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Where can I find fashionable clothing brands that use
organic materials?
Increased environmental concerns worldwide have not
escaped the notice of the fashion industry, which has been fast
incorporating organic materials into its designs. Materials such as hemp
and bamboo are coming on strong, but organic cotton is by far the fabric of
choice for most green clothing designers. According to Organic Exchange, a
nonprofit committed to expanding the use of organically grown fibers,
global retail sales of organic-cotton products increased from $245 million
in 2001 to $583 million in 2005. The problem with traditional cotton — by far the
most used clothing fabric in the world, constituting a $300 billion global
market — is that producers use liberal amounts of insecticides,
herbicides, and synthetic fertilizers to grow it. Analysts estimate that
cotton crops use about one-quarter of all of the agricultural insecticides
applied globally each year. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, seven of the top 15 pesticides used on U.S. cotton crops are
potential or known human carcinogens. In light of such problems, choosing organically grown
alternatives may be one of the best things consumers can do to help the
environment. Luckily, many designers are using such materials to great
effect in their newest lines. Examples include Kelly B Couture, Xylem, Turk
+ Taylor, Blue Canoe, Stewart + Brown, Armour Sans Anguish, Ecoganik,
NatureVsFuture, EcoDragon, Gypsy Rose, Maggie’s Organic, Two Star
Dog, and Enamore, all which are making waves in fashion circles with their
cutting-edge clothing designs crafted from materials grown without harmful
synthetic chemicals. Big players such as Levi Strauss, Victoria’s
Secret, Esprit, Patagonia, and Timberland are also increasingly offering
organic cotton products. Singer Bono, along with his wife, Ali Hewson, and
designer Rogan Gregory, launched their Edun brand in 2005, offering
organic-cotton T-shirts and sweatshirts made in Tunisia and Peru. A key
part of Edun’s mission is fair wages and healthy working conditions
for garment workers in developing countries. Some online retailers featuring hip clothing made from
organic materials include such upstarts as ShopEnvi, Bamboo Styles, and
Grassroots Natural Goods and better-known outlets such as Gaiam. Even
Wal-Mart and Target are now stocking wide ranges of organic cotton
clothing. To find other organic-clothing retailers, the online repository
of all things green, EcoMall, offers an impressive listing of sources for a
wide range of cool, green-friendly garments on its clothing page. Another
Web site, EcoBusinessLinks, provides a listing on its Natural Clothing
Retailers Page. Meanwhile, the nonprofit Organic Consumers Association
has launched “Clothes for a Change,” a campaign to pressure
major clothing retailers and manufacturers to wean themselves off
traditional cotton- and petroleum-derived polyesters and start using more
organic materials. Another key element of the campaign is to educate
consumers about the benefits of clothing made from organic materials.
For more information: Gaiam,
www.gaiam.com; EcoMall, www.ecomall.com/biz/clothing.htm; EcoBusinessLinks,
www.ecobusinesslinks.com; Organic Consumers Association Clothes for a
Change Campaign, www.organicconsumers.org/clothes/.
Send questions to Earth Talk, care of E/The Environmental Magazine,
P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881 or e-mail earthtalk@emagazine.com.
This article appears in Jan 18-24, 2007.
