What’s the deal with Organic Cotton?

What’s the deal with Organic Cotton? What makes it different from… regular cotton? AND where the HECK do I find organic cotton? Read on BYOK readers…

Organic Cotton is grown in a way that that uses methods and materials that lessen the impact on our environment. For example, organic cotton uses far less water than conventional cotton. And organic methods focus on growing systems that replenish and build biologically diverse agriculture.

Furthermore, organic cotton is free of the pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, and GMO’s that our typically in our crops. These toxins are so harmful to the farmers who harvest these crops – in fact more than 10,000 farmers die each year from cancers related to harsh chemicals. The chemicals are harmful to the environment as they run-off into our streams of water. And the chemicals affect us as consumers who end up wearing the conventional cotton. I could literally go ON AND ON about the awful side affects of nonorganic cotton.

But let me cut to the chase, because this is where my 80/20 rule of thumb comes in. If I have the option of buying organic, I do it. If I don’t, then I don’t.

Fortunately, there are more organic cotton brands out there then you might think. For example, H&M is actually the world’s largest buyer of organic cotton. Here is a generous list of some organic clothing brands to check out.

But I also wanted to share with you all two organic cotton brands that I am TRULY loving right now.

Gilded Arrow

Gilded Arrow creates luxury Turkish Cotton Towels, that are truly worth your attention. Camryn and Brooke, sisters and creators of Gilded Arrow, made it their mission to produce textiles that limit the carbon footprint on the planet and products that are just as positive for the environment as they are for you. From the very beginning they knew they wanted to create luxury beach essentials that were certified fair-trade, eco-friendly and organic.

For starters, the textiles are made on 50 year-old looms in rural family workshops meaning that they are hand-loomed with special attention to detail and care from start to finish. From hand-picking the 100% Organic Cotton, and using natural dyes; no chemicals or harmful substances are used in the production process. Moving in a sustainable direction with organic and natural fibers is a movement they strongly believe in and hope more brands will follow.

“Knowing your labels and looking into the products you are buying and knowing what impact that has on the world is something we should all pride ourselves on. As consumers ourselves – we realize the importance of transparency – we wanted customers to be confident letting even their children use our natural products. Also, by purchasing our textiles customers are investing in something they will use everyday, in many more ways than the average towel. Our Luxury Turkish Towels are worth your attention, as they have become our personal lifestyle essentials. Especially because we love knowing that we aren’t contributing to the fashion industry statistic as one of the leading causes of product waste.” – Camryn

Want to check them out? Website | Instagram

Kitchen + Kraft

Another organic cotton company I can really stand behind is Kitchen + Kraft, run by Tori Kendrew. They have the most darling pillows, lunchbags, tote bags, napkin sets, garland, etc. Her brand uses all natural fibers including organic cotton, canvas and linen and use only natural dyes. She doesn’t use any chemicals in the process.

Tori attended Massachusetts College of Art and Design where she majored in Fibers. She had taken a fabric dyeing class and started to do research on natural dyes and dyeing with plant and vegetable dyes. Natural fibers and the muted colors of the natural dyes began to draw her in so she started creating more concrete designs and products and eventually decided that it was the right time to leave her full-time job and pursue what would eventually become kitchen + kraft. She decided on the name kitchen + kraft because the items she uses as dyes are things that can usually be found in your kitchen.