Eco-Friendly Duds 101!
Hi gang,
I’m Jenny Hwa and I’m a newbie blogger! Now that I have that confession out of the way, I can’t wait to get down to business. After following the Crazy Sexy Life blog for months and reading so many incredible tidbits about meditation, diet tweaking, affirmations and exercise, I realized something critical was missing. Something each of us deals with every day. Its something that can cause even the coolest to throw a tantrum or can transform a wallflower into a star …this sometimes controversial topic is fashion…the clothes you put on your back.
Now, one might wonder how much depth can be extracted from fashion, which can be seen as materialistic, artificial and unnatural. But I see a whole different side of fashion and I am on a mission to bring a sense of meaning to an art form we encounter everyday when faced with the question of: what to wear? My specialty is eco-fashion. And when I say eco-fashion I am not referring to itchy burlap sacks assembled into unflattering silhouettes, but gorgeous and scrumptious styles that make you happy to wake up in the morning.
How can fashion be sustainable you ask? Well, first let’s talk about the numerous toxic elements that go into creating clothes. One of our favorite fabrics, cotton (“the fabric of our lives”!) is reeking havoc on the planet, society and our health. There are many steps to creating a conventional cotton garment, including: growing, milling and dyeing.
Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty:
Everything about this crop (that was once naturally harvested) is contaminated. Chemical companies (ahem, Dow and Monsanto?!) have genetically modified cotton seeds to purportedly reduce dependency on pesticides. However this plan has back fired and more pests are attacking the plants requiring further insecticides to keep the plants alive (notice the vicious cycle?).
Growing conventional cotton uses 25% of the world’s insecticides and more than 10% of the pesticides. It takes about 1 pound of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to produce the cotton for one pair of conventional jeans and t-shirt. That is 2 cups of synthetic chemicals for just one outfit!
Milling and dyeing cotton are also chemically intensive processes that include toxic bleach, formaldehyde and heavy metals.
Because the chemicals used to grow, mill and dye conventional cotton remain in the plant and fibers, we end up wearing fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides and known carcinogenic chemicals.
Now that the atrocities of conventional cotton have been covered, let’s review the beauty of farming, milling and dyeing organic cotton.
Organic cotton farming incorporates the following principles:
-Never uses GMO seeds
-Builds strong soil through crop rotation
-Retains water more efficiently due to healthier soil + is often rain-fed + drought-resistant
-Weeds are controlled thru cultivation, hand hoeing + physical weed removal
-Pest control includes: using natural predators, beneficial insects, trap crops and organic matter such as manure, worm compost, herbal pesticides and/or cattle urine
-Harvesting relies on the seasonal freeze or water management, not defoliating with chemicals
Milling and dyeing organic cotton also follows a strict code of conduct:
-Fibers and fabrics are naturally scoured and cleaned without uses toxic chemicals
-Low-impact or natural dyes are used that have a higher absorption rate, contain no heavy metals or other known toxic substances or use plant extracts and natural mineral salts
With all these points covered, you can probably see now that the lovely cotton dress you are pining to purchase at H&M for a measly $29 has many more implications than you thought. That cost is not taking into account the damage that is being done to your health and the environment (or the sweatshop worker who sewed it, but that is another blog all together!)
My vision is that all of us will celebrate nature articulated through style! It is my wish that a whole new level of consciousness can be brought to shopping and your wardrobe. Just as you shudder at the thought of buying non-organic romaine lettuce at the supermarket, I hope you will be horrified at the thought of buying and wearing clothing doused in lethal chemicals.
With this said, I am not here to take the fun out of your morning ritual of getting dressed. Understandably, there is concern over the environment and your health, but that shouldn’t impede your sense of style and fashion savvy! But you don’t have to sacrifice style to dress sustainably.
As the founder and creative director of loyale, my priority is merging style and sustainability. We exclusively use organic cotton and other sustainable materials for the collection, the clothing is produced fair trade in New York City and we donate a percentage of annual sales to the environmental non-profit, Green Corps. The edict of loyale is that you do not have to relinquish your sense of style in order to be a conscious shopper.
In addition to loyale, there are a growing number of eco-clothing companies out there designing beautiful organic cotton clothing that you would be delighted to wear: Delforte denim, John Patrick organic, Stewart+Brown and Loomstate. To get you started on your eco-fashion mission, use coupon code crazysexy09 and get 20% off loyale’s luscious Spring collection with free shipping (valid until April 15)! Loyale’s Online Store
It has been great sharing this information with you and I hope I have added a whole new element to living a healthy and happy life!
Eco-chic peace!
Xoxo, Jenny
Loyale’s Blog
- Posted by Guest Blogger on March 12, 2009 at 9:38 am
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Tagged as: clothing, Eco-Fashion, Organic Cotton
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Blessings,,
It is worth passing on that sheep herders in Australia used to allow the sheep to graze in cotton fields and had no problem in the past.. that is until the GMO variety. After grazing the farmers were horrified to find over half their sheep dead. This crop kills. I can’t imagine putting it on my body. They found out that whatever is in this GMO form that is not in it’s traditional counterpart, attacked the liver of the animal causing it’s death.. I will stick with my bamboo,, and organic cottons .. thank you for such a great blog!
love and hugs. .
Marylynn
So glad you know about the eco-clothing movement + enjoyed the blog! xoxo
I love seeing more and more “organic” clothing, etc choices in the stores lately. Unfortunately, my finances are in such a state of ruin right now (thanks AIG…) that I can barely afford organic lettuce, let alone spend $30 on a dress! My goal would be organic everything…*sigh* some day perhaps =) Thanks for the info!
Yay! Eco-chic! Thank you for the good info. Your spring line is beautiful and so is the model (I love that she has a normal body type)! I am also inspired by the musical& poetic references on the site. I would really rather own a few exquisite pieces from a collection like yours than a closet full of cheaper, more mindlessly produced stuff— I relate to Becky’s comment that organic everything is almost impossible to afford in today’s screwed up economy, but hopefully consumer demand will cause organic products to become more and more affordable and accessable to everyone. Even Walmart carries organic veggies now, and who woulda thought five or ten years ago?!
Cheers to you and your amazing contribution!!
Nora
Thanks for your kind words, Nora! There is a bright future ahead of us! xoxo
The clothes are beautiful!! I only wish I had the kind of loot it takes to “dress” healthier.
Awesome work!
My favorite is the long white shirt…it looks so cozy! I’d live in it! I bookmarked it for when I get healthier and back to work. It will be mine lol.
What a brilliant blog! Such a necessary message. Thank for sharing!
Casey
The clothes are lovely, but way, way out of my price range.
I am glad you have all been enjoying the blog. I did want to post that unfortunately with the Gaps, Targets + Walmarts of the world, consumers have become used to very inexpensive clothing that is more often than not low quality, toxic + made in sweatshops. The true “cost” of a garment is never revealed by these suppliers. As an eco-designer, I am completely aware that some of our clothing is considered expensive, however when you consider they are attractive, healthier for you, not produced by slave labor + 1% of the sales goes to a eco-non-profit, the cost of the garments we sekk begins to tell a different story. I have LOVED reading your comments! Thank you for sharing your remarks + opinions! xoxo
It was a really useful article about eco-fashion, thank you for sharing it! I’m currently in college, writing one of my theses about eco-fashion and it’s appearance in the media and effect on people’s choices when it comes to buying clothes, so I’m really interested in this topic.
By the way, I’ve just started reading your blog, really interesting so far!
A.
The best thing for our earth is to wear pre-owned clothes – it stresses the earth no more than to use what is already here. Think on that.
I love this idea. Now for the BUT. But there is no way I could buy a dress that is $126. I agree big cotton is BAD, but I have a fixed income and all my extra money, if there is any, is spent on high quality food and supplements. How at this economic time can you suggest we spend that kind of money on clothing. I cant do it. I wish I could have clothes that match my ideals. But the pricing on eco clothing is not cool.