The fashion industry has an enormous impact on the environment.

Viscose is another artificial fibre, made from wood pulp. To make viscose, wood pulp is treated with toxic chemicals such as caustic soda and sulphuricacid. White Gold - The True Cost of Cotton

Natural fibres have their problems, too. Cotton uses more pesticide per cotton plant than almost any other crop in the world. This has serious impacts, causing illness and even death amongst cotton farmers who are exposed to dangerous pesticides every day. These pesticides also affect local eco-systems, killing certain plants and animals and causing an imbalance.

Hazardous chemicals are also used on wool - for example in sheep dips, where they have been linked with illness among sheep farmers.

Certain dyes are thought to cause cancer.In many parts of the world, garments are dyed or bleached using toxic chemicals without proper precautions; the chemicals used can then affect workers and flow into sewers and rivers, damaging local ecosystems.

Virtually all polycotton (especially bedlinen), plus all 'easy care', 'crease resistant', 'permanent press' cotton, are treated with the toxic chemical, formaldehyde. 

The Case for Organic Cotton

Organic cotton items are fashionable, durable, and healthier for your family.

When you buy organic cotton, you’re supporting a lifestyle that benefits the land and prevents chemicals from entering the body. We need to leave something for the next generation. The organic industry has exploded, and organic cotton fibers are now used in everything from personal care items and home furnishings to children’s toys and all types of clothes.

Clothing giants like Nike and Gap are starting to embrace organic cotton, meaning that it soon could catch up to the popularity levels of organic food as concerned consumers learn more about its benefits.

The Problem with Conventional Cotton

Conventional cotton farming is one of the most environmentally destructive agricultural practices—harming the air, water, soil, and farmers’ health and safety. The blame for that harm lies mainly with the huge amounts of pesticides used in conventional cotton farming. Although cotton occupies three percent of the world’s farmland, it uses more than ten percent of the pesticides, a category that includes herbicides, insecticides, and defoliants.

Pesticides are most often sprayed from the air, so they spread easily to surrounding neighborhoods. Only an estimated ten percent of this flood of chemicals actually accomplish their goal. The rest are absorbed by plants, soil, air, water, and our bodies—killing wildlife and harming ecosystems. The US Fish & Wildlife Service reports that millions of fish and birds are killed every year from the legal application of pesticides.

When it comes to cotton, the solution to the pesticide problem is to go organic. Organic cotton is grown without chemical fertilizers, defoliants, pesticides, or herbicides, and from untreated, non genetically-modified seed. Farmers rotate crops to replenish and maintain the soil’s fertility, and they control pests and weeds naturally, using insect predators, traps, or botanical pesticides that are broken down quickly by oxygen and sunlight.

As a result, organic farming is healthier and safer for farmers,field workers, and nearby communities. Growing cotton organically also benefits small-scale farmers who don’t have the means to buy expensive pesticides. And organic cotton farming uses significantly less water and electric power than conventional cotton farming techniques.

Keep in mind, however, that federal organic standards only cover the raw fiber harvesting process. Once the organic cotton fiber leaves the farm, there are no federal standards in place for further processing, so your organic cotton fabrics could be treated with harmful chlorine bleaches, heavy metal dyes, and finishers containing suspected carcinogens and other toxins.

“For the consumer, the most toxic part of clothing comes from fabric treatments. Chemicals that resist flames, water, moths, stains, soil, and wrinkles have been impregnated into the fabric and are often very hard to remove through washing,” says Annie Bond, author of Home Enlightenment. The Organic Trade Associationhas developed voluntary organic standards that address all stages of textile processing, including bleaching, dyeing, printing, product assembly, storage and transportation, pest management, and labeling. 

Of course, choosing any kind of organic cotton products over conventional cotton keeps chemicals out of the environment and protects human health. But your best option is to buy organic cotton from companies that also avoid chemical bleaches, dyes, and finishers. When you shop for organic cotton products, ask companies whether they have organic production standards in place or have committed to the OTA’s standards.

Green businesses in particular haveembraced the idea of making their organic cotton products sustainable from the farm to the store. For example, Zappos sells organic cotton and other natural fiber clothing made with non toxic clay dyes and no chemical bleaches or finishers.