Spartanburg’s Lullaby Paints aims to bring VOC-free color into more lives
A Spartanburg company holds North American marketing and technology rights for odorless and toxin-free paints and varnishes for nurseries, hospitals or anyone wanting or needing to live within walls free of chemicals.
The company, Imperial Paints, holds rights to ECOS Paints, which has been selling organic paint in Great Britain and Europe for 25 years. It was developed by a paint chemist, Ian West, who himself got sick around paint fumes and chemicals.
In its first major marketing thrust, Imperial launched its first brand, Lullaby Paint, last May on the Internet and in specialty stores that appeal to parents of newborns, said CEO Julian Crawford.
“It has gone very well for us,” he said. “The group we are focused on is moms, 21 to 35. They are very Internet-savvy and extremely educated about the health and safety of their babies.”
No Harmful Chemicals Coming Off Baby’s Wall
You can put a baby into a room freshly painted with Lullaby right away because there is no odor and no chemicals coming out of the walls as with traditional paints that emit chemicals for three to five years, he said.
ECOS paints and varnishes emit no volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which the Environmental Protection Agency classifies as an indoor contributor to respiratory illness, allergies, asthma, nausea, cancer and, particularly for babies and infants, cognitive development issues.
Crawford stressed that unlike many “environmentally friendly products, paint in particular,” ECOS paints perform just as well as conventional latex- and oil-based paints.
“We don’t have to deal with the compromise in performance. The product actually performs better. It is beautiful. It covers well. It dries quickly. It works as a premium quality product but has characteristics of an environmentally friendly product.”
ECOS Paints Praised By the Eco-Friendly
The water-based paints come in 32 colors. A full line of VOC-free varnishes and floor finishes is available.
In a test of Lullaby Paints by independent California blog InterioRevolution, designer Rachel Hulan found the paint to be “smooth, no splatter application, very nice consistency. Odor is virtually non-existent. Especially good choice for those with chemical sensitivities or for use in a nursery or child’s bedroom.”
Healthy Child, Healthy World, a California-based nonprofit that promotes environmentally friendly and harmless products for children, accepted Lullaby as being safe and effective.
Crawford expects an upcoming study by the Harvard School of Public Health will add scientific credibility to the safety and efficacy of ECOS paints.
Starting with marketing focused on the most vulnerable, babies and pregnant women, ECOS is spreading its message to hospitals and clinical settings where pristine environments are critical.
In the coming weeks, Crawford said, the company will be “talking to a number of hospitals about using Lullaby Paint in their neonatal units,” as well as to use “almost the same paint” for renovation repainting.
A hospital in California and one in Georgia already plan “repainting major units” with ECOS paint, and Crawford has begun talks with Spartanburg Regional Hospital and the Greenville Health System to convince them to use ECOS paints.
Paint Dries in Room, Patient Settled in Bed
“With our paint, if a room becomes vacant, it can be repainted; and as soon as it is dry, you can put someone in it, so hospitals get an efficiency improvement,” as well as a room free of VOCs, Crawford said.
The company also is spreading the word within the green community in the building industry. An “environmentally friendly” company building a headquarters in Spartanburg plans to use ECOS paints, Crawford said. “Their motivation is purely to do the right thing for their employees.” He did not identify the company.
ECOS paints cost considerably more than the low-end paints of the major companies such as Sherwin-Williams, PPG and Benjamin Moore, but “the price is about the same” as their premium brands, Crawford said. “Our product is more expensive to produce, but not massively more expensive.”
A gallon of soft sheen eggshell, the paint used by InterioRevolution for its test, is priced at $59.95 on ECOS’ website. It has more expensive specialty brands, including more protective nursery paint at $150.95 per gallon and a $134.95-per-gallon “atmosphere purifying paint” that removes volatile pollutants from the air.
When ‘Zero VOCs’ Equals Some VOCs
Imperial, the umbrella Spartanburg company, mixes paints from materials shipped from Europe in an industrial building on Rainforest Clevedale Road off U.S. 29. The company has 10 employees.
“The plan is to produce here, but set up satellite offices in other states,” Crawford said regarding future growth. “We could manufacture here and ship in bulk to another place to reduce cost and increase speed to consumers.”
About $8 billion a year is spent on paints in the Unites States, and Crawford believes the company can carve out a significant niche with customers increasingly concerned about the health and environmental hazards of conventional paints.
Still, he said, one disadvantage is that regulatory controls of chemicals in paints in the U.S. are weaker than in the United Kingdom and Europe, where VOCs are more stringently restricted.
The EPA allows paints to contain up to 250 grams, or 33 ounces per gallon, of VOCs per liter, and manufacturers are allowed to label paint containing five grams per liter, or 0.677 ounces per gallon, as “zero VOC.”
As ECOS puts it, “Let’s spell that out clearly: Even a standard that purports to be a definition of healthy paints allows for more than 6 ounces of VOCs in a gallon of paint.”
