewed toward the business,” he adds. “She probably has the equivalent of a masters in business.”

The company grew fivefold in 2007, and is expected another tripling of business this year. It now operates from a warehouse that was a former trolley building on the shores of Lake Winnebago. It employs 11 people.

Green 3 received a boost when it was discovered by the Discovery Channel, and began designing and producing the apparel for Discovery’s Planet Green network. In addition, green 3 produces the printed T-shirts for the Sundance Catalogue Co., the environmentally conscious firm founded by actor Robert Redford, and other high-end clothing catalogue companies.

Jim has found that operating a small business takes adjustment after more than 20 years in a corporate setting. “When someone calls and asks for the I.T. department, I say it’s me. If someone needs to take out the trash, I do that too. It was awfully humbling at first, but overall it’s been great,” he says.

The Martins are optimistic about 2009 despite the downturn in the economy. They foresee continued controlled growth among women who want to make both a fashion statement and a statement about the environment as well.

By John Hill

You can contact John Hill by e-mail at jhoythill@sbcglobal.net.