The availability of organic cotton clothing is mostly online, though some large retailers, including Wal-Mart, are beginning to carry it in retail stores. Since people like to try on clothing before buying it, it sells better when we can just go into a store and see if it fits!

You are definitely helping the planet when you choose organic cotton clothing. Conventionally grown cotton is a crop using extremely heavy applications of pesticides; in fact, over 10% of all pesticides used worldwide are applied to cotton. At present, only a very tiny fraction of cotton is grown organically. So-called natural cotton is usually an intermediate between organic and conventional. When you buy an organic garment, you are helping to create consumer demand for more ecological farming methods.

Happily, organic cotton clothing is often competitively priced, and it is widely available online. Those t-shirts of my husband’s came from Cafepress.com, a website where you can upload your own art work and put it on clothing, mugs, and other items. Most of Kelly’s t-shirts sport his own photography. Like many of the websites where you will find organic choices, they are among the conventionally grown choices and you have to watch for them.

There are also a growing number of websites that only sell organic clothing, and many of those also pay attention to the quality of the dyes used and the working conditions of the people who sell the clothing. You can find a lot of these websites by going to your favorite search engine and typing in “organic cotton” or “organic clothing.”

One of the most ecological things you can do with your wardrobe is to go easy on the number of purchases you make. Even buying eco-friendly clothing has an environmental cost, from the manufacture to the shipping. Also, check your local recycled clothing stores and yard sales, because you will often find attractive, nearly new items in your size at such places.

Organic cotton is not the only eco-friendly fabric. Hemp, bamboo, silk, and other fabrics are being grown organically more and more. It’s probably only a matter of time until wearing organic clothing is as common as eating organic food. With our help, that time can come sooner.

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This article came from: Wear Organic Cotton: We Eat Organic Food, Let’s Select Organic Clothing More Often! at SimpleGreenLiving.com..

I also clicked through to his website on organic t-shirts and was pleased to see low prices on organic tees. I looked at the page for women’s organic cotton t-shirts and was pleased to see that they are made at factories powered by wind turbines. Did I buy any? Noo, not now — I don’t happen to NEED any new t-shirts right now, no matter how much I like what these folks are doing. But I bookmarked the site for later! — Zana

Are Bamboo T-Shirts Green Or Not?

By David Urban

If we’re going to talk about bamboo t shirts, we need to start with the bamboo itself. Because bamboo is naturally resistant to bacteria and fungus, it can be grown without the use of pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers. Bamboo is the perfect organic crop.

Bamboo grows incredibly fast and can be harvested in 3-5 years. Classified as a grass, it is the fastest growing grass on Earth and can shoot up a yard or more per day. Acre for acre, Bamboo plantations absorb 5 times the amount of carbon dioxide and produce 35% more oxygen than trees.

In the last few years, bamboo fabric has been made into t-shirts, dresses, swimsuits, you name it. People love it for the way it feels, the way it drapes over the body, and the way it breathes. It feels like nothing else. But we can talk about the great qualities of bamboo, and the great qualities of bamboo fabric, but what you rarely hear is the word: rayon.

But the fact is this: bamboo clothing is made from rayon.

Is this a bad thing? No, of course not. Rayon happens to be a great fabric. So why is the rayon aspect downplayed? To find out, we need to look at the history of rayon and how it is made.

Rayon came about as a result of inventors looking for a cheaper alternative to silk. In 1891, Charles Cross of England, along with Edward Bevan and Clayton Beadle, found a way to make rayon through what they called a viscose process. The process involved heavy chemical processing of wood pulp, from which the rayon fabric was made.

Rayon became very popular and large industrial plants were set up to produce it. But problems developed with hazardous waste, among them carbon disulphide, which ended up polluting the air and groundwater. The Avtex Rayon Fibers Plant in Virginia, for example, was eventually shut down in 1989 and declared by the EPA as a Superfund Site. It cost millions of dollars and years to clean up that site.

So that, in essence, is the problem. We have on one hand a great organic raw material, bamboo, and on the other hand we have a great fabric, bamboo rayon. But the conversion process can be an environmental problem if it isn’t handled correctly.

So how do we know? Who’s to say if any particular rayon plant around the world is handling its waste in a responsible manner? Is anybody watching? Do any of the clothing manufacturers care about the source of the rayon they are buying? Or are clothing companies just concerned with a great, new “green marketing” campaign wrapped around the great qualities of bamboo?

This isn’t far-fetched. In the past, how many clothing companies bought from sweatshops just to save a buck? Right now, how many bamboo clothing companies buy cheap rayon, and never question how it’s being made or what happens to the waste products?

The FTC recently issued a warning about the subject, and charged 4 companies with deceptive advertising. The FTC said, basically, that by leaving out the part about rayon, and just promoting the green aspects of bamboo alone, clothing companies were deceiving the public. In other words, maybe bamboo clothing wasn’t all that green.

So is clothing made from bamboo good or not? Well, it depends on the company making it. But how can you tell if the bamboo rayon in the shirt you buy was made by a responsible company?

The problem is you can’t. There are no current seals of approval, so to speak, that apply to this issue. You will see labels like OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100, but this applies only to the finished fabric properties. The OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100 tells you that the finished product is chemical free, but that doesn’t guarantee that the rayon used in its manufacture didn’t come from some polluting rayon manufacturing plant.

Right now, the best bet to guarantee a bamboo shirt is made from rayon produced in a responsible manner is to stay with well-known, environmentally committed companies who follow a rigorous, ethical, and transparent course from the source up.

In the long run, the organic green movement has to be an unbroken chain from source to destination. That means the growers, the raw-material producers, the manufacturers, the wholesalers, the retailers, and the customers. It all has to work together.

In the end, it’s the customer who makes the last, final, and most important decision. And you can only make the right decision if you know all the facts. So when buying any of the new bamboo rayon clothing products, ask a few questions about who makes them and their commitment to the environment.

David Urban is an avid hiker, backpacker, and environmentalist who has traveled extensively across the American Southwest. He is also the owner of Green Man T-Shirts, supplier of organic t-shirts featuring designs by artist Rob Juszak, which donates 25% of all profits to environmental groups.
http://www.greenmantshirts.com

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What About Green Clothing?

By Todd Ashe

The main gripe some naturalists have with cotton, polyester, and many other clothing fibers most of us wear is that they’re laden with chemicals, and had all sorts of herbicides used while growing the products. You’ve probably noticed that new clothes smell, but that’s not a natural smell, but a chemical smell. Most of us are used to it by now, but some people do have negative reactions to the smell.

Some other people have bad reactions to some of the chemicals in the clothing, although we might not always know it’s because of the chemicals. For instance, a suit jacket made with horse hair and cotton will make some people itch, but it’s not the horse hair that’s doing it on its own. Rather, it’s a mixture of horse hair with chemically treated cotton that people are reacting to.

Instead of going the route that most people go, some folks are looking at other alternatives. One of those alternative is organic cotton. It’s grown just like regular cotton, only no herbicides are used while growing it, and no chemicals are used on the back end either. It doesn’t change the feel of the clothes all that much, but it does change the smell. Plus, the clothes are totally biodegradable, which means if you wanted to, you could bury it in the back yard when you were done with it and it would break down naturally and safely.

Something else that’s occurring these days is a mixture of bamboo fabric and organic cotton. Bamboo fabric come from bamboo grass, and resembles cotton in its unspun form. Bamboo also has antibacterial qualities, which some people like. It doesn’t quite come out white, however, so that’s one reason it will be mixed with cotton, to brighten it up.

The only problem with buying clothing made with organic fibers is that it costs more. Some people don’t care, but for others, since costs can come in between 30% to 50% higher, it might be cost prohibitive. Other than that, though, there’s no appreciable difference between naturalistic clothing and processed clothing.

When protecting your family from harmful and dangerous chemicals use the world’s best green cleaning products from http://www.BioGreenClean.com.

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Many of their designs have an organic option. — I buy organic cotton when I can. –  Zana

Organic Cotton – Leading a Return to the Simple Life

By Randy Pope

In the 1961 movie, “The Graduate”, a young Dustin Hoffman asks his college professor, upon graduating from college, “What do I do now?” To which the professor whispers, “plastics”. At the same time that the revolution against modest clothing captured the minds of America’s youth America began its love affair with synthetics. Now nearly one decade into the 21st century some of the aspects of the simple life are experiencing a come back.

A leading indicator of this return to simple living is the organic cotton industry. In 2008 the number of acres of organic cotton planted in America grew by 9% over 2007, the harvest rose in 2007 over 2006 by 73%, and 2006 statistics indicate that sales of organic fibers and linens grew by 26% in America, according to the Organic Trade Association.

The phrase from simpler times, “cotton, the fabric of your life” describes why a review of organic cotton is apropos of simple living. Until the 18th century all cotton was organic and exemplified the simple life. Cotton processing from ground to garment was completed by hand. American ingenuity changed all of that with the invention of the water-powered spinning machine and the cotton gin. The cotton gin, especially, allowed cotton production to increase 50 times over hand processing.

Today most cotton farms use the latest equipment in their production process, however there is a return to simple living on some farms that are growing cotton organically as they harvest by hand once again. All organic growers have retreated from the practice of using chemicals to control pests and weeds. These farmers use insect predators, traps, or botanical pesticides, that are broken down naturally to control pests and weeds, unmistakable evidence of the simple life.

Many consumers who are embracing simple living have turned to organic cotton as is illustrated by the growth figures in the industry listed above. Some consumers say it is softer and less irritating to the skin, which is of special interest to those prone to skin problems. Others, who suffer from allergies enjoy the benefits of its hypoallergenic properties. Still others who are sensitive to chemicals benefit from the fact that no chemicals are used in processing organic cotton.

Finally, the aesthetic characteristics of organic cotton appeals to those captivated by simple living because of its symbolism and beauty. It symbolizes a simpler time when America was not obsessed with looking like Hollywood starlets; a simpler time when neighborhood and family took precedence over New York and Paris fashion. Its natural beauty is flattering to the simple life. Rather than fade its natural brown color darkens slightly for the first few washings. Since it does not lose its natural wax it has a particular smoothness and weight that enhances the way a garment hangs and the way that it radiates sunlight.

Look to organics for a truly beautiful fabric.

Randy Pope is the founder of Modest Clothing Distributors, which is a distributor of quality Modest Clothing for women and girls. Clothing that is difficult to find in your common department stores. We wish to make modest clothing more available in the mainstream marketplace. we wish to affect the culture with the beauty of modesty. We are partnered with suppliers from diverse backgrounds and a variety of price points in order to provide clothing that highlights true femininity, to meet your needs.

Our success will affect culture for the good. As you purchase modest clothing for yourself and your girls the culture around you will begin to notice the beauty of modesty. You now have a place where you can refer your friends for their wardrobe needs.

We are a family owned and operated business. We are very appreciative of your business. It is through your satisfaction with the products that we make available that we can accomplish our mission of transforming society. The idea for Modest Clothing Distributors was inspired by listening to our friends’ concerns about the lack of modest apparel in the stores. You can find this destination at http://www.modestclothingdistributors.com

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This article came from: Organic Cotton — Leading a Return to the Simple Life at SimpleGreenLiving.com..