Impressions - September 2014 - 40

* No petroleum-based products
were used
* Carbon emissions associated with
manufacturing or operation were
kept to a minimal level
* The product conserves or minimizes
power consumption
* It's easily recycled
* It uses raw materials that were
sustainably farmed
* Doesn't contain or produce
toxic chemicals
Few if any products meet all of this criteria, typically falling into no more than
one or two so-called green categories. In
fact, many eco-friendly products can be
unfriendly to the environment in just as
many ways as they are friendly.,
For apparel decorators, it really comes
down to education and a setting of standards. When evaluating just how ecofriendly a garment is, you should look at
how the ﬁbers were created, how the fabric
was manufactured, how it was decorated,
and to what extent it can be recycled. Because no single process or product is totally
free of harmful environmental effects, you
will need to educate yourself so you can
balance out the different elements in ﬁguring out what processes provide the best
scenario in terms of green.
A good starting point is to take a look
at ﬁbers that are used to create an apparel
product. They typically can be broken
down into two distinct categories - natural and synthetic.
Natural ﬁbers come from vegetative
and animal sources including:
* Cotton - vegetative
* Bamboo - vegetative
* Hemp - vegetative
* Silk - animal
* Wool - animal
But just because it's a natural ﬁber,
doesn't mean that it is environmentally
friendly. The key is to ﬁnd organic products.

Organic ﬁbers are made from materials that are raised or grown without the use of chemicals
in the form of pesticides, herbicides or other substances. To gain organic certiﬁcation, a farm must have
been inspected by an accredited certiﬁcation organization using strict national or international standards.

complete deﬁnition of the standards for certiﬁed organic ﬁber processing
The most common organic ﬁber used
in apparel is organic cotton, which is
grown without pesticides from plants
that have not been genetically modiﬁed.
This is as opposed to standard cotton
production (still a natural ﬁber, just not
organic), which depends on high levels of
agrochemicals and accounts for 16% of the
world's pesticides. In addition, the chemicals used in the processing of non-organic
cotton can pollute the air and water.
True organic cotton production uses

crop rotation instead of agrochemicals
and artiﬁcial fertilizers, and biological
pest control instead of pesticides. Though
organic cotton has less environmental
impact than conventional cotton, it costs
more to produce. The same standards for
organic cotton production apply to other
natural ﬁber production.
But the organic label can be misleading,
as many clothing manufacturers market
organic clothing that use harsh dyes and/or
bleaches for coloring and various chemical
additives to aid in processing and preservation for transportation.

WHAT DOES ORGANIC MEAN?
Organic ﬁbers are made from materials
that are raised or grown without the use of
chemicals in the form of pesticides, herbicides or other substances. To gain organic
certiﬁcation, a farm must have been inspected by an accredited certiﬁcation organization using strict national or international
standards. Farmers raising organic ﬁber follow standards that nurture the soil or animal
from which it comes and do not use toxic
insecticides, herbicides or fungicides. The
Organic Trade Association website offers a
40

Impressions | September 2014

Traditional plastisol used for screen
printing is made from PVC and phthalate plasticizer.
However, many of the newer inks are water-based or
plastisol that is formulated with no phthalates or PVC.

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Impressions - September 2014

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