Why Buy Organic Clothing?

By U Learn It | February 26, 2009

Practicing ethical consumerism in clothes shopping can leave a huge impact not only on local society but the world in general. Ethical consumerism refers to the purchase of products and services that have minimal harm or exploitation to human, animal or the environment.

Ethical shopping, especially of apparels, can be difficult. People natually want to keep up with fashions, and this thought usually limits them in thinking about what they are buying -it could have been made by exploitation of women or children. Lack of knowledge and awareness may help endorse unfair labour practices such as these. Fair trade exists to prevent abuses happening during the manufacturing processes.

Fair trade products are most often food items such as tea, coffee, cocoa etc, but increasingly consumers are purchasing fair trade clothing as well. These products are often identified by the marks on the labels which denote that the item you are buying had been inspected and passed the Fair Trade’s qualifications.

Because textile industries in many developing countries make up as much as about 35% of the working population, ethical and fair trade principles are needed to ensure that the workers receive fair wages and become functional members of the society. These principles do not only cover labour practices and workers’ benefits but it also limits the damages done by the industry to the environment.

The textile industry – the cotton industry most especially – is one of the world’s most chemical intensive agricultural industries. Regular cotton accounts for nearly 25% of the insecticides and 10% of the pesticides used in the world, though is it grown on only 3% of the total cultivated area. The excessive usage of chemicals in conventional cotton made it rank fourth as the most heavily-fertilized crop. These chemicals can seep into the earth, poisoning the soil, the water under ground and disturbs the natural ecosystem of farmlands.

Organic cotton, grown by natural means without the use of any chemicals, is becoming increasingly popular in the clothing industry. Not only does clothing made from organic cotton lacks many irritants synthetic cotton does, but buying organic clothes can also help improve hundreds of farmers’ lives and even save them from the harmful effects of chemicals.

You can take a small step to help improve hundreds of workers lives just by buying ethical clothing. Buying organic clothing is massively eco-friendly and also fashionable. With many fashion designers heeding the call for fair trade, ethcial fashion is becoming increasingly popular. So why not buy clothes that are both fashionable and ethcially good at the same time?