Eco Clothing

Do you want to literally wear your green heart on your sleeve? Then eco clothing is the answer. Eco clothing refers to fashion whose design, sourcing and manufacturing takes into account both social and environmental issues, such as the use of pesticides in crops like cotton, labor conditions and recycled materials. The pesticide issue is key to the concept of eco clothing as it is estimated that 8,000 chemicals are used to turn raw materials into textiles. Cotton accounts for a massive 25% of the global pesticide use.

Recycling is a key eco clothing concept. Designers with a creative flair give a second lease of life to pieces that could have ended up in landfills and create new styles in the process. By doing so, they decrease demand for new fabrics and consequently the need for new supplies that may have used pesticides, besides all the energy needed for transportation, electricity and water. Some eco-conscious designers like Stella McCartney shun leather and fur in their collections due to environmental and animal welfare reasons. The process of leather tanning uses highly toxic materials, which are then discharged into the environment. A lot of the leather consumed in the West comes from India, where workers expose themselves to such materials and the problem has been widely reported by some leading environmental publications.

Fur presents serious welfare problems and many of the animals killed for it are captured in the wild. Fur farms are notoriously lax in terms of treatment of the animals, as many investigations have revealed.

As technology evolves, different types of green fabrics have cropped up – quite literally. Hemp is a well known raw material for textiles; bamboo is becoming increasingly popular. But if you don’t find them in the garment you would like to have, make sure it is made of organic cotton That’s the single most effective way to ensure you’ll be attired in eco clothing.