did you know?
did you know that organic cotton fiber is the most common fiber in use? and the term cotton (English/cotton, French/cotton, German/baumwolle, Russian/hlopok) at the same time means plant, often called Cotinus coggygria and fiber who grows on its seed?
history of cotton use takes us to unimaginable distant years, in the area of today’s Mexico, where archeologists have found cotton balls 7000 years old. for the first time in Europe, cotton clothes were brought by Arab traders in the year 800. considering that cotton clothes were soft, gentle, translucent and pleasant to the touch, it was called woven wind, and because of the price, it was called white gold.
modern clothes we use today is unimaginable without cotton. from our first to last day our skin is in contact with cotton. thanks to the development of science and biotechnological achievements cotton cultivation are significantly accelerated and therefor it rapidly becomes accessible to all people worldwide. nevertheless, because of bioengineering, pesticides, and chemicals, a big part of cotton clothes on the market is not so pleasant anymore and completely safe for human. modern days massive cultivation of cotton with herbicides, pesticides, and synthetic fertilizers, the use of GMO seeds enormously violates natural laws of the planet and doesn’t benefit at all.
what is organic cotton?
oc is cotton manufactured by nationally accepted standards of organic production: in Europe according regulation EU 834/2007, in the USA according to the program National Organic Program (NOP), in India according to National Program for Organic Production (NPOP), or in Japan according to the standard Japanese Agricultural Standards (JAS).
it is grown without any chemical fertilizers or pesticides on the soil completely cleaned from all toxic leftovers of chemical fertilizers and pesticides potentially used on it earlier. treatment of soil cleansing this way lasts at least three years.
cottonseed is used from original plants, which means that plants are not genetically modified, and all resources added during plants growing are the organic origin and environmentally suitable. during processing and packaging fibers are not supposed to be treated by any kind of chemicals, for example, during washing, bleaching or coloring.
main producers of oc today are India, Syria, Turkey, China, Tanzania, United States Of America, Uganda, Peru, Egypt, West African States, Kyrgyzstan.
oc or conventional cotton- what would have the priority?
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dr Adela Medović
which cotton is better: organic, produced by principles of organic production, or conventional, produced by classical methods, there have been polemics for years. producers of conventional cotton as the main asset quote massive and cheap cotton production, by cellulose content, is no different from organically produced cotton.
the truth is that with classical methods identification oc fiber really can not distinguish from cotton fiber conventionally grown.
however, the benefits of organic cotton production are bigger from year to year. process of oc production is ecological and saves already endangered planet. also, water consumption during organic cotton production is significantly lower comparing to conventional cotton production. from the health aspect, organic cotton also has an advantage comparing to conventional. a lot of studies have proven that organic cotton is significantly softer and better absorbs water.
to provide a guarantee that some cotton is produced as organic, much effort has been made lately to make demands and criteria related to the production of oc and organic textile as much as possible globally.
in this regard, increasing importance gets international standard Global Textile Standard (GOTS) according to which is implemented labeling of organic textile materials.
how the skin reacts to organic cotton?
organic cotton is properly considered for material that is the most suitable for skin, has a soothing effect and practically is the safest natural fiber. conventional cotton fibers sometimes can be irritating for newborn baby skin, while with organically manufactured cotton it never happens. organic cotton is ideal for care and protection of newborn babies, especially for the production of children’s sheets, baby clothes, towels, bandages, gauzes, and many other similar products. organic cotton can even be used for operations where contamination from any source can be fatal. in contact with skin, it acts hypoallergenic that means doesn’t cause irritations.
if you are ecologically conscious and reasonable, no matter are you a buyer or manufacturer, these facts will be enough to choose organic cotton. the good news is that the price of it is lower from year to year, so its use and implementation in the cotton industry are bigger and bigger. consumers interesting for it is big also, so it is used for manufacturing of wide spectrum textile, hygienic and medical products.
making the right choice
because of all the above, many international companies who produce cotton clothes, and especially for children, have already chosen organic cotton. it is well known that more than 25 world’s biggest traders (owners of famous brands) use over 60% of world’s offer of it!
clothing in its composition needs to have 95% of organic cotton to be considered as organic materials, apropos products. choosing it we become an example of how we can affect and push boundaries of ecological awareness!