Fabric Inquiry: Organic Cotton

Organic Cotton: Why go organic?

Conventional (non organic) cotton growing involves the use of the following; chemical pesticides, chemical herbicides, chemical insecticides and chemical fertilizers. That's a lot of chemicals! Growing conventional cotton is one of the most environmentally harmful activities. Conventional cotton is one of the most chemically dependent crops, in fact 10% of all agricultural chemicals are used on cotton alone! Let me put it to you this way: to produce just 1 cotton T-shirt 1/3 pound of chemicals is used!! That's insane, right!

If that wasn't reason enough to seek out organic cotton here's a few more. Organic cotton farming uses compost as fertilizer, thus enriching the soil and naturally replenishing the soil fertility which helps build a more biologically diverse soil. Sounds like a win win to me.

This post stemmed from my search for linens to add to my wedding registry. My fiancé and I are trying very hard to keep our wedding as well as our registry as earth friendly as possible, and our sheets are no exception. I realized there's much more to sheets than color and pattern. In the coming weeks I will be sharing other alternative fabrics that can be used instead of the destructive chemically dependent cotton that seems most prevalent. Here's a list of companies that sell organic cotton sheets:
Target
Pottery Barn
Viva Terra
The Company Store
Bed, Bath & Beyond
The Natural Sleep Store
Gaiam
Next time you are buying a set of sheets, consider organic. Sleep happier and healthier. Also, check out www.nakedcotton.com for some organic cotton tees, or head to American Apparel and check out their organic cotton line. Enjoy and stay tuned, Bamboo as a fabric is next! (Image: historyforkids.org)