Organic Fabrics: The Cast of Characters |
Published by Vanessa Brunner under Clothing
Organic Cotton: The Popular One.
Organic cotton is the most popular of all organic fabrics. Between 2005 and 2006, demand for Organic Cotton doubled (according to the Organic Consumers Association). Part of this is due to cotton’s flexibility, since it can be used in clothing as well as personal care items (such as cotton swabs, baby diapers, paper, sheets, and towels).
Organic Hemp: The One Who’ll Always Be There
Hemp is a highly durable, natural fiber. Hemp is a highly sustainable material since it requires no pesticides and very little water to grow. Not only that, but hemp is a renewable resource, leaving the soil intact after it is harvested. This means that farmers are able to grow hemp crops year after year. Hemp is another flexible material, and can be used in skin products and paper. Hemp fibers are often blended with cotton or silk to make the fabric softer.
Organic Wool: The Complicated One
Organic wool is certified as organic according to specific standards set by the USDA. Because wool involves livestock, there are rigid guidelines that farmers producing organic wool must follow. These include: livestock feed must be certified organic, no synthetic hormones/pesticides/genetic engineering are used, and producers encourage livestock health through good management practices.
Organic Silk: The Wild Child
Silk is a more difficult material to monitor, since it is a naturally occurring process and is generally considered “organic.” However, many providers of organic silk insist on using wild silkworms instead of the blind and helpless Bombyx mori silkworm, making the practice more ethical and even more organic.
Sustainable fabrics include those made from bamboo, soy, and woodpulp. These materials can also include new hybrids made from recycled by products such as plastic soda bottles, old billboards, and other innovative ideas
Bamboo is considered a good choice by many farmers, since it grows very quickly and can be farmed without pesticides or chemical additives. Bamboo is also 100% biodegradable, and is great for sportswear since it naturally holds antibacterial and moisture wicking properties.
While all of these fabrics are starting to become available at most retail stores, many tend to avoid them because of the hefty price tag. While there are many reasons for the high price of organic clothing, even more important are the larger reasons for purchasing these materials:
-In the US there are about 12.8 million acres of conventional cotton, with about four pounds of cotton produced per acre. Approximately 55 million pounds of pesticides are sprayed on that acreage, making cotton the third most pesticide dependent crop (behind corn and soybeans).
-Conventional cotton uses up to 10% of all agricultural chemicals and 25% of insecticides on 3% of arable land.
-The use of pesticides on cotton adds up to about a third a pound of chemicals for one t-shirt and ¾ a pound of chemicals for a pair of jeans.
-20,000 deaths occur each year from pesticide poisoning in developing countries, many of these from cotton farming, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
When it comes down to it, choosing organic is about letting nature take its course. I love this description of organic farming from How Stuff Works: “It may sound like an elusive concept, but the basis for organic farming is actually very simple: Allow nature to do what nature does best.”
Sources:
2 Responses to “Organic Fabrics: The Cast of Characters”
Leave a Reply
Find Us
Blog Sponsors
Featured Designers
-
A Lot To Say
AirDye
Alabama Chanin
Beyond Skin
Bibico
Bird Textiles – Luxury Eco Textile Design
Bobelle
C. Marchuska
CLOTH
Desira Pesta
Doucette Duvall
Eco-Citizen
Ecoist
EcoLogiQue
ecoSkin
Escama Studio
Feral Childe
Greenbees
Jackston, Johnson, & Roe
Jen Darling
Kill Spencer
Komodo
Mountains of the Moon
Nau
Novacas
Olsenhaus
Pia Stanchina
Popomomo
Prairie Underground
Rani Jones
Remade USA
Stay Vocal
SUST
Te Casan by Natalie Portman
Terra Plana
The Wren
The Wren
TRAIDremade
Vagadu
Zachary's Smile
Sustainable Fashion
-
Bibico
Clary Sage Organics
Commerce With A Conscience
Eco Fashion World
EcoStiletto
Ecouterre
Ethical Fashion Forum
Ethical Style
Fashion, Evolved
FeelGoodStyle
Green Grechen
Green LA Girl
On Our Sleeve
Project Green Search
Style Saves The World
Style Will Save Us
Sustain Your Style
The Green Loop
Thereafterish
Threadbanger
Fashion/Style Blogs
-
Cotorture
denim on denim
Full Frontal Fashion
Good Girls Cook and Wear Makeup
Green Cotton
Green Vogue SOS
Hello Beauty Blog
Ip & Audrey
NOTCOUTURE
Paper Doll
Smart.Sustainable.Style.
The Beauty Bohemian
The Thrifty Chicks
WIT and Whimsy
Sustainable Shopping
-
Beklina
Conifer SF
Conifer SF
Green Eyed
Jute & Jackfruit
Kaight
Kind Boutique
Lizard Lounge
Mayu
My Green Lipstick
The Green Loop
Sustainable Design
Green Living
-
Alternative Consumer
Cinnaholic
EarthSense
Easy Eco To Go
Eco Creative
Fig + Sage
Forced Green
Glamology
Going Green Limousine
Lacretia Hardy, Health Coach
Modern Hippie Mag
Social Alterations
Sun People Dry Goods
The Chic Ecologist
The Daily Green
The Snappy Dragon
To Be The Change
Traveling Greener
Green By Design on Twitter
Recent Comments











Hello. It would be nice to have more in depth articles about the ‘organic-green fibers’, since only part of the story is being told here. Things like the processing of the materials, broader concerns like the water usage of cotton, deeper environmental concerns. beacuse all of the fibers we use do go through industrial processing, and some are much better than others; naturally rhetted hemp vs. using chemicals to break down the fiber, or for example the processing of bamboo, which is basically like rayon fiber fabric. I haven’t researched it a lot myself, but am aware of some issues as I use fabric for my clothing line. Thanks!
although i work in the cotton “field” i feel like i know nothing about what’s going on in this domain after reading your article.