Pick 10-15 cotton products that are part of your everyday life and find an organic cotton alternative, photograph or find an image of each. Caption with the product name, brand, and website where you found it (note: include 4 designers who make clothing from organic cotton, and have the rest of your pins span as many product categories as possible). Share two facts that you learned and could pass on to inform and educate friends about the impacts of conventional cotton.
Organic Cotton Alternatives to Everyday Products
Alternative: Organic Cotton and Organic Hemp T-shirts
By Shirt Magic and Alta Hemp, a company that sells quality organic cotton T-shirts, hemp T-shirts and clothing on line for over 14 years. They are sweatshop free and use only eco-friendly non-toxic water base inks! These T-shirts aren’t boring either, just look at the cool earth shirt above!
http://altahemp.com/index.html
Alternative: Unisex Organic Hemp Jeans, Organic Cotton Jeans, & Denim Work Dungarees
By Rawganique.com , a website that offers sweatshop-free, chemical-free, cruelty-free hemp products that are made with love in USA, Canada, Europe, & Thailand. We do not test any of our products on animals; except for cruelty-free wool bedding & socks, our eco-friendly products are also 100% vegetarian & vegan.
http://www.rawganique.com/
Alternative: Workout Clothes made with Organic Cotton, such as this “Studio Top”
By Gaiam, a company that makes its clothing with Organic Cotton, is a Fair Trade company, and uses Green Packaging!
Alternative: Organic Cotton Pullover Hoodie
By econscious, which creates the finest quality products using carefully sourced organic and sustainable fibers. econscious has established a market-based approach to sustainable manufacturing, working closely with their supply chain, treating workers fairly, and eliminating the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers and other harmful chemicals. They also create custom products; their design and production teams can and will work with you to develop and manufacture products to your exact specifications. http://www.econscious.net/
Alternative: 100% Organic Cotton Products
By ORGAN(Y)C. Unlike most feminine care brands, Organ(y)c contains no synthetics, no SAPs and no wood pulp. For good hygiene, they bleach only in hydrogen peroxide, a naturally occurring disinfectant. (Oh yeah, did you know that most feminine products are bleached??? Not ok with me!)
http://www.organyc-online.com/
Alternative: Maxim Organic Cotton Rounds
By Maxim Organic and Natural, whose products provide the most intimate personal care by using the most Natural, Soft and Safe materials. The methods and materials used in manufacturing their products help preserve our global environment. Maxim Organic Cotton Rounds are made with 100% Certified Organic Cotton. Their organic cotton is pesticide free, and is whitened and disinfected with Hydrogen Peroxide instead of Chlorine to avoid creating harmful chemical Dioxin residues. They don’t use any irritating materials like Petrochemical byproducts, Viscose/Rayon or Perfume found. All of these qualities combined make their cotton rounds Hypoallergenic. (Found through the American Environmental Health Foundation)
https://www.aehf.com/product.php?productid=1789
Alternative: Organic Cotton Towels
By Coyuchi. Coyuchi Organics is a Northern California company that uses only 100% organically grown cotton to create their beautiful products including adult, baby and bath linens. Coyuchi Organics have been recognized for their environmentally friendly endeavors and received the United Nations Second Annual Fashion Industry Award for Environmental Excellence. In addition to reducing pollutants that are causing global warming, Coyuchi Organics is supporting local farmers. They receive their cotton from small farms, giving jobs to many farmers that would be forced out of work due to the heavy commercialization of farming around the world. All the organic cotton for Coyuchi products is grown in India by family farmers organized in cooperatives. Premium prices are paid to these small-scale growers for their organic cotton fiber because this encourages organic practices that protect not only the environment, but the farmers, their families, and their communities from exposure to toxic agricultural chemicals. (Found through the Ultimate Green Store)
http://www.theultimategreenstore.com/p-1016-organic-cotton-towels-7-67.aspx
Alternative: Organic Cotton/Hemp Canvas
By NearSea Naturals. They use eco-friendly supplies (soy toner, 100% recycled, high-PCW-content paper, etc), and recycle, reuse, or rehome things they can no longer use. They encourage working from home where possible (obviously, cutting fabric requires being on-site; web work does not...), etc. They are also active in education and advocacy work; for instance, with fifteen years of service, NearSea's managing partner Daniel Sanders is the only remaining original board member of the Sustainable Cotton Project. And, of course, they are incredibly careful when it comes to sourcing the materials they sell. Their organic cotton fabrics and notions are primarily milled in the United States using certified organic cotton. Their organic wool products are also from the United States, primarily from California, New Mexico, and throughout the East Coast. Their organic merino wool comes from California and Australia. Their hemp fabrics are from socially-responsible facilities in China, while their yarns, notions, and useable goods come from various sustainable enterprises worldwide.
http://www.nearseanaturals.com/index.php
Alternative: GoodNight Organic Cotton Pillows
By GoodNight; their pillows are made with the safest ingredients available: Organic Cotton, Buckwheat, 100% Virgin Wool and Kapok. Each pillow is stuffed and sewn by hand to ensure only the highest quality. They use only natural and chemical free fibers that are breathable and completely safe!
http://www.goodnightnaturals.com/index.html
Alternative: John Muir 8 Organic Cotton Card Variety Pack
By Green Field Paper Company, these cards are made from 100% recycled organically grown cotton, and are accompanied by quality hemp envelopes. Green Field Paper in San Diego has been producing specialty papers for over a decade. Organic cotton, hemp and other fibers are incorporated into the papers produced by this artisan mill.
http://www.greenfieldpaper.com/
Alternative: ORGAN(Y)C Natural Intimate Wash
By ORGAN(Y)C, this is made with organic cottonseed oil. It contains no SLES and SLS, no coloring, no parabens, no synthetic parfumes, no preservatives (natural preservative agents). The natural substances and vegetal active principles contained in this new intimate wash ensure the greatest respect of your health and the environment. Calendula extract with excellent soothing properties, and blueberry extracts with refreshing and normalizing virtues, make this product suitable also for the most sensitive skin, while lactic acid helps to stabilize the pH in order to avoid irritations.
http://www.organyc-online.com/
Alternative: Naturepedic Serenade Mattress (Queen Size)
By Naturepedic, who follows the precautionary principle and eliminates questionable chemicals in the first place. Naturepedic also avoids the use of certain conventional mattress materials such as vinyl/PVC and polyurethane foam in favor of materials such as organic cotton, organic latex rubber and organic wool. In addition, Naturepedic eliminates perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs), questionable fire retardant chemicals, and antibacterial biocides.
http://www.naturepedic.com/index.php
Alternative: 100% Organic Cotton Balls
By Green Cradle, 100% Organic cotton balls are grown without the use of toxic and persistent pesticides or fertilizers, sewage sludge, irradiation, or genetic engineering. Green Cradle specializes in organic and all natural health & body care, clothing, mattresses, bedding, toys, furniture and a host of other products for children, pregnancy, and the whole family. Their other specialties are research and sharing the scientific information they’ve collected concerning the health benefits of truly 'green' products. Their goal is to offer families products that not only say ORGANIC or ALL NATURAL on their labels, but actually contain no chemicals, no synthetic preservatives, no harmful dyes, no hidden plastics, no toxic fire retardants, no formaldehyde-leaching pressed woods etc.
http://www.greencradle.com/welcome-a/138.htm
Alternative: PeopleTowels
PeopleTowels, an on-the-go alternative to paper towels, are reusable personal hand towels that make going green as easy as drying your hands. Made only of 100% organic Fair Trade Cotton. B.Y.O.Towel to save trees, reduce landfill waste, cut CO2 emissions and conserve water!
https://www.peopletowels.com/
Alternative: Organic Cotton Mat & Cover Set
By Gaiam, this yoga mat is super cushioned and comfortable. The pure organic cotton shell is stuffed with organic cotton batting that's hand tufted for an extra supportive surface your back and joints will appreciate. Includes one organic cotton cover.
http://www.gaiam.com/
So why is normal cotton so bad??
Normal cotton is treated with tons of chemicals such as herbicides and pesticides, which then end up in the surrounding environment and in the clothes on our bodies. Cotton is also often bleached and then dyed with artificial coloring and sometimes fire-retardant chemicals! All of this goes on our skin when we wear it. Organic cotton does not contain these chemicals. Because of this, it has been known to benefit people with sensitive skin or eczema, and is great for babies’ soft skin. And overall, I know I would feel better knowing my clothes didn’t contain all these chemicals! Cotton is used in so many different products that it is important to look for organic alternatives in order to reduce chemical exposure.
(note: I couldn't add all the photos through tumblr for each product because there are too many but most are in the photoset at the top!)