Organic Fashion

Organic cotton is cotton that is grown without pesticides from plants which are not genetically modified.

High levels of agrochemicals are used in the production of non-organic, conventional cotton. Cotton production uses more chemicals per unit area than any other crop and accounts in total for 16% of the world's pesticides. The chemicals used in the processing of cotton also pollute the air and surface waters. Residual chemicals may also irritate consumers' skin.

Organic agriculture uses crop rotation instead of agrochemicals and artificial fertilisear, and biological pest control instead of pesticides. Though organic cotton has less environmental impact than conventional cotton, it costs more to produce.

Critics of organic farming in general point out that genetic modification of crops can have environmental benefits. Crops can be engineered to have a higher yields, allowing smaller plots to be dedicated to farming. It also can reduce crops' reliance on pesticides, making engineered plants potentially more suitable for no-pesticide techniques than conventional varieties.

Organic clothing is clothing that is made from materials that are raised or grown without the use of chemicals in the form of pesticides, herbicides or other chemicals.

Many clothing retailers market organic clothing ranges that contain many chemicals from dyes to bleaches and other chemicals to aid transportion many thousands of miles from their manufacture in places such as India and China.  We suggest you contact your government for the most current standards and requirements regarding labeling and marketing of organic materials.  Authentic organic fabrics and clothing can help the environment in a number of ways.

• manufacture of chemicals is not required
• chemical residues are not entered accidentally into the environment
• Humans and animals are not exposed to chemicals
• when the fabric is finished with chemicals are not returned to the earth in landfill, or enter into recycling process.

Sustainable fashion is fashion that is designed to be environmentally friendly. It is part of the larger trend of "ethical fashion," and according to the May 2007 Vogue appears not to be a short-term trend but one could last multiple seasons. (In my opinion, it is best to become a perminent trend).  While environmentalism used to be manifest in fashion through a percentage of sales being donated to a charitable cause, fashion designers have recently adopted the idea of sustainability, using more environmentally-friendly materials and methods in clothing production.   Designers say that they are trying to incorporate these sustainable practices into modern clothing, rather than producing "dusty, hippy-looking clothes."  Sustainable fashion is typically more expensive than clothing produced by conventional methods.  Here at Apparel Search, we feel that helping the environment is worth any prices.  At the popularity of organic and sustainable clothing grows, you will see an increasing number of Hollywood celebrities become associated with sustainable fashion.  It appears that the organic fashion trend can never hurt the PR of the celebs.

Now lets talk a little bit about Natural Fibers.  Natural fibers include those made from plant (or vegitable), animal and mineral sources. Natural fibers can be classified according to their origin.  Although they are from natural sources, not all natural fibers can be termed as organic fibers.  For example, cotton is a natural fiber (coming from a plant).  However, not all cotton fiber can be classified as "organic cotton".  You will need to read up on the most current requirements and labeling instructions.

Reference about Natural Fibers:

Vegetable fibers or plant fibers are generally comprised mainly of cellulose.  Examples include cotton, linen, jute, flax, ramie, sisal, and hemp.  Cellulose fibers serve in the manufacture of paper and cloth.  This fiber can be further categorized into the following:

• Seed Fiber : Fibers collected from seeds or seed cases. e.g. cotton and kapok.
• Leaf Fiber: Fibers collected from leaves. e.g. sisal and agave.
• Bast Fiber or skin fiber: Fibers are collected from the skin or bast surrounding the stem of their respective plant. These fibers have higher tensile strength than other fibers. Therefore, these fibers are used for durable yarn, fabric, packaging, and paper. Some examples are jute, kenaf, industrial hemp, ramie, rattan, soybean fiber, and even vine fibers and banana fibers.
• Fruit Fibers: Fibers are collected from the fruit of the plant, e.g. coconut (coir) fiber.
• Stalk Fibers: Fibers are actually the stalks of the plant. E.g. straws of wheat, rice, barley, and other crops including bamboo and grass. Tree wood is also such a fiber.