Eco clothing - cotton

 Cotton is a versatile material from which various clothes, towels, etc. are made. It is considered one of the airiest and natural materials, but this is not the case. The production of fabrics has a great impact on the environment and also in the production of "natural" material, such as cotton, huge amounts of chemicals, pesticides and insecticides are used, which are harmful to us and the environment.

We used to change clothes generationally when we outgrew them, they were worn by our siblings, later maybe some cousins, but even after that, the clothes were not as washed and stretched as the clothes we buy today and only wash a few times. The difference is mainly that sometimes there was no such offer of clothes, so they were more expensive and less affordable than today. The essential difference is that the clothes at that time were mostly made of cotton, they were grown more naturally, as fewer fertilizers and aggressive chemicals were used in the production than today. It is true that the yield was consequently lower and the price of the product higher, but the quality of the final product was not disputed.

Today it is just the opposite. Consumers are the ones who dictate the pace of the market, which follows our needs. Consumers and producers have the same logic. The former want more and more different offers at the lowest possible prices, while the latter wants the highest possible yield, the lowest possible costs, and high profits.

All of this revolves in a circle, and the quality of clothing declines as a result. More and more chemicals are used to produce classic cotton, which is confirmed by the fact that only 3% of all agricultural land is used for its cultivation, and on the other hand as much as 25% of all chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Pests adapt quickly to chemicals, so the amounts of these agents are increasing every year. Of course, we and our children feel this on our health, and we are also poisoning the planet on which we live. Nevertheless, things are changing and the situation is improving. In opposition to this, organic cotton processing is emerging, in which only organic fertilizers and natural pesticides are used.

What are the trends?

In recent years, global sales of organic garments made from organically grown cotton have risen sharply. This happened despite the economic crisis, and the reason for this is probably that we humans are becoming more ecologically aware, taking care of our health, and at the same time, we are becoming increasingly aware that we play an important role as individuals in caring for the environment.

The growing demand for organic clothing is also reflected in the growing supply of so-called. "Organic collections" of well-known brands such as Replay, Diesel, Nike, Chanel. Their most common slogans emphasize precisely that ecological awareness can now combine the beautiful and the modern. Thus, in certain stores, we can come across shirts made of organic cotton with buttons made of stone, coconut, wood, or shells. For organic clothing, they use cotton, silk, or linen, which are grown in a natural, organic way, from unmodified seeds and without the use of artificial fertilizers, toxic fungicides, insecticides, and pesticides. They also follow the norms of organic production and use natural dyes in their further processing and production.

Organic cotton

They use similar procedures to grow organic cotton as they used to do - they regularly rotate the products and thus maintain the quality of the soil. They use natural compost instead of artificial fertilizers, and the use of insecticides is also prohibited. Instead, organic farmers encourage natural enemies and lure pests away from cotton by planting other crops. We need more knowledge and patience for such a method of production, so the yield is lower and consequently more expensive. If we want to do something good for ourselves, for the lives of our children and our planet, then we must ignore these "disadvantages", because clothes made of such fabric are healthy and environmentally friendly and of much better quality. This is especially true for organic cotton baby clothes that touch the skin, as they are less likely to cause allergies.

Attention! You need to be careful when buying organic cotton products. It is not enough to read on the label of a textile product that it is made of organic cotton, because this does not necessarily mean that this product is really an eco textile product. In addition to organic cotton itself, the production in which a garment is made is also important. This means you can buy organic cotton dyed with highly toxic dyes, which is not stated on the label. Precisely for this reason, every such product must be certified (such as GOTS, EU Ecolabel, Fairtrade, BSCI, ÖKO-TEX, etc.) and meet textile standards. As a result, the origin of an eco-product without a certificate is still questionable.

Compromise for health and the environment

It is best to compromise between price and quantity, and we must always put health and care for the environment first. So we can afford slightly more expensive organic clothes that are better and more important for the health of us and our children, we just have to learn to buy rationally and ask ourselves what means more to us - a closet full of cheap, low-quality clothes that we wash twice and throw away, or a small number of quality products that will serve us and our health for years and years. By opting for the latter, we will not only do much for ourselves, but also for our environment, which we often forget about.