French Cuff Blouse
by TreeHugger on 08.29.04
When I think about cotton, I think 100%, I think natural, I think harmless. A few years ago I was surprised to find out that current cotton growing practices require 25% of the world's pesticides (some estimate much more) despite being less than 5% of the crops. That, coupled with the fact that many of the dies contain toxins and the process of bleaching uses chlorine, makes you look a little differently at that friendly little white cotton t-shirt. Luckily though, there are alternatives...$128. ::CoolnotCruel
and these alternatives are building momentum (I believe Nike is the largest buyer of organic cotton).
For example, CoolNotCruel has a whole line of women's and men's clothing made from hemp (will someone rename that fiber for chrissakes?), organic cotton or alpaca wool. Some of their line is in naturally colored organic cotton (grows that way!!) and some is died with more benign dies. The stuff that is bleached, is done in a softer fashion sans chlorine. They even have some modern cuts and they do their sewing in Bolivia (fairly compensated, run by women's rights activist) and New York city if you can believe it. Buy some here: Wed-Sun (Noon-8pm) Swirlspace at 593 Guerrero St (18th St) in the Mission, SF, CA or try on their site.
