Organic fashion
Organic fashion means clothes which have been made with a minimum use of chemicals and with minimum damage to the environment. This includes chemicals used during every step in the process, from growing cotton, to the dying and finishing of the fabric.
Eco fashion
Eco fashion refers to clothing that has been manufactured using environmentally-friendly processes, and includes organic clothing. Eco fashion clothing can use recycled clothing and even recycled materials such as eco-fleeced produced from recycled plastic soda bottles. Eco fashion is not necessarily made from organic fibres.
Why Support Organic and Eco Fashion?
The fashion industry has an enormous impact on the environment.
Many of the clothes we wear today are made from synthetic materials such as nylon and polyester. Nylon and polyester are made from petrochemicals, which are very polluting to the environment, causing global warming. They are also non-biodegradable, which means they don't break down easily and so are difficult to dispose of. In order to manufacture nylon, nitrous oxide is released as part of the process. Nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas that is 310 times stronger than carbon dioxide and causes global warming.
Viscose is another artificial fibre, made from wood pulp. To make viscose, wood pulp is treated with toxic chemicals such as caustic soda and sulphuric acid.
Natural fibres have their problems, too. Cotton uses more pesticide per cotton plant than almost any other crop in the world. This has serious impacts, causing illness and even death amongst cotton farmers who are exposed to dangerous pesticides every day. These pesticides also affect local eco-systems, killing certain plants and animals and causing an imbalance.
The chemicals used to grow cotton remain in the fabric and are released during the lifetime of the garments so they affect people wearing clothes too.
Hazardous chemicals are also used on wool - for example in sheep dips, where they have been linked with illness amongst sheep farmers.
Certain dyes are thought to cause cancer. In many parts of the world, garments are dyed or bleached using toxic chemicals without proper precautions; the chemicals used can then affect workers and flow into sewers and rivers, damaging local ecosystems.
Virtually all polycotton (especially bedlinen), plus all 'easy care', 'crease resistant', 'permanent press' cotton, are treated with the toxic chemical, formaldehyde.
Organic and Eco-Friendly Fabrics and Dyes
Organic cotton
Organic cotton is grown without the use of chemical pesticides and insecticides. Apart from damaging health and the environment - these are also very expensive for farmers - so if they can be cut out of the process, everybody gains.
Organic cotton garments are often also free from chlorine bleaches and synthetic dyes.
"While organic farming is more difficult, it saves lives from not using pesticides. We no longer have debt problems. Income is all profit at the end of season. Land and soil are preserved." - Farmer Gera Paul, Benin
Hemp
Hemp is seen as being an eco-friendly crop , as it needs few or no agrichemicals to grow, and at the same time it binds and enriches the soil with its deep roots.
Linen
Linen is made from flax, another traditional fibre crop which needs few chemical fertilisers, and less pesticide than cotton.
Organic wool
Organic wool is increasingly becoming available: it is produced using sustainable farming practises and without toxic sheep dips.
Natural dyes
Natural dyes are made from plants, vegetables, and roots. A wide variety of colourfast pigments can be achieved in the way.