Conventional vs organic cotton clothing
I’ve been asked why I recommend the wearing of conventional cotton clothing vs organic cotton or hemp.
Despite the use of pesticides and other chemicals in the growing and processing, by the time cotton gets to be a fabric, it really isn’t a toxic material for most end users (unless you are really sensitive to pesticides). When I first started looking for nontoxic products in 1978, the only choices were synthetic fibers or conventional cotton, and it was a big deal for the market to move to more conventional cotton. Really my only natural fiber clothing choices in 1978 were jeans and t-shirts and flannel shirts.
Today we have organic cotton and GOTS-certified cotton clothing, but not enough for everyone, and not affordable for everyone, and not available in every size for everyone.
The first step is simply to eliminate wearing synthetic fibers and any clothing with permanent press finish. Then, as the premium natural fiber fabrics become more available and afforadable, we can all move in the direction of organic cotton and other natural fibers that have more eco benefits.
My objective is to identify materials that are not toxic to the end user. It’s a first step. And if a cotton fabric doesn’t have a permanent press finish, it’s difficult to make a case that it’s toxic.
I’m just curious about why you promote conventional cotton over organic cotton and hemp. My thought is maybe the info that I read about conventional cotton is overblown or incorrect…or maybe there’s another side to the story that I’ve not heard.
I don’t promotecoventional cotton over organic cotton. I promote products that are as close to natural state as we can get. This would be organically grown natural fibers. Most of the links for textile products on Debra’s List are for organic natural fibers, with some conventional natural fibers, particularly for products that are hard or impossible to get organic at this time.
If I could just wave my magic wand and change the whole world well, I’m trying, but it sometimes takes time for results! everyone would wear organic natural fibers all the time. But that isn’t possible right at this moment, for a variety of reasons. And so I need to give “second best” alternatives as well.
There are many steps to sustainability. It’s a gradient scale. Best would be completely organic. Worst would be completely synthetic.
Right now organic natural fiber clothing is in limited supply, expensive, and in my case, not available in my size.
The main benefit of organic is environmental. Of course, those poisons affect our own health too, but this is an indirect exposure. It’s not harmful to health to my knowledge to wear conventionally grown cotton, although I may change my mind about that soon based on new things I am learning about the subtle effects of synthetics.
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