Organic cotton starting to turn heads in fashion

Tag: Polyester Skirts
You've given up your gas-guzzling SUV, bought a high-efficiency furnace and have switched to organic produce, all in the name of the environment. But have you given any thought to what you're wearing?Cotton may come from the Earth, but the large amount of pesticides, fertilizers and other chemicals used to grow and process it can make conventional cotton fabrics an unfriendly environmental choice.As a result, many companies have sought out alternatives, creating a growing number of clothes made from sustainable fabrics like organic cotton, bamboo and soy yarns.No, that doesn't mean shirts cut from coarse sack-cloth or skirts woven from stiff bamboo poles. These new fabrics can be as soft, washable, colourful and stylish as cotton or polyester jersey.Organic cotton looks and feels no different than non-organic cotton, and both bamboo and soy jersey fabrics are super-soft, says Jessica Kennedy, owner of Nokomis, an Edmonton store that carries a number of sustainable fabric lines, including its own, in-house pieces.Organic cotton is grown without pesticides or fertilizers and processed without chemicals like formaldehyde, which is used to prevent wrinkles, explains Michael Kalmanovitch of Earth's General Store in Edmonton.Bamboo grows quickly, doesn't need added chemicals, is durable and has long fibres that work well for making fabric.Clothes made from organic fabrics are slightly more expensive, but as those fabrics become more popular and widely used, the prices are coming down, says Kennedy.Her store carries a range of clothes made from sustainable fabrics.