By choosing organic, we can contribute to reducing this impact while ensuring that our garments are free from harmful chemicals. 

Buying cotton items for your home and family seems like a good choice. After all, it's a natural fiber, so it must be better for our bodies and environment. Right?

But unfortunately, depending on how that cotton has been grown and then produced into your purchased item, your choice might not be as safe as you'd hoped. You see, the growth of what we'll call conventional cotton has developed over time to include some harmful practices, the effects of which have only relatively recently begun to be understood. 

The use of pesticides in cotton production can have significant negative effects, including environmental contamination, harm to human health (particularly farm workers), disruption of beneficial insect populations, and soil degradation. Essentially, while pesticides can initially protect cotton from pests, their overuse can lead to long-term ecological and health problems. 

Impacts of conventionally grown cotton:  

Environmental impacts.

 Pesticide runoff can contaminate water sources like rivers, lakes, and groundwater, harming aquatic life and potentially impacting drinking water quality. 

Biodiversity loss.

 Pesticides can kill beneficial insects, disrupting the natural ecosystem balance and leading to potential pest outbreaks later on.

Human health concerns.

 Farm workers are particularly vulnerable to pesticide exposure, which can lead to health problems like respiratory issues, skin irritation, neurological effects, and even cancer.

The chemical cocktail that might be lingering in that fast-fashion tee can include pesticides, chlorine bleach, VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) and other solvents, PFCs (Perfluorinated Chemicals), and ammonia. Many of these materials are implicated in causing cancer, asthma and other respiratory problems, reproductive issues, and eczema. 

Impact on non-target organisms.

 Pesticides can kill beneficial insects like pollinators, disrupting the ecological balance and affecting crop yield in the long run. Biologists estimate millions of birds die every year in the United States from the effects of agricultural chemicals sprayed on cotton and other crops. When runoff from a field contains high levels of pesticides, it can kill fish in nearby rivers and streams. 

 

Here are a few reasons why you might choose organic vs. conventional cotton: 

Organic cotton is grown with minimal synthetic pesticides and is a more environmentally friendly option. 

Choosing organic cotton clothing brings with it a ton of real benefits and positive ripple effects. Before I go too far, let's define what we mean by "organic cotton". Just like the organic berries you might buy from the grocery store, organic cotton is a crop grown in a specific way, and to a specific set of standards. Organic cotton clothing, then, is any apparel that's been made from organically grown cotton fibers. 

To truly earn the organic label, organic cotton must also go through

a certification process. 

Cotton or otherwise, organic crops have consistent hallmarks. Perhaps key among those is that they're grown from GMO-free seeds. When farmers use non-GMO seed, this means the seeds have been produced naturally without any sort of genetic engineering or the aid of chemicals, including synthetic pesticides. The only modification to their genetic structure is that which comes naturally over time, from careful selection and replanting of the strongest and most productive varieties. These seeds can be harder to grow, especially at commercial scale, but theyre worth the effort, since they end up stronger, more disease-resistant, and better able to thrive in adverse conditions. It's a commitment. Organic farmers are playing the long game. 

Farmers who invest in growing non-GMO crops are constantly curating their seed stock. They save seeds from the best performing crops year after year, selecting for varieties that are resilient and well-adapted to the local climate. The cycle of planting, growing, and saving creates a legacy you can hold by the handful: both literal and figurative seeds that can serve consumers and communities well for decades to come. 

Farmers of organic crops also follow practices designed to maintain soil health, conserve water, and support biodiversity. All of this starts to tell the story of why choosing clothes made from organic cotton is a strong step toward sustainability, on multiple levels. 

Organic cotton is better for the planet

Organic cotton is generally much more sustainable than conventional cotton. Organic farming practices use no synthetic chemicals, fertilizers, or pesticides. This greatly mitigates, if not completely eliminates, harmful effects on local habitats, farmland, or the people who live in and around areas of organic cotton production. It generally uses less water, preserves soil quality, and promotes biodiversity. The production of organic cotton requires less energy and, as a result, releases few greenhouse gases (like carbon dioxide) than the production of conventional cotton. 

It keeps people in local communities safer and healthier. 

By avoiding toxic chemicals sprayed into the air, and water run off, the surrounding communities are healthier. 

Organic cotton keeps soil fertile and can prevent deforestation. 

Chemical-free agricultural land tends to stay fertile much longer than land that subjected to conventiional farming practices. 

Your clothes are safer for you to wear.

When you put on a conventional cotton garment, you're also potentially wearing an awful lot of chemicals left over from the manufacturing of the material. Although washing releases some of the chemicals (into the water supply system, where they still do damage), many of these toxic chemicals remain in the cotton fibers for an indeterminate period of time. 

 

What does Oeko-Tex Certification Mean?

Oeko-Tex Certification is a label that indicates a product has been tested for harmful substances. 

 

 

Types of Oeko-Tex Certification Labels