Believe it or not our choice of clothing can have a tremendous impact on our environment. Many people choose cotton because it is an "all natural" fiber. Consider however that cotton is one of the most pesticide intensive crops that there is. Cotton accounts for only about 3% of the world’s agricultural crops, yet it receives 25% of the world’s use of pesticides. Those same pesticides contaminate our water supplies, injure workers, and can cause serious diseases including cancer. Organic cotton on the other hand, uses no pesticides. It is soft on people and the planet.

Conventional cotton is also whitened with chlorine bleach. When chlorine (a highly volatile gas) is combined with heat and organic matter (in this case cotton) it creates highly toxic compounds known as organochlorines. The most well known and deadly of these is dioxin. There are hundreds of different organochlorine compounds that are created with this deadly combination and most of them have never been studied for their health effects. We do know however that Dioxin is the most potent toxin known to humans and yet we continue to allow it to be created. It is known to cause cancer, disrupt our endocrine system (hormone system), cause decreased fertility, birth defects and stimulate endometriosis just to name a few. To learn more about Dioxin check out our section on papers or go to www.greenpeace.org.


Materials for clothing can come in many other forms as well. There are several manufactures of "recycled clothing." These are garments made from reclaimed clothing fibers whether the fibers be post-consumer (somebody previously wore them) or the reclaimed trimmings from the original manufacturing process. These trimmings would have other wise ended up in the landfill. Recycled pop bottles can also be used for clothing and is just as warm and comfortable as "virgin" fleece.

If you would like more information about our environmentally friendly clothing, please use our request information form, send us an e-mail,
or call 218-722-1771

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