When looking for clothing that reduces wear and tear on the earth, consider natural and organic cotton, hemp, wool, and even bamboo. Many people wonder why wearing organic clothing should be a concern since no one is going to ingest it. However, what people wear does impact the environment.

The Basics of Cotton

Cotton has been used to make clothing for thousands of years. It was first spun mechanically in England in 1730, and later that century Eli Whitney patented his cotton gin in the United States. Rumor has it that Whitney's was not the original cotton gin, but it was undoubtedly the most successful. As a result of the Industrial Revolution and the cotton gin, the cotton industry took off and is now one of the leading cash crops in the United States.

The Conventional Way

As with many other crops grown using conventional methods, pesticides are used to kill insects before they can cause damage. Large-scale agribusinesses now run the operations that depend on pesticides and fertilizers and include separating out the cotton fiber from the seed. The cotton fiber is used for clothing while the seeds take another route. Cottonseed oil is used in vegetable oil, salad dressings, and many processed foods like potato chips and snack crackers. Hulls are also used in cattle feed as high-protein fiber. The use of pesticides is fraught with environmental impact. Stormwater runoff from rain flowing across cotton fields brings with it the residue and contamination left over from the chemicals.

To avoid the problems with pesticides, researchers have genetically modified cotton plants to be pest-resistant. The most common transgenic cotton plant carries the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) gene. This gene kills caterpillars that feed on the cotton plant. The Bt gene kills the caterpillars, preventing any damage. Transgenic cotton has been used all over the world by leading exporters such as China and India to increase prosperity by increasing production. There are skeptics, however, who do not believe the increased production will last and that nature will find a way around the resistant cotton, eventually making stronger pesticides necessary.

The Organic Way

It is more expensive to grow cotton organically, but farmers are paid sufficiently to make up the difference. Organic cotton sells well, with extra money going back to the farmer. Large companies like Patagonia, Nike, and Timberland are supporting the growing trend of organic cotton by promoting and selling lines of products made with organic cotton.

Organic cotton requires farmers to forgo using genetically modified seeds, chemical pesticides, and fertilizers. By going organic, the farmers no longer have to pay for expensive pesticides and receive a higher dollar value for their crop, sometimes bringing in twice as much. Organic cotton is a win-win situation for both the environment and the farmer.

Clothing made from organic cotton often uses ladybugs and other natural enemies to combat pests. Pests are also handpicked from the plants. While this process takes much more time than applying chemicals, the farmers make up for it with the high prices they receive for their crops. Another important factor is that by eliminating pesticides from crops, workers are no longer exposed to dangerous chemicals. Studies have shown that the houses of farmworkers routinely contain pesticides brought home from the field, exposing the family members who live there.

The History and Uses of Hemp

Hemp, the nondrug form of cannabis, suffers from its association with marijuana. However, it is environmentally friendly. It does not require pesticides, and because the plants grow so densely, herbicides are not required either.

Over the centuries, hemp was commonly used to make sails on ships, leading experts to believe that the word canvas actually originated from the word cannabis, or kannabis as it was spelled then. From masts to sails, hemp was used to make clothing, shoes, and even the paper for maps. For decades it was a favorite of industry, and farmers were encouraged to grow the crop because it had so many uses. Recreational use of hemp didn't become popular until the early twentieth century.

The U.S. government didn't initially back the illegality of hemp and, in 1942, distributed 400,000 pounds of seed for farmers, including 4-H groups, to grow hemp in support of the war effort.

Even with legislation against its use, hemp never went away. Scientists who continued to study it found it to be lower in saturated fats than other vegetables oils. Still, growing the plant, even for industrial purposes, in the United States is unlawful. Hemp must be imported, usually from China, Romania, Hungary, and Poland, which is why it carries a higher price tag. It also doesn't benefit from the subsidies that other domestic textiles receive.

The hemp used in clothing is chemically different from the cannabis people smoke. The amount of the chemical responsible for making people high, THC, is much lower in industrial hemp. Hemp is available in a variety of clothing from T-shirts to sport jackets. It's even available for wedding apparel.

Wearing Wool

Wool is a renewable and sustainable fabric, but problems abound with conventionally grown wool. As with cows, when sheep are raised in small, overgrazed pastures, they become vulnerable to parasites. To combat the pests, the sheep are dipped, literally, in pesticides. These dipping vats are walk-through troughs placed in pastures. The pesticides are toxic to fish and amphibians and are suspected endocrine disruptors.

When chemicals escape the vats, they contaminate groundwater and surface water and are capable of bioaccumulating in wildlife. Workers responsible for dipping sheep have become sick and chemicals have been linked to nerve damage.

Wool's chemical dependency continues with manufacturing. Wool is often washed and treated with formaldehydes and dioxins. Newer technologies even incorporate chlorine oxidation and silver backwashing to prevent shrinking.

Organically raised sheep live in pastures without pesticides and are not dipped. Healthy sheep are able to fend off parasites, making dipping unnecessary. Organic wool yarn is not chemically treated but washed using biodegradable soap. While some people may be allergic to lanolin, oil that naturally occurs in wool, wool in itself is nonallergenic. It's also naturally fire retardant, making it safer than treated clothing. Natural wool clothing is breathable but makes for a good insulator. It's durable and wrinkle resistant and can be dyed and spun into a variety of fabrics.

A Case for Bamboo

Bamboo is a quick-growing grass. Two of the more redeeming qualities include that it removes dangerous carbon dioxide from the air as part of photosynthesis and that it can be harvested relatively quickly, meaning smaller amounts of land are needed to grow it. Bamboo doesn't require fertilizers or pesticides and is hypoallergenic. And to date, there hasn't been any genetically modified bamboo used in the apparel process. The fiber produced from bamboo is moisture wicking and antimicrobial. Clothing made from bamboo is colorfast and can be washed as if it were cotton clothing.

The Skinny on Silk

Silk is a protein fiber spun by moth larvae. It can be considered a renewable resource and is biodegradable; however, traditional harvesting and processing methods don't comply with everyone's idea of planet friendly. The majority of silk seen in the United States comes from China, Korea, Japan, and India. The silk production process uses Bombyx mori caterpillars or larvae, which attach themselves to the leaves of mulberry trees and begin spinning. The cocoon is finished in about two days and contains one continuous silk strand that can measure thousands of feet long. If left alone, the larvae would continue through the pupa stage and then emerge from the cocoon as a moth, but it would break the silk strand in the process. To maintain the continuous thread, cocoons are usually steamed, boiled, or baked to kill the larvae inside. The cocoons are then opened and the silk unfurled. The thread is washed or degummed using alkaline washes. It takes an estimated 25,000 cocoons to produce one pound of silk thread. This harvesting process is highly labor intensive and commonly relies on low-wage workers.

There are a limited number of companies that offer silk while working to improve one or more aspects of the harvesting process. Both Peace Silk and Ahimsa Peace Silk allow the larvae to continue to grow inside the cocoons, requiring the threads broken by the moth's emergence to be spun back together. Christoph Fritzsch, a German company, offers organic silk and claims to use only silk from harvesters that employ good working conditions. The company also uses wind and other alternative power in its processing facility.