Organic & Fair T-Shirts with your print

Cotton is a natural fiber harvested from the cotton plant. It is one of the oldest fibers under human cultivation, with traces over 7,000 years old recovered from archaeological sites. Cotton is also one of the most used natural fibers in existence today, with consumers from all classes and nations wearing and using it in a variety of applications. Thousands of acres globally are devoted to its production, whether it be new world cotton, with longer, smoother fibers, or the shorter and coarser old world varieties.

Cotton covers 2.5% of the world’s cultivated land yet uses 16% of the world’s insecticides, more than any other single major crop. Other environmental consequences of the elevated use of chemicals in the non organic cotton growing methods consist of:

• High levels of agrochemicals are used in the production of non-organic, conventional cotton. Cotton production uses more chemicals per unit area than any other crop and accounts in total for 10-16% of the world's pesticides (including herbicides, insecticides, and defoliants).

• Chemicals used in the processing of cotton pollute the air and surface waters.

• Residual chemicals may irritate consumers' skin.

• Decreased biodiversity and shifting equilibrium of ecosystems due to the use of pesticides.

Cotton growers who make the transition to biologically based growing practices expect not only to offer a healthier and cleaner product, but also to benefit the planet. Some of the contributions to the different ecosystems include:

• Protecting surface and groundwater quality (eliminating contaminants in surface runoff)
• Reduced risk in insect and disease control by replacing insecticide with the manipulation of ecosystems
• Long-term prevention of pests through beneficial habitat planting.
• Conservation of biodiversity
• Eliminate the use of toxic chemicals used in cotton
• Organically grown crops also yield soils with higher organic matter content, thicker topsoil depth, higher polysaccharide content, and lower modulus of rupture; therefore reducing considerably soil erosion.

Ecological production and social responsibility are going together. Certificates for organic cotton also cover aspects of a fair production. And labels for a fair production are aiming ecological goals as well.

The most important organisation to improve the conditions of workers in the textile industry is the Fair Wear Foundation (FWF).  This institution sets and controls the code which can basically be summed up in the following 8 points.

• Employment is freely chosen
• There is no discrimination in employment
• No exploitation of child labour
• Freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining
• Payment of a living wage
• No excessive working hours
• Safe and healthy working conditions
• Legally-binding employment relationship

These standards are based on the conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

We recommend to watch the following video portraying 2 women who work in the textile industry in Bangladesh and in Columbia. It gives you a good impression of the of the working conditions in a globalised textile production.