Cotton and Cashmere are two well-known clothing fabrics. Cotton is the most popular fabric with positive attributes such as soft, breathable, and affordable price. Cashmere is known as diamond fiber for its super softness, comfort, and pricy. Both are natural fibers which are clearly seen as being more environmentally friendly. How green are they? The following facts and incredible numbers make you feel what is behind the scene.

Cotton
The traditional cotton consumes approximately 25% of the world’s insecticides and 10% of the pesticides. Cotton production uses more chemicals per unit area than any other crop. In addition to those applied chemicals, much water is necessary for the irrigation and these chemicals are easily infiltrated the soil and water. Even more, seven of the top 15 pesticides used on US cotton crops are listed by the EPA as potential or known human carcinogens. When you have an irritated skin, have you ever thought about the chemicals on your skin?

Cashmere
Most of people know a lot of super features in cashmere, such as supreme soft and warm. Few people have an idea on the serious environment effect from cashmere production.
Before further discussion, cashmere production primer is summarized with courtesy of U.N. Environment Program from Asian Development Bank. Cashmere is combed each spring from the beneath the coarse outer hair of the goat. It takes 2 – 3 animals to produce a sweater, twice that for a sport coat. About 70% of cashmere is produced a year in China. The main production area is in Alashan Plateau near Mongolian border. The number of goats soared from 2.4 million in 1949 to 25.8 million in 2004 which turn China’s grasslands, the world’s third-largest, into desserts. The desert expanded by an area larger than Netherland within 5 years from 1994-99. A 1998 sand storm that began in China and Mongolia caused air pollution warnings in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and British Columbia. With the US high demand, the over-herding not only changed a pricy Cashmere look into an affordable Wal-Mart sweater but also turned the grassland into the desert. Now China realizes the environment effect from the cashmere manufacture so the relevant agricultural policies are set up to regulate the production. Another factor for the environment damage is the goats themselves. Unlike common grass or plant eaters, they are expert forager. They graze down to the lower level and pull up the root to eat. It also happens to the seedlings that the goats nibble at the bark which transports nutrients to the trees. So once the bark is damaged, the trees will die.

Clothing is not just for wearing when you have some worthy knowledge. The other eco-friendly fabric is worth of being paid more attention, such as silk, organic cotton.

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hey guys – any and all feed back will be appreciated … although if you think dogs wearing clothes is ridiculous, you might not be able to provide the exact TYPE of feedback i’m looking for

So the question is, how much would you pay for a dog jacket like the one in my “yahoo people” profile picture? Keep in mind the products are eco-friendly and therefore slightly more expensive. The fabric is made in the US, and organic. Everything will be manufactured in the US so keep that in mind.

this is organic, fair trade, sweat-shop free!

thanks so much!

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When more people are eco-conscious, it is a hot trend that fashion goes green. Many eco materials are considered for clothing fabric instead of traditional cotton. Those natural resources include bamboo, corn, organic cotton, hemp, silk, even coconut shells. Three of them, bamboo, silk, and organic cotton, are discussed including both pros and cons.

Bamboo

Bamboo fabric has a good reputation from the benefit to both human and earth in the clothing industry. Bamboo fabric has a soft touch and a stronger fabric. Due the fabric’s structure, the fabric is very breathable to stay cool in the summer and warmer in the winter. Also, it can absorb 3 – 4 times more water than the traditional cotton fabric without sticking to your skin. It is very good for sports wear or casual wear. At the same time, the benefits of bamboo are abundant to the earth. It grows very fast to be ready for harvesting in four years. It does not require replanting because of the robust reproduction ability from its root networking. Moreover, bamboo naturally grows with no irritation, poisonous pesticides, and fertilizers.
However, the above pros are only part of the bamboo fabric life. The whole fabric process includes material planting and the process to make the plant into a fabric. Two ways are to process bamboo to make it into a fabric: mechanical or chemical. The mechanical way is by crushing the plant and then enzyme-breaking the fibre into a mushy mass so that the fibers can be mechanically combed out and spun into a yarn. This way is really eco-friendly process. Very little bamboo fabric is processed with this way because of intensive labor and higher cost. Most of bamboo fabric are made with the chemically manufacture process. The mushy mass to comb out the fibers is made through an intensive chemical cooking process. The chemical soaking and multiple bleaching processes gives some feel how green the bamboo fabric is.

Organic Cotton

In wiki, organic cotton is defined as cotton that is grown without pesticides from plants which are not genetically modified. The biological controls are implemented as an alternative to pesticides. The reduced chemical is also benefit for the air and water. Shoppers do not expose their skin to the chemical. Also, the eco-friendly cotton has a stronger, more durable fabric from the extra-long fibres.
The planting of organic cotton is at a developing stage and even experimental process. Also there is no standard third-party monitoring to guarantee the planting process.

Silk

Silk is well-known with lots of excellent features for a long time. It is a natural protein fiber so it is good for the person who has allergic skin. The production process is eco-friendly. Silk is the first choice in the fashion world for its smoothness and draping well feature.
The high price and special care is the obstacle for its popularity. Even with new technology of silk setting for washing machine, there is no way to try the silk in your dryer.

Buy or not, which one to buy – that is your own choice. At least, you know it before you buy.

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I am looking for a place that has information on Eco-friendly products like light-bulbs, the reuseable fabric grocery bags, and anything else that might be out there. Any web site with a lot of information on these produces and others would be great.

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I want to know how people make clothes that are considered eco-friendly. I know its kind of far in the future but I’m fourteen and when I’m older I want to maybe try to start an environmentally friendly clothing line, so I was curious as to how it works. I’ve already drawn designs in my notebook.
Anyone have any tips?

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Eco friendly products are goods and services that were manufactured with the idea that the process of producing and distributing them will not have a negative impact to the environment. Increasing awareness and concern for the environment has been affecting a lot of industries, with the “green” movement and ideals seeping into the collective consciousness of the buying public. There are many people who want to make a contribution, no matter how small, to protect the environment, which is actually a very good thing.

As a result of the public’s efforts to be more environmentally friendly, Eco friendly products can now be found everywhere from online stores to actual stores at the mall. To be called eco friendly, a product, such as clothes and accessories, must be made up of materials that were created and manufactured from organic materials. For example, cotton is the most predominantly used material for clothing. When growing cotton, the farmers sometimes used pesticides to protect the quality of the cotton. For eco friendly purposes, this has to be done away with. Pesticides should not be used in the production of cotton. The large-scale production and use of materials such as rayon has been a leading cause of environmental problems like deforestation. In keeping with the efforts of trying to maintain the ecological balance, several alternatives are being pursued to protect the environment. Chemicals, such as dye used for coloring the fabric, should also be scrapped. These chemicals are harmful to the environment and can also be detrimental to people’s health. If the fabrics and textiles made for manufacturing clothes can be produced without dyeing, thus eliminating the use of harmful chemicals, then it will be much better for the environment and the public. Moreover, the fabric should also be made to be more long lasting. If the clothes easily become old and worn out, disposing them can be an environmentally problematic option because these materials do not decompose easily. They will keep filling up garbage dumps and contribute to pollution and waste. Therefore, Eco friendly products must be made of strong and renewable materials. Recycling is also a considerable option. Clothes can either be made from recyclable plastic bottles and reusable fabrics. The above-mentioned processes may be small things compared to the wide-scale environmental issues but the tiniest things can have a huge impact if this is to be taken seriously. Fortunately, although the eco friendly production of cloth products and other accessories is still relatively new, it already has gained much popularity that even the most famous designers and fashion world’s who’s who are increasingly being swayed into promoting and supporting the go green movement.

However, protecting the environment is not the only objective of eco friendly campaigns. They also protect the rights of individuals for fair trade. Eco friendly products, besides being in most part organic, must also come from manufacturers that provide their workers with genuinely fair and decent working environment. They must be working in comfortable conditions and are being paid fair wages according to their hard work.

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airdye® technology is used to dye and decorate fabric and textiles in both cut piece and roll goods. This demonstration is of cut piece production for athletic wear performance shirts. The dyeing and decoration occur in a single production step, without water or toxic chemicals. There are no post-production treatments required. airdye® technology helps clothing and textile manufacturers create products with the smallest environmental impact. The equipment shown here is in our R&D facility running significantly slower than production systems. Learn more at www.airdye.com

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