Environmentally conscious shoppers have long been aware of how important it is to buy organic cotton. While cotton could be a far more sustainable choice than synthetic fibers, given its renewability, cotton is widely considered the world’s dirtiest crop: conventional cotton cultivation is the reason behind 17.5 percent of global insecticide sales and ten percent of all agricultural chemicals used worldwide, according to the Sustainable Trade Initiative. It also accounts for 2.6 percent of the water footprint for all goods and services consumed globally, and since cotton accounts for 40 percent of the global textile production, that’s no small problem.

But organic cotton, while widely available, is just plain expensive. Organic cotton costs about $2.20 per pound versus about 0.61 cents per pound for conventional, so it’s no surprise that shoppers often balk at the price of organic cotton clothing — and that less than one percent of the world’s cotton production is organic.

Thankfully, an alternative has presented itself in the form of sustainable cotton.

The Better Cotton Initiative was developed in 2005 for the express purpose of making sustainable cotton more accessible to both buyers and  farmers. Farmers who sign on to the Better Cotton Initiative are taught to grow cotton using less pesticides and water than traditional cotton, all the while keeping prices in check for consumers.

“That’s one of the aims, to make Better Cotton mainstream and make it available for the masses,” Ulrika Hvistendahl, sustainability spokeswoman for Ikea, told Bloomberg. Ikea uses one percent of the world’s cotton. Better Cotton made up 70 percent of Ikea’s cotton usage in 2015.

Better Cotton is made with certain Production and Principles Criteria in mind, including minimizing the harmful impact of crop production, efficient water use, conservation of natural habitats, and the promotion of Decent Work. It offers a halfway mark between the strict conditions and high prices of organic cotton and the unsustainable alternative.

Today, Better Cotton accounts for about 12 percent of global cotton production (versus 0.5 percent for organic cotton), and it’s the majority of cotton being used by companies like Nike and H&M.

Levi Strauss & Co. is an Implementing Partner with Better Cotton, reflecting both the company’s sustainability goals and its long history with the cotton industry.

“Becoming a Pioneer Member of BCI this year reflects our company’s commitment since 2009 to transform how cotton is cultivated for our business, our consumers, and the millions of people in some of the world’s poorest countries who depend on it for their livelihood,” Manuel Baigorri, director of global sustainability operations for Levi Strauss & Co, told Triple Pundit.

And Better Cotton continues to grow. The goal is to reach five million farmers and 30 percent of global cotton production by 2020, making sustainable cotton an even more attainable goal for eco-conscious shoppers.

Related on EcoSalon
Follow the ‘Cotton Road’: The Fashion Industry’s Unflattering Supply Chain
Don’t Get Caught Wearing Non-Organic Cotton Around Neil Young
Sustainable Fashion Designers Changing the Game

The post Sustainable Cotton is the New ‘Better’ Organic Cotton appeared first on EcoSalon.

Following the path of cotton from field to suit, Laura Kissel’s documentary “Cotton Road” sets out to explore the fashion industry’s previously elusive supply chain.

“Americans consume nearly 20 billion new items of clothing each year,” reads the opening on-screen caption, followed by the statistic: “98% of it is manufactured overseas.”

A domino effect is soon discovered: one that is largely influenced by U.S. economic conditions, expanding far beyond the fashion industry. That prevalence is first made evident by the dialogue of Carl Brown, a South Carolina cotton farmer, lamenting the impact of the 2008 financial crisis on agriculture. He explains that crops are treated with a chemical weed-killing combination of Roundup and Staple, highlighting the environmental impact of the apparel industry that can begin before factories even become involved. Then, he utters what is perhaps the most blood-boiling sentiment found in the film’s total running time:

“We cannot afford to pay the same price for fertilizer next year that we did this year,” Brown says. “Coupled with that, we’ve had these genetically modified seeds going up [in price]. Monsanto, who’s the primary player in the market, [is] adding to their technology fees.” The biotech giant, it turns out, threatens to appear in more household rooms than the kitchen.”*

Eventually, the cultivated cotton lands by ship in the pollution-fogged Shanghai, where Cathie Xu, a port logistics specialist, states what some might identify as the essence of the supply chain’s every wrongdoing. At first, she says with a laugh, she despised the smell of cotton, until her supervisor told her, “It’s the smell of money.”

“I like the smell now,” she says.

It’s a conviction echoed throughout the film, particularly in the narratives of Chinese textile factory employees: predominantly young women who come to the warehouse-laden, industrial Shanghai suburb of Changzhou out of financial necessity. One of them, Liu Chengfeng, was sent there by her mother at age 18. The money she would earn was necessary to fix the leaking roof of her family’s home, or else the house would flood. Her recollection of the dye factories she observed in Changzhou raise further environmental issues, as she describes “lots of terrible smells coming out, and some polluted water.”

Back in Shanghai, there are more factories. One of them, the Shanghai Sky-High Fashion Company, is managed by Jiang Guifang, a noticeably better-dressed, direct woman who keeps no secrets regarding the supply chain’s corrupt nature. Pay attention to Guifang; she’s the voice behind the documentary’s pivotal final 12 minutes, in which she definitively illustrates where the harmful nature of the cotton and clothing trade comes to fruition.

The first problem is the fee offered by American companies, which she says “has always been low,” but today, “the quantities have fallen. And the price offered now is even lower than before.”

Complicating matters are the factory inspections required by many of these American companies, the funds and time for which relatively small operations, like Guifang’s, do not have. Those who do pass the inspections, she implies, have done so through “underhanded” means.

“If you do business following all the standards, you can not survive,” Guifang explains. “For example, no working overtime. If they work overtime, you need to pay them several times their salary. How can we afford those salaries on the prices offered by American companies?”

In a sense, “Cotton Road” sheds more light on the implications of U.S. economic conditions than it does about its foreign counterparts; after all, it is on American farms where the path appears to begin. Domestically, there already exists the widespread dilemma of paying minimum-wage earners a sustainable living, leaving concerned citizens wondering how to resolve conflicts on both the national and international level. Can they be remedied with federal regulation and, if so, how? Or, is responsibility ultimately assigned to the private sector?

Guifang’s account, however, raises skepticism regarding the plausibility of efforts made by corporations to improve labor conditions overseas, challenging the idea that a significant number of international manufacturers even have the means to follow such standards. At the very least, “Cotton Road” prompts many personal considerations, leaving several members of its audience dejectedly motivated to check the labels of what they have elected to wear that day. The results mirror the montage of images displayed at the movie’s conclusion: A shuffling slideshow of labels originating in China, India, Bangladesh and Indonesia.

The film leaves behind no uncertainty of a troubling reality. Rather, it begs the question of what can be done. To learn more about “Cotton Road” or to attend a screening, visit www.cottonroadmovie.com. 

*A timeline of Monsanto’s penetration of the cotton seed market was compiled in Food & Water Watch’s “Monsanto: A Corporate Profile.”

Related on EcoSalon

Finding the Sexy In a Supply Chain : EcoSalon

H&M Advocates Transparency…Really?

‘Made in the USA’ Accelerator Program

Image: Mike Beauregard

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Hey, hey, my, my.  Neil Young is going a little bit Crazy Horse about ditching non-organic cotton.

On his recent European tour, the rocker treated some fans to free organic cotton T-shirts. They came with a caveat though: “I’m hoping that when you wear your PROTECT/EARTH T-shirt, you will vow to PROTECT EARTH and to take a stand for EARTH in the ways that you can,” Young wrote on his website.

According to Ecouterre, Young is personally making sure his concert merchandise is now all made from organic cotton because he says non-organic cotton is extremely damaging to the planet. And he’s not wrong. It’s the most pesticide-intensive commercial crop. He wrote on his website: “In the U.S., it takes about 1/3 of a pound of pesticides and herbicides to grow enough conventional cotton for just one T-shirt,” he said. “The Environmental Protection Agency considers seven of the top 15 pesticides used on cotton in the United States as “possible,” “likely,” “probable,” or “known” human carcinogens (acephate, dichloropropene, diuron, fluometuron, pendimethalin, tribufos, and trifluralin). These chemicals absorb into the soil which can affect nearby crops, get into water supplies and rivers and affect many lifeforms downstream.” It ain’t no trip to Sugar Mountain. And Young is really amped up about it for good reason.

He also came out as pro-hemp, which is also a much healthier alternative to non-organic cotton, but since it’s not as widely available currently, he encouraged opting for organic cotton instead. It’s the “wiser option,” he said. Seems like Young has a Heart of Gold when it comes to the planet and our farmers.

Find Jill on Twitter @jillettinger

Related on EcoSalon

The Ripple Effect of India’s Organic Cotton Scandal

Alabama Chanin’s Natalie Chanin on Working Her Own Organic Cotton Fields

Agrocel: Helping Indian Cotton Farmers Go Organic

image via Neil Young official Facebook page

The post Don’t Get Caught Wearing Non-Organic Cotton Around Neil Young appeared first on EcoSalon.

EcoSalon interviews Lily Piyathaisere, the brains (and hands, and heart) behind  the made in NYC jewelry line, Gamma Folk. 

Juliette Donatelli: What is at the heart of your jewelry line Gamma Folk?

Lily Piyathaisere: Gamma Folk is really about the merging of new materials. So the new collection incorporated ceramics, which is a white earthenware clay, and I like to incorporate that with natural fibers. Everything is naturally dyed using different plant based materials including indigo and log wood. What I love about log wood is that it has a range. You can add modifiers and different things to have a range of purples to grays.

The ceramics are all hand built. It is my first time incorporating ceramics. I love the fibers but I was always looking for weight. It is a comfortable necklace but you want it to hang, and I thought it was a good was to incorporate that.

JD: Is there a history to where the fibers are sourced? Or how they are dyed?

LP:  Well, I do everything myself. I do all the dying in small batches. There are variations that occur and that is what is part of what is beautiful about it. They are all cotton.

JD: How does your customers respond to the specialty and craftsmanship behind each piece?

LP: I think that people who like my stuff, really like my stuff. Meaning they appreciate the handmade quality of it, and that there is variation. There are times I will work with people who are kind of like, “Oh that is too different.” You know, they make that point. And I always say, ‘Variations are natural.’ And that’s how you know it isn’t a good fit. The right people appreciate that. If they want something mass produced they’ve got to go elsewhere.

Part of textile arts in general is the labor part of it and embracing that part.

JD: You participated in the Market 605 pop-up shop in NYC, which brought together conscious designers throughout NYC into a single retail space. In your experience, what has the public response been to Market 605?

LP: The response from the public, whether they have found us online or through press, or even walk-throughs have been really nice. The locals around here get really excited to find something unique in this area because they have a lot of chain stores moving in, so the people that I have met get excited to see something new going on.

images: photographer Christine Han for Gamma Folk

Want More Interviews? See Also

The Promising Future of Men’s Fashion: An Interview With the Discerning Brute’s Joshua Katcher

Interview: Lingerie Line Enamore Promotes Design Over Eco

Nettie Kent: Value Driven Brass Jewelry Designer

The post Made in NYC Wearable Artist Lily Piyathaisere of Gamma Folk appeared first on EcoSalon.

Designer David Peck shows the many colors of his Spring/Summer 2013 collection.

Fashion, David Peck makes clear, is more than just the clothes we wear. With his eponymous CROP by David Peck Spring/Summer 2013 collection, Peck shows that fashion is both transformative and character defining. (Translation: You are what you wear.)

Underpinning Peck’s “Once Upon a Dream” collection is a stream of narratives, both deeply personal to the designer and profoundly universal. The artistic fish motif, for instance, that swims across silk organza dresses, organic cotton sateen shifts and linen chiffon shirts, is transported from the characters of “Wynken, Blynken and Nod,” a popular poem by American writer Eugene Field.

The designer’s starting point for the seasons’ fish motif began as a stylized cardboard cutout.

His floral origami prints, radiating across pieces like the silk chiffon Arable Top and Laurie Trouser (below), traveled from Peck’s yesteryear love for the Child Craft Encyclopedias—the place from where he began his artistic pursuits.

Other garments speak from journeys later in life. His geographical dresses, skirts and shirts, imprinted with a historical Parisian map from 1850, hail from Peck’s love for his home of six years, where he studied fashion design at École Parsons  Paris. As Peck and I tour the garment and its subtle French centerpiece, we catch sight of the Louvre and the Seine en route to his former apartment.

Beyond the artistic magnificence of Peck’s designs—down to the careful back cutouts and the meticulous placement of seams—is the diversity of all he creates in a single season. Wearable for women across ages, passions and pursuits, he gives his wearer the ingredients to make the piece her own. Classic twists like the racer top Attonia Dress (below), the Havisham Gown from locally sourced viscose jersey (below) or the striped and plaid Elinore dress, made from entirely hand-woven cotton from India, bring playful sophistication to the forefront—day to night and year to year.

For Peck, though, the greatest fashion statement of all is the one he wears proudly: Made in the USA. Each collection is designed and stitched in his namesake production facility in Houston, Texas. There, he works to create his own collection stateside and produces for four other brands who also see the value in local. Through collaboration with the Greater Houston Partnership, Peck hopes this will only continue to grow, as companies take advantage of domestic skills, the large port that Houston offers and the efficiency that local manufacturing can create.

To further support local communities throughout the United States, 10 percent of profits from the complete Spring/Summer 2013 collection will go directly toward caring for homeless youth through the charge of Covenant House. Through such initiatives Peck upholds his founding vision to promote “Creative Opportunities,” abbreviated as CROP.

Dreams, Peck shows, really do come true.

Some more looks we love:

Images: Jennifer Barckley

The post NYFW: CROP by David Peck Takes on Literature and Place appeared first on EcoSalon.

To Dry For is to die for. An entire website of graphically intoxicating tea towels is seriously alluring, especially since the season of entertaining is nearly here. Why not add a little charm to the least glamorous facet of entertaining, the heaps of dishes left behind by mounds of visitors. The collection of tea towels at To Dry For has given me the perfect excuse to escape the dish soap and suds for the appeal of an unexpected pop of glamor. You wash, I’ll dry.

This is the perfect time of year to fall in love with tea towels. Not only will they gently wick the water off your favorite dishware set, but they also provide a subtle conversation topic for the dreaded after dinner lull (although it’s generally a bad sign if your kitchen linens have more personality than your guests). For a vivid touch of charisma, just dangle one in your kitchen. Or, assuming you want to make your host/hostess swoon, tea towels are a beautiful hostess gift.

If confections of linen and cotton aren’t enough to entice your visit to To Dry For, maybe the little known facts and clever anecdotes will lure you into reading every single product description for a dose of subliminal education while you peruse. Did you know lobsters have blue blood? Did you know the Albert Bridge is the only bridge in London that has never been rebuilt?

I couldn’t resist sharing a handful of my beloved tea towels. Above, from left to right: Irons, You Wash, I’ll Dry, and Sardines. Below, from left to right: Mid Century Chairs, A Meal Without Wine, and Dirty.

I may not be able to sleep tonight if I don’t point you toward this mustard yellow Tea Rex towel and this “˜t’ towel (I know, the wit is almost unbearable). Enjoy!

The post To Dry For appeared first on EcoSalon.

There are many levels of eco-fashion at this point in the game. So many people are trying to make us understand why we should support it, what we shouldn’t buy and what we should. Then there is the ultimate question of whether the very notion of eco-fashion is a paradox itself?

Honestly, there are times when I too feel like taking a happy pill to get away from it all but the only way to be a part of it is to be educated. So don’t stop now.

These 15 books will take you down many interesting roads on your journey. Be open to it.

1. Eco Fashion by Sass Brown (Paperback)

“This book shows the range of companies making a difference in the area of sustainable design in fashion, exploding the myth that sustainable design is bad design, or at best basic design, by highlighting the range of companies producing desirable and well-designed apparel and accessories with a conscience. It not only demonstrates the range of products available around the globe, but explains the stories behind them and the communities they support, as well as showing how and where they make a difference.” – Laurence King Publishing

2. Future Fashion White Papers by Earth Pledge (Paperback)

“A collection of 30 compelling essays by scientists, retailers, farmers, dyers, models and others in the industry, including Diane von Furstenberg, Julie Gilhart, and Shalom Harlow. FutureFashion White Papers take an in-depth look at the fashion industry and provides a thoughtful, wide-ranging analysis of how a transition to sustainability can be achieved. Diane von Furstenberg notes: ‘FutureFashion White Papers is an exploration that signifies movement towards a more sustainable fashion industry. It is an opportunity to think about and evaluate the fashion industry as it stands today’.” – Earth Pledge

3. The Eco-chick Guide To Life by Starre Vartan (Paperback)

“Every now and then, someone comes along who shows the rest of us how much we take for granted the freedoms of our daily lives. The eco-journalist, blogger and all-around green genie Starre Vartan is one such person. In The Eco Chick Guide to Life, her earth-first program for glamorous but environmentally conscious living, she mines new lodes of guilt, finding gems of awareness and providing detailed eco-wise shopping guides for the body, the closet, the home and the larder.” – The New York Times

4. DIY Fashion by Selena Francis-Bryden (Paperback)

“DIY Fashion is a cool, quirky, and creative guide to making and customizing your own clothes, bags, and accessories. It contains more than 40 thrifty, sustainable, and stylish projects, none of which require prior skill or a sewing machine. From customized hand-me-downs to elegant evening wear, the book is packed with ideas that the reader can adapt to their own taste.” – Amazon

5. Eco-Chic, The Fashion Paradox by Sandy Black (Paperback)

“Sandy Black has divided the book into four chapters: The Greening of the Fashion Industry, Re-Designing Fashion, Fibre to Fabric and Fabric to Fashion. In the first chapter she has profiled six of the most influential players in the UK ethical fashion industry: the inimitable Lynda Grose, the pioneering Fair Trade label People Tree, the mainstream advocates Marks and Spencer, the long-term campaigner Katharine Hamnett and the style leader Sarah Ratty of Ciel. By choosing these six profiles to feature at the beginning of the book Sandy Black has very quickly laid out the complex territory on which the battle for ethical fashion must be fought.” – Treehugger

6. Green Is The New Black-How To Change The World With Style by Tamsin Blanchard (Paperback)

“Tamsin Blanchard is a journalist and writer. Since 2005, she has been the Telegraph Magazine’s style director. Before that she wrote about fashion and interiors for The Observer, and spent three years as The Independent‘s fashion editor. She is contributing fashion editor to the V&A Magazine, and a sometime contributing editor to 10 Magazine. She has also written for Vogue, Marie Claire, US Harper’s Bazaar, and The Daily Rubbish. In the late Nineties, she co-founded “˜it’ a luxury boxed magazine for fashion, art and design. She has taught fashion journalism at Central Saint Martins and University of Westminster and is currently an external assessor at London College of Fashion.”

With a foreword by Lily Cole, and lots of contributions from designers and eco experts, it is an entertaining, inspiring guide on how to be fashionably green. – www.tamsin blanchard.com

7. Sustainable Fashion and Textiles: Design Journeys by Kate Fletcher (Paperback)

“Kate Fletcher is a practitioner and academic who has been working in the field of sustainable fashion for the last 15 years: she has recently become Reader in Sustainable Fashion at London College of Fashion. Her consultancy within the fashion industry, coupled with her educational experience, makes her uniquely well qualified to write this much-needed text. Fletcher, who has helped to develop the concept of “˜slow fashion’, is at the center of research in this area and calls upon both established texts such as McDonough and Braungart’s Cradle to Cradle and recent research from a wide variety of sources, including her own, to support her writing. The quality of research is high.” – Oxford Art Journal

8. Eco Chic: The Savvy Shoppers Guide to Ethical Fashion by Matilda Lee (Paperback)

“The hottest trend on the catwalk is ethical clothing. Top fashion designers and spokes models including Katharine Hamnett, Stella McCartney and Bono’s wife Ali Hewson are all voicing the benefits of eco chic. But what is this new fad, and what difference can it make to the world? “Eco Chic” gives you the full story on this fashion phenomenon, from which fabrics are harmful to the environment, to how you can create your own eco-friendly fashions through recycling and savvy shopping. You will discover how to spot and avoid garments produced in sweatshops and why supermarket ‘fast clothes’ make both you and the planet sick. This book will allow you to look great but also feel good about your impact on other people and the planet as a whole.” – Amazon

9. Designers, Visionaries and Other Stories: A Collection of Sustainable Design Essays by Jonathan Chapman and Nick Gant (Paperback)

“Designers, Visionaries and Other Stories boldly presents alternative understandings of sustainable design, to curate a challenging, sometimes uncomfortable and always provocative, collection of essays by some of the world’s leading sustainable design thinkers. The result is an authoritative anthology that reinvigorates the culture of critique that in previous years has empowered design with the qualities of social, environmental and economic revolution.” – Earthscan

10. The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy: An Economist Examines the Markets, Power and Politics of World Trade by Pietra Rivoli (Paperback) / (Kindle)

-¦a readable and evenhanded treatment of the complexities of world trade”¦ As Rivoli repeatedly makes clear, there is absolutely nothing free about free trade except the slogan.” – San Francisco Chronicle

11. Threads of Labour: Garment Industry Supply Chains from the Worker’s Perspective by Angela Hale and Jane Wills (Paperback)

“This book gives valuable insights for decision-makers in international clothing brands. Read it and learn how garment workers worldwide are affected by the sub-contracted manufacturing that characterizes this industry.” – Dan Rees, Director of the Ethical Trading Initiative

12. Eco Colour: Botanical Dyes for Beautiful Textiles by India Flint (Paperback)

“The essence of plants bursts forth in magnificent hues and surprising palettes. Using dyes of the leaves, roots, and flowers to color your cloth and yarn can be an amazing journey into botanical alchemy. In Eco Colour, artistic dyer and colorist India Flint teaches you how to cull and use this gentle and ecologically sustainable alternative to synthetic dyes.

India explores the fascinating and infinitely variable world of plant color using a wide variety of techniques and recipes. From whole-dyed cloth and applied color to prints and layered dye techniques, India describes only ecologically sustainable plant-dye methods. She uses renewable resources and shows how to do the least possible harm to the dyer, the end user of the object, and the environment. Recipes include a number of entirely new processes developed by India, as well as guidelines for plant collection, directions for the distillation of nontoxic mordants, and methodologies for applying plant dyes.” – Amazon

13. Green Chic: Saving the Earth in Style by Christie Matheson (Paperback)

“Matheson slyly steers us toward consumer goods and services that minimize our earth-stomping human footprint. She’s brave enough to say ‘buy less of everything,’ and even the politically fraught ‘buy nothing.’ Matheson’s genius is to make this seem not only doable, but fun.” – Elizabeth Royte, author of Garbage Land and Bottlemania

14. Sustainable Fashion: Why Now? A Conversation Exploring Issues, Practices and Possibilities by Janet Hethorn and Connie Ulasewicz (Paperback)

“Sustainable Fashion: Why Now? is a critical read for anyone with ties to the fashion industry: designers, marketers, product developers, retailers, teachers, students, and consumers that want to become involved with balancing the fashion desires of the individual with the need to be a steward of our environment.” – Fashion Practice

15. Fugitive Denim: A Moving Story of People and Pants in the Borderless World of Global Trade by Rachel Louise Snyder (Paperback)

“Smart and ambitious, cosmopolite journalist Snyder maps the global garment industry, beginning in a New York loft where designers plot a line of ultra-pricey, socially responsible jeans that would ensure a fair wage for workers and not cause excessive environmental degradation. From there she visits cotton growers in Azerbaijan, denim specialists in Italy and factories in Cambodia and China. An excellent reporter, Snyder talks comfortably to both sophisticated designers and factory workers, conveying their very different motives as she paints a picture of an industry far more tangled than most consumers imagine. She notes that economic and employment shifts are felt globally, describing Italy mourning the loss of manufacturing to cheaper factories in Asia, where low-paying jobs represent unprecedented opportunity to many workers. If the prose occasionally verges on cuteness, it’s preferable to the jargon of quotas and NGOs ubiquitous in most discussions of global trade. Snyder’s investigation is an essential read for those curious about fashion or the globe-spanning business that produces their clothes.” – Publisher’s Weekly

Photo credit: Book pages by Horia Varlan on Flickr, licensed for commercial use under Creative Commons.

The post Top 15 Eco-Fashion Books We Love appeared first on EcoSalon.

The fashion industry is facing many challenges, but one of the most pressing issues is water usage.  The textile industry is the third largest consumer and polluter of the world’s water. Water consumption is a huge problem for growing fibers such as the ever-thirsty cotton plant, with nearly 400 gallons of water required to produce just one cotton t-shirt.

Waste water is conceivably an even bigger issue than consumption. Toxic chemicals produced from dyeing textiles, along with other chemicals such as those used to produce synthetics, are contributing to a major crisis in pollution of fresh water, affecting the health of a number of species, including humans.  (Read The Consequences of Chemicals, Future Fashion White Papers).

Heavy metals such as chromium and cadmium, which are used to make bright and vibrant dyes, pose a threat wherever they appear in a product lifestyle, particularly the use of the dye in dye wastewater. Air Dye is a revolutionary technology that dyes textiles without using any water. Not only are they reducing the overall amount of water required to produce a garment, but this technology also prevents toxic chemicals from entering our ecosystems.

Some manufacturers work in closed-loop production, which means that the waste or effluent produced is treated and re-used, reducing the amount of toxic waste normally disposed of into the ecosystem.  The company Lenzing is a great example, with their fabrics modal and  tencel, made from a wood pulp much like bamboo (which has yet to be manufactured in a closed-loop environment).

But so much attention has been given to the energy, chemicals and water that go into making a garment that what many people don’t realize is the majority of the environmental damage comes once a garment has been purchased. The energy and water required to wash a garment has far more devastating effects than the growing of the raw materials and the manufacturing of the textiles. Surprising? Not really when you consider that the average piece of clothing lasts three years, and is laundered hundreds of times in its lifetime.

The average North American household washes 400 loads of laundry per year. This accumulated number of washes requires 13,500 gallons of water to complete, and is equivalent to how much water it takes to fill a standard above-ground pool!

The first steps towards recovering from our water addiction begin with wearing our clothes several times before washing. But once we get to a full laundry basket that is truly in need of a wash, there are a few basic tips to help you get started on eco-friendly and budget-smart laundering habits.

1) Wash your clothes in cold water: An interesting fact – using only hot water for washing your clothes uses more electricity in a year than leaving the refrigerator door open 24 hours a day for an entire year. Cold water is the best alternative, as it not only reduces fabric shrinkage, but it allows colors to remain vibrant. So your clothes will fit and last longer AND you’ll reduce your carbon emissions by 500 pounds a year!

2) Wash full loads: Washing machines are most efficient when operating at capacity. Take advantage of your washing machine’s full potential and load it up. Your budget will thank you for it.

3) Use the right amount and type of detergent: When doing a load of laundry do you use the cap size as an indicator of the amount of detergent you should use? If so, odds are you are using way too much laundry detergent than what is actually needed. The amount you use should reflect the guiding lines on the inside of the cap. Here’s a great article on Treehugger with more information.

Another helpful hint is to look for phosphate-free detergents. Phosphates are the leading chemical agent in algal blooms and a major cause of aquatic ecosystem depletion. Also, instead of fabric softeners, try using white vinegar in the rinse cycle. The acid vinegar will neutralize the basic detergents and as a result will help keep your clothes looking clean.

4) Consider an Energy-Star rated washer: Gone are the days of scrubbing our laundry by hand down at the lake. If you’re in the market to replace your washing machine, consider a more cost effective one. An Energy-Star or front-loading washing machine can save thousands of liters of water a year and be 30 – 85% more energy efficient.

Image above from Costello Tagilapietra’s 2009 show at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week featuring Air Dye technology.

Related posts: Nifty Eco-Friendly Laundry Tricks Worth Trying
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Dry Clean Only? An Eco Expert Tells Us When It’s Safe to Ignore Labels

The post Reduce Your Wardrobe’s Water Footprint appeared first on EcoSalon.

You don’t have to be an economist to want to understand the economics of “the fabric of our lives.” Case in point: The recent ban on cotton exports by the Indian government has piqued my curiosity. I wanted to understand whether this ban would have an impact not only on the cotton farmers, particularly those growing organic and fair-trade cotton, but also what impact it might have on us as consumers.

What I learned is that there are no clear answers.

Fact: the price of cotton is at a 15-year high.

Why? According to Eco Textile News, this is the result of Indian authorities lowering cotton export tax rebates. With higher rebates there is more incentive to export raw cotton. Once you lower those tax rebates, you are effectively lowering its export appeal. Supply goes down, but demand is up (marginally), and the price of cotton rises.

So why ban raw cotton export altogether? What does this mean to the farmers? And what will be the impact to consumers?

The reason for the ban is simple, if you are the Indian government and your best interest is to protect the textile industry. A robust export market means a shortfall in the amount of cotton available for India’s own textile manufacturing sector. When you factor in China as a fierce competitor, this makes sense. China is, after all, the world’s largest cotton importer.

When it comes to the impact of the ban on cotton farmers, there are conflicting views.

On the one hand, some experts contend this decision was made in haste, out of panic over the fact that cotton prices have risen by 80%. And, that by restricting exports, cotton farmers (particularly organic and fair-trade growers) are not seeing any of the benefits enjoyed by the cotton traders. The organic and fair-trade cotton growers in India rely heavily on its export, and some believe that when times are good, these communities should be supported rather than punished.

On the other hand, some organizations support the banning of raw cotton export from India.

“I believe the true value of this commodity is long overdue, and has been taken advantage of for so many years,” says UK Pants to Poverty representative Ben Ramsden. “Without any move to keep cotton within India, the booming Indian textile and garmenting industry could be considerably challenged, putting further strain on this very fragile industry.”

Will we feel this impact on our wallets?

In some cases, fabric suppliers could pass their costs up the supply chain. This would result in retailers paying more for basic cotton items such as socks and t-shirts. However, some industry experts claim the ban will have little impact on domestic cotton prices, as most of the exports for the current cotton season have already been committed. So if we do feel any price sting, it will likely be marginal.

To this end, Ramsden says, “If this goes some way to enabling us all to understand more about where our clothes come from, and why our choices can change the world, then the whole exercise will be fantastic.”

Image: Ken Lund

The post The Economics of Cotton appeared first on EcoSalon.

Imagine a TV ad featuring a loopy  Zooey Deschanel singing the praises of plastic. Not pretty, nor as comfy as the touch and feel of cotton – which carries its share of pitfalls as well. Still, ubiquitous plastic has functioned as the toxic fabric of our lives for the past sixty years.

Wake up and smell the polymers. Literally.

Synthetics play an inescapable role in our lives, unlike the cotton-coated world portrayed in Deschanel’s ad. Consider:

You awake, clad in polyester pajamas, squeeze toothpaste from a slick tube onto the polyamides nylon bristles of your toothbrush, wash your hair with phthalates-enhanced goo from colorful containers, and comb your tresses with a plastic comb that was (of course) hermetically sealed in plastic casing.

You use a plastic sealed tampon and head to breakfast, descending stairs carpeted in stain-resistant synthetic shag embedded with acid dye blockers to brew coffee through a plastic cone filter. You remove the foil crown from your yogurt container and the chunky green cap from your bottle of Simply Orange. You fry an egg in your non-stick, polytetrafluoroethylene treated pan. You climb into your car – the interior, carpet, dashboard and windshield fabricated with more of that plastic. You don your polycarbonate eye wear and apply a smudge of sunblock from that tube in the glove compartment, and you’re off.

You’re sipping your beverage from a plastic lid, ready to embrace a work milieu stocked with royal blue Papermate pens, a plastic keyboard, a double decker printer and mystery mesh task chairs with sturdy polyurethane arms.

You get the picture, and yes, it isn’t the hopeful one conveyed to college grad Benjamin Braddock in The Graduate in 1967. Plastics, considered king when petroleum was abundant, could become a thing of the past sooner than you think. Here’s another word for you Ben: Tanked!

“It’s not talked about on CNN, but informed people including the CIA and Defense Department know oil supplies are crashing rapidly,” observes conservationist Brad Hoyt about the looming crisis. “We stopped producing the oil we need in the ’70s and those we are exporting it from will stop because they don’t have enough to meet their own needs. What will we do then? We will either have to do without or go to war with Mexico and Saudi Arabia and take their oil.”

Mexico’s exports to the U.S. declined to 0.51 barrels per day from 2005-2008, and in 2010, supply is expected to fall to 2.5, nearly half a million barrels per day less than in 2009. In other words, a major source for manufacturing the fabric of our lives is seriously threatened.

“The possibility that Mexico’s oil and gas exports to the U.S could go to zero within seven years looks very real,” says investment analyst Chris Neddler of Energy & Capital.  “Rising domestic consumption with declining supply puts an ever-tightening squeeze on imports, yet I have found no evidence that policymakers are paying any attention to this critically important dynamic.”

Meanwhile, what many of us cannot ignore is the damage already done from petroleum-based products, especially the Pacific Ocean plastic islands which serve as graveyards of misguided consumption and evidence we are destroying places where we don’t even go.

Human beings have always manipulated materials for everyday objects. Reeds for baskets, clay for dishes, metal for tools and carts. The term plastic is derived from the Greek plastikos, which means fit for molding, something that can be pulled, cast or pressed into various shapes for tubes, bottles, boxes and fibers.

The commercial plastic or celluloid we have come to know and rely on, is largely derived from petroleum, which is a concern since it is basically toxic and something you don’t really want on your skin. Back in 1951, two research chemists discovered polypropylene polyethylene while greasing the wheels for a manufacturing process that begins with drilling and refining to form the powdery polymer compound. From there the compound is molded and cooled and divided into tiny pellets to be shipped to the makers who continue to mold it into almost everything you touch and feel.

Imagine a day without the touch and feel of plastics. If you can, you are way ahead of the pack, and most likely will fare better when the celluloid that engulfed your existence becomes a memory. But don’t  be alarmed. The vast stores of the stuff we have produced the past 10 years, alone, should get us through the hump until those helpful chemists come along with another brilliant idea.

Images: ringoblog, The Find,  Urban Boundaries, Richforth, Ancora

The post Wake Up and Smell the Polymers appeared first on EcoSalon.