While I’ve been thinking about making lingerie and slippers, I thought I’d have another look at what’s out there in terms of organic and fair trade fabrics. I still have a lot of my Bishopston Trading organic cottons, but I wanted to find out whether there was anything new and exciting around.
The samples above are from Organic Cotton, who are based in Wales, and it’s just a small assortment of the enormously expanded range I was pleased to find there!
On the left is cotton poplin, which has been dyed with various plants and herbs to achieve the different colours. (The red is madder and the yellow is pomegranate, for example.) The dyes will fade after wearing and washing, but I think that adds to the charm of this type of fabric.
On the right are “colour grown” cottons – did you know that not all cotton is naturally white? There’s no dye at all in these fabrics – just the natural colour of the cotton as it was grown and harvested. These won’t fade either, as there’s no dye to leach out of the fabric when you wash it.
At the top are herringbone woven cottons, heavier weight, suitable for furnishings and definitely good for slippers!
At the bottom is bamboo “silk” – bamboo fabric which definitely feels very silk-like, and would be lovely for underwear. They also stock bamboo jersey, and a mixed cotton and bamboo woven fabric.
I still have mixed feelings about bamboo though, no matter how lovely the resulting fabric seems to be. Although it originates from a natural material, it has to undergo so many chemical processes during its transformation into fabric (as do rayon, viscose and acetate, for example) that its environmentally-friendly credentials are somewhat questionable. There are some cellulose-based fabrics that can be manufactured using closed-loop production methods (ie the chemicals can be re-used rather than discarded), but it certainly isn’t standard practice yet.
Mind you, every fibre used for fabric production has its ups and downs. Whilst organic cotton may not use harmful pesticides, it still requires a huge amount of water in its production. Man-made fibres such as polyester may be derived from petrochemicals but they’re easy to recycle, and can be manufactured from already-recycled materials. Very little fabric of any kind is now made in the UK, so everything’s subject to being shipped halfway across the world before it even gets here.
I suppose it’s a question of deciding what matters to me right now, and making as informed a decision as possible. Easier said than done, I suspect.
