Why You Should Choose Organic Cotton Over Regular Cotton

Yes, this is one of those rare occasions when the overused term organic actually means something. I know you probably have your doubts about this term, but hopefully, I have convinced you after reading this blog.

And I get it, green this, eco-organic that, it gets confusing and means less and less to all of us. While writing this blog, I feel like that kid who shouts to the villagers that there’s a wolf all the time when there is none, and when there’s actually a wolf, no one believes him anymore. Well, this time there is a real (goodhearted) wolf and it’s called organic cotton!

Isn't cotton bad?
Cotton is mainly used to much, because it is cheap to grow, can be easily transformed into clothing, and has lots of applications, from t-shirts to denim.

When we first started on our journey we found very worrisome articles about cotton. This made us (as well as a lot of other people) immediately turn our backs on cotton. Here are some of the reasons why regular cotton is bad:

• Water usage: it takes up to 8000L (?!) of water to create 1kg of cotton.
• Around 16% of all insecticides are used for cotton.
• Cotton depletes the soil of nutrients, which causes lasting harm to the environment.

While pesticide usage, water wasting, and soil depletion are pretty good arguments to bash cotton, we can’t close our eyes for its organic nephew!

The answer for now
This is when I would usually do a grande introduction with flashing lights and disco sounds, but since cotton is just a plant, that would get kinda weird. Despite this little malfunction in my plan, I would still like to introduce you all to ... Organic cotton! Organic cotton -OC for friends- is like your aunt Lisa that turned vegan, but without all the downplaying that aunt Lisa now does on anyone that touches animal products. That’s what you get for being a douche Auntie!

Organic means that there is no use of pesticides, insecticides, and other nasties while growing cotton, and this results in better circumstances for everyone involved. It not necessarily solves the water issue, but usually, organic cotton farmers also take measurements to decrease the overall impact of the crop!

Okay, Erik, you’ve convinced me, but how do I know if my next t-shirt is organic? Well … brands who use organic cotton are like that guy who was once MVP in high school soccer; they’ll tell you. But that guy could have faked it … True that and that’s why there are organizations that set the standard for this. These include GOTS and BCI if you see these you’re golden.

As we mentioned in other blogs, we think it is important that we put more emphasis on switching to fabrics like hemp and lyocell, which have a lower environmental impact, but that process takes a lot of time. Meanwhile, there are a lot of brands that already use organic cotton instead of regular cotton. This makes it easy for you to set some steps in the right direction; Yay!

Alright friends, that is it for this week, we’ll see you again in two weeks! If you have any questions; feel free to drop em below!