5 Reasons To Choose Organic Clothing February 14, 2017 08:39 2 Comments

 

Organic: Love Your Baby & Love the Planet 

Bringing a child into the world is the most exciting. There are a million decisions you’ll make as a parent, but when it comes to shopping for baby products, one decision can come easily to you: Buy organic. Choosing organic products is a sustainable way to go, not only for you and your baby, but also for the world at large and generations to come. Here’s why:

 

1) It’s safer for your baby’s skin. Babies’ skin is different from adults. It’s incredibly sensitive, and prone to rashes and dry patches. In fact, as many as 30 to 40 percent of babies have eczema, according to Parents magazine. If you have an infant, you’ve probably already noticed that simply testing out a new cream or brand of laundry detergent can irritate the delicate skin of your child. That’s why it’s important to be mindful of which fabrics you’re putting against your baby’s skin. Look for clothing made from very soft, natural, fibers like 100-percent organic cotton.

2) Organic clothes last longer. When compared like for like, organic fibers consistently produce better quality yarns than conventional cotton. Organic cotton does not undergo as much processing as nonorganic processed cotton, so it results in sturdier clothing that lasts longer.

3) It’s safer in your home. Did you know that there’s a scary soup of chemicals—things like quinolines, aromatic amines and benzothiazoles—left over in clothing after the manufacturing process? These chemicals can lurk behind, long after you bring them home from the store and wash the new clothes. Exposure to these can up the risk of skin irritation, but there’s a bigger-picture concern for human and planet health. Some are suspected or proven carcinogens to humans, while others pollute the water supply. With organic clothing, you can rest assured that the cotton was grown without the use of chemical fertilizers or pesticides, and that after the cotton was harvested, it wasn’t bleached, dyed or treated with insecticides.

4) It stops polluting communities. Organic farming is safer for the people who grow the cotton and to the many communities around the world that are located near the farms, in places such as the United States, India, China, Pakistan and West Africa. According to the World Wildlife Federation, 2.4 percent of the world’s cropland is planted with cotton, yet it accounts for 24 percent and 11 percent of the global sales of insecticide and pesticides respectively. This high and unsafe dose of chemicals has severe health impacts on workers in the field and on the ecosystems that receive run-off from farms. It’s harmful to the animals near the farms, too. Organic methods, such as covering the cotton crops with natural materials instead of using pesticide, are much safer for animals and people.

5) It’s better for the planet. Organic agriculture methods use non-chemical ways of keeping the land fertile, and of keeping pests and weeds at bay, so there’s no need to use synthetic fertilizers and toxic pesticides. According to the Rodale Institute’s Farming Systems Trial, organic agriculture can even lessen the impact of climate change by reducing the amount of fossil fuels required and boosting the amount of carbon that goes back into the soil.

When you are shopping for baby products, look for items that have been labeled 100-percent certified organic cotton. This assures you it has met strict environmental and social standards and has been certified by an independent, third party along the whole supply chain. Organic is such a healthy choice, not just for our own babies, but also to make the world a little better, It’s a pretty inspiring thing.