What Makes Organic Clothing Organic? Information on Organic Cotton Certification.

Organic this and organic that is all the buzz these days, but what exactly makes clothing organic? Salts Organic Clothing is made with certified Organic Cotton, not regular cotton. Many Bamboo, Soy, Tencel and Hemp fabric blends are made with regular cotton, not organic cotton. Certified organic fabrics are certified by several governing bodies depending on where they are from. It all starts with the fiber that makes the organic fabric. Salts Organic fabrics are certified by the Control Union World Group formally called SKAL. Some state and governmental bodies also have their own certifying bodies that certify Organic Cotton from their area. Certification processes and procedures may vary depending on the certifying organization, but the underlying values are the same. The organization IFOAM, International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement is currently in the process of Defining Organic Agriculture in less than 300 words that will encompass all the objectives of organic farming.

The CUWG or SKAL can certify the fiber or the yarn. All organic land used to grow organic cotton must be treated organically for 3 years in order to be certified. To be treated organically the field must not be sprayed with any pesticides, herbicides or synthetic fertilizers. Crop rotation, manure fertilizer and other earth friendly farming techniques are used instead. Organic Cotton for organic clothing is now grown in 18 countries but still only fills .01% of the total cotton market in the world. According to 2001 statistics the largest producers of organic cotton was the United States, India, Turkey and Peru.

Simply put, organic clothing is made from fabrics that were made from yarns that were made from Fibers that were grown on certified organic fields. These fields are gentle on the environment which has advantages to humans and nature alike. Many small farming villages have faced health struggles due to chemical use on cotton fields. Nature can only dilute and disperse so much chemical until it will begin to affect us all. We will all begin to notice these chemicals it in our food and water supplies eventually. Buying Organic Clothing is one way that you can be gentle on the earth.

Sincerely,
Salts.