Environmental Footprints: Clothing and Accessories

Green has become a statement in style lately, as designers are opting for more eco-friendly materials and practices. Just as people are moving toward buying organic and locally grown food, they want to wear organic clothing. According to the Organic Cotton Exchange, "Organic cotton farming starts with seeds that have not been genetically modified or treated with pesticides or fungicides. Weed control is achieved through hand hoeing or physical removal and pest control is accomplished through the use of natural predators, trap crops and other biological and cultural practices. Farmers rely on natural processes such as seasonal freezes, rather than the application of chemical defoliants, to prompt the opening of the cotton boll and allow the cotton bud to be picked by hand or machine. From growth through harvesting, the process is monitored according to a set of organic growing standards adopted by governmental bodies including the U.S. Department of Agriculture."

Clothing companies have caught on to this desire, and as a result have made affordable eco-friendly clothing available. In this week's blog, I am going to explore a few clothing and accessory companies a day.

Who would you think is the world's largest purchaser of organic cotton? Whoever you thought, you're wrong. It's Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart, somewhere that all college students can afford, launched it's organic cotton campaign in 2006, purchasing over 10 million pounds of organic cotton. By the end of 2008, Wal-Mart hopes to have a new line of organic cotton baby, teenage, and adult fashion on their shelves. Now you've just got to decide if this push to go green is just a way to look better in the eyes of the shopper. Wal-Mart has been notorious for providing the lowest prices at the cost of their suppliers, manufacturing and workers. Does this rush to become sustainable make it okay to shop at Wal-Mart again?

Another company that uses environmentally conscious materials is American Apparel. Beyond from being completely made in the USA, their t-shirts are made from organic cotton. There are some t-shirt companies in Athens that use American Apparel t-shirts. If you are in charge of getting t-shirts made for any function, the organic cotton t-shirts from American Apparel are affordable and so soft. Southland Graphics and New World Graphics are two wholesale t-shirt companies that use American Apparel on request.

Part 1 of 5