Ethically Friendly Cotton Clothing

The Major Issue With Cotton

The primary fact that a person must understand is that cotton itself is a wasteful product. It takes large amounts of pesticides to grow cotton crops, which endangers both animal habitats and the civil rights of workers picking the cotton in the fields which, at its worst, can be backbreaking labour. Always go for organic cotton where possible when buying new clothes. However, there are some things to consider before you rush out ready to melt your credit card that could save you money and minimise the cost to the environment too.

Do You Really Need New Clothes?

It seems like an obvious question, but there is a real problem throughout the world of treating clothes as disposable items. Fashion is a beautiful and artful business, but clothes were not meant to be worn once and then thrown away. Here are a few tips to consider:

1. Only buy something if you can justify using it a number of times, apart from the consideration of howgood you look and feel when wearing it
2. Starting out from the mindset of finding reasons not to buy something and then working towards purchasing it will enable you to remember things such as having bought the exact same cardigan in a different colour a few months back and never having worn it, for instance.
3. There should be no stigma attached to frequenting charity shops and flea markets. In these shops you can find some real bargains and get barely worn goods for rock-bottom prices, minimising the damage you are doing to the environment.

Specialist Retailers and Textiles

When you do buy new clothes, take a look at the “Wear Organic” campaign which lists retailers and alternative textiles to cotton that promote a more environmentally and ethical consumer choice.

There are several alternatives to cotton that are hardier and more ecologically sound. These include hemp, which, in spite of the drug related connotations, is one of the most versatile and resilient materials for cloth making, or the recent phenomenon of recycled polyester, where jackets, trousers, suits, skirts and more are created from old drinks bottles and cartons. Many of these ‘recycled’ products are finding their way into chain stores now, so you can expect larger ranges and better quality garments in the future.

All this demonstrates that fashion need not be damaging to the environment and that you can enjoy what you wear whilst also knowing that you are making a difference to the planet.

Ethical Clothing

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