Organic Apparel
Organic Apparel
What is Organic Cotton?
Organic Cotton is the cotton that basically grows without pesticides and fertilizers, in other words it is grown without synthetic agricultural chemicals. There are certain countries that are able to achieve this due to their climate conditions, water resources and also technologies. India, Turkey, China and some parts of the USA are included in the list of organic cotton producing countries. However, organic cotton is not only a material, but a journey from farm to customer. The cultivation of the cotton plant is the first ring of the chain, yet the hardest to sustain.
What is Organic Apparel? (Story of an Organic Apparel)
Let’s take you through the journey of organic apparel. Once the organic cotton has been collected from the fields it contains no chemicals. But it has to keep this “level of pureness” along the production phase to become an organic garment. The next step is to make this raw material turn into organic fabric. Firstly, organic cotton becomes organic yarn with organic dye added into it. Then, the yarn becomes an organic fabric after numerous processes, depending on the type of fabric that is required. The next step is in the hands of organic apparel manufacturers. The manufacturers buy the organic cotton from the fabric producers then cuts, sews and packages it to create organic apparel. These are the basic steps of an organic clothing production. However, it is not always easy to find a real organic garment. One of the easiest ways of spotting organic apparel is to know what it isn’t.
What isn’t Organic Apparel?
You have seen the process of organic apparel but there are some myths and delusions in the market about the organic apparel. For instance, the term organic doesn’t always prove that the apparel is truly organic. Sellers could be misleading the buyer by saying that the product is organic. This is followed by the case of Natural Cotton! If it is not recycled, all of the cotton is coming from nature. Yes! It is natural but it may not be organic, not at all. Another case is the products containing organic cotton but missing the organic apparel production standards.
Solely, the organic cotton doesn’t make a garment organic because of the steps in between the organic cotton farm and the retail shop. Some organic apparel manufacturers and organic cotton clothing brands would claim that their product is organic however this might not be the truth, especially if there is no certification. Having the organic cotton claim on a website or label doesn’t mean that the garment is organic.
How to spot an Organic Apparel?
Organic apparel is becoming more popular each day and for sure organic baby clothing is one of the hotspots of this trend. Organic baby clothing is even more important because of health-related reasons. Thus, it is important to spot a real organic garment. The real organic clothing is made from materials raised according to the organic agricultural standards. Could this be falsified? Yes, easily. Luckily, the steps of the journey of organic clothing can all be inspected and certified by third party certification bodies. This creates a certain level of trust within the organic textile industry, both from the sellers and buyers’ point of view. From a customer perspective, it is important to know the scope of the certification and to choose the products that are clearly labeling their certificates on their products.