Posts Tagged ‘organic’
Since the beginning of the year Lava Ink has been on a mission to create a reliable supply chain for locally produced organic products and fabrics. The result……. mens and ladies fitted t shirts in a natural colour only, which I personally think is pathetic.
This is an indication of the mode and of thinking that the South African Clothing Industry and its consumers are in. Here is a real opportunity for us to compete against imports by offering ethical clothing as apposed to cheaper, environmentally damaging clothing. We need to create a substantial demand for ethical clothing and production processes because at the moment the task to supply organic, requires the manufacturer to be involved in primary manufacturing stages such as dying. This is because the demand for organic fabrics is not enough to motivate stock production in various colours and types of fabrics.
How does clothing production influence our envrironment?
The following was taken from EcoSpace and highlights the effects clothing and fabric production have on the environment.
When was the last time you checked the tag of your t-shirt to look for more than just a size or price? Do you know what your clothes are made of or who made them? The answers to these questions may surprise you, as inputs of clothing production have significant effects on the physical and social environment.
Take a look at the cotton industry. Insecticides used in conventional cotton production are the most hazardous pesticide to human health, causing behavioral changes, increased cancer risk, and even death. Cotton’s second best selling insecticide, Aldicarb, can kill a man with just one drop absorbed through the skin! Who knew wearing cotton could be so dangerous!
Not only do clothing choices impact human health, but they also affect the environment. Fertilizers used in conventional cotton production harm the environment. Nitrogen synthetic fertilizers cause leaching and runoff and emit gases that contribute 300 times more to global warming than CO2. It takes about 1/3 pound of synthetic fertilizers to grow one pound of raw cotton, and it takes that pound of cotton to make one t-shirt. That’s a lot of fertilizer, a lot of greenhouse gases, and a major detriment to the environment!
The SA Blog Award Winners for the best green blog, Urban Sprout, is giving some good advice on how to green our clothing.
I responded by making the comment that large retailers should stop treating organic as a marketing strategy but rather as an environmental and industrial one. If large retailers start investing in our local Industries for ethical reasons, with the intention of greening their supply chains, real change is possible.
Sao Paulo – For young Brazilians worrying about the latest fashions, the dangers of polluting rivers and oceans with billions of plastic bottles and tons of pesticides may seem a distant concern.
But new technology that makes clothing from the polyester fibres from recycled bottles and organic cotton grown without pesticides may prove that being environmentally conscious and staying hip can walk hand-in-hand.
During this month’s Sao Paulo Fashion Week, the biggest fashion event in Latin America, a group of local designers displayed several glamorous gowns made from recycled materials, known as e-fabrics.
| ‘Regular cotton is the worst crop for the environment’ |
“It’s a great idea. It’s a way of educating people and making them think more about these issues,” said Ruth Marshall-Johnson, an associate editor with the Worth Global Style Network research and fashion news service.
The recycled bottles also are used to produce materials that serve as filling for matelasse fabric, ties and lapels. Collecting the bottles also generates income for thousands of poor Brazilian families.
Technological fabrics will be responsible for great changes in the business, said Gloria Kalil, one of Brazil’s top fashion consultants.
“From now on, the industry will have to consider the environment. Otherwise, who’s going to buy things that are damaging for the planet?” she said.
Marshall-Johnson agreed. She pointed out that the Internet has become a powerful tool for consumers to investigate whether what they wear utilises slave labour or involves fabrics produced in a manner that is not ecologically friendly.
| ‘The designers were interested in taking part’ |
Commercially, producing certain e-fabrics such as organic cotton can lead to extra cost for the consumer of up to 20 percent.
“Organic cotton costs more to grow, but people don’t realise that regular cotton is the worst crop for the environment because of the amount of pesticides it requires,” said researcher Selma Fernandes, from the Institute E, a non-governmental organisation sponsoring the fabrics project.
“These pesticides end up killing butterflies and birds and pollute rivers.”
This year, designer Raquel Davidowicz, of the fashion house UMA, created her first collection of clothing for the catwalk made from organic cotton and bamboo fibres.
“We were looking for new fabrics and chose these exactly because they are not harmful for the environment,” Davidowicz said. “We are aware that they are trickier to sell.”
Specialists say it might take five years for the trend to catch up and for more people to start to pay the premium price for clothes made from e-fabrics.
“The designers were interested in taking part in this project. Now we hope to create the desire among consumers to purchase this type of clothing,” Fernandes said.
Taken from iolÂ
So, it’s a new year with new aspirations for Lava Ink and we are planning great things. The most important thing for me right now (and it is something that I have been thinking about for the whole of 2007) is becoming more environment conscious by supplying a line of organic clothing, starting with t shirts. These new t’s won’t be stock products (yet) because the demand for them are not that great. The idea is to target companies who already have an environment friendly strategy in place. The problem (or rather challenge) is to find knitting mills within South Africa who can produce organic fabrics and dye-houses who use organic pigments for dyeing. Hopefully we can make some good contacts so that our organic range can become a reality. Know of any companies? Please contact us!
We wish all of you a successful new year!
