Eco friendly Clothing

Lot many times we come across the word “ECO-Friendly” be it eatables, deodorants, shopping bags or beauty products; but the latest entrant in this series is eco friendly clothing.

Eco clothing is still at a nascent stage, and not adopted by many of the entities in the entire supply chain of the Clothing (right from the farmers; fertilizer provider; to cloth manufacturer). As “Eco Friendly” as a concept in clothing is a “Road less travelled” the cost of products based on this concept is very high.

Eco fabrics are generally more expensive due to the fact that mass production (economics of scale) is not implemented. Organic cotton is available only in limited quantities. Low impact dyes are used in coloring these fabrics which causes less or no impact to the environment as well as to the human skin.

The extra processing applied to avoid hazardous chemicals makes it all the more costly. The manufacturing process for eco clothing makes the complete cycle more expensive.

All these factors add to the total cost of the garment thus the product gets a high price tag and goes out of reach of common customer. Eco friendly uses chemicals and processing processes that are not polluting the environment or are less hazardous, right from chemical used as fertilizers; Dying till processing and converting into fabric.

But how eco friendliness can be implemented in clothing?

Everyone in the supply chain requires a considerable amount of money and time to change from conventional to organic approach.

Not many players (for finished product) exist in the market. I know one of my favorite brand, has some products in this domain; world famous Levi Jeans has tow eco friendly lines ; Levis Eco and Levis Captial E. Eco is made with a large percentage of organic cotton and Capital E has all organic cotton as well as recycled buttons, and zippers. However both lines feature the same style and quality that Levi Jeans is known for.