Contestant's Case to Win

While on bedrest anticipating the arrival of her first son, Robin Morris, founder of eco•POLITAN (www.eco-politan.com), spent her days scouring the Internet for parenting ideas and reliable “mom-tested” products that would be good for her baby and the planet. Before long, environmentally friendly, natural parenting became Robin’s passion. By the time her son Levi was born, Robin was an expert on cloth diapers versus disposable diapers, how to make natural baby food, and countless other eco-responsible parenting practices.

The idea to launch an online retail store promoting natural parenting products came to Robin a few months later when she re-joined the corporate world after a six-week maternity leave. For several weeks, Robin struggled to incorporate childcare and feeding her son into a nine-hour workday already packed with staff meetings, project deadlines and training seminars. After one too many sleepless nights, Robin decided to leave the corporate world altogether and draw on her past corporate success and mompreneurial spirit to create the go-to online store for today’s modern-chic, eco-responsible mom.

Robin’s mission was to make shopping for eco-responsible baby and parenting gear simple. The store originally opened in 2008 as "Modern Mommy Gear", and was committed to selling only environmentally friendly, sustainable, reusable products to keep today’s families happy and the planet healthy.

Unlike many online retailers and work at home mom owned businesses who go through additional distributors to send products to consumers, Modern Mommy Gear carried its entire online inventory of environmentally friendly, sustainable and reusable products including diapers, shopping bags, water bottles, toys and clothing in-house. This distribution model allowed Modern Mommy Gear’s staff to test the products first-hand, and ship products the same day they are ordered at a less expensive price than competitors.

Modern Mommy Gear allowed parents to spend more quality time with their kids by eliminating the need to physically shop at various brick-and-mortar retail stores for eco-responsible products. The online store provided a complete inventory of eco-responsible products without the stress of shopping with kids. Shoppers were assured they were purchasing the best quality products for their families, pets, homes and the environment.

Sales surpassed the twelve month goal in less than three months and quadrupled over the first year. Modern Mommy Gear was gaining local, national, and international recognition as the go-to source for mom-tested, mom-recommended natural parenting products. The Company was serving more than just the modern mommy, so owner, Robin Morris, decided it was in the best interest of the Company to incorporate and expand. In July of 2009, the Company restructured and re-launched the on-line retail store as eco•POLITAN (www.eco-POLITAN.com) with a wider variety of eco-responsible gear for cosmopolitan lifestyles.

The Corporation is still operating as a mom-owned, home-based business, with two year old Levi helping pack orders and demo and model new products for the store.