When was the last time you checked the tag of your t-shirt to look for more than just a size or price? Do you know what your clothes are made of or who made them? The answers to these questions may surprise you, as inputs of clothing production have significant effects on the physical and social environment.

Take a look at the cotton industry. Insecticides used in conventional cotton production are the most hazardous pesticide to human health, causing behavioral changes, increased cancer risk, and even death. Cotton’s second best selling insecticide, Aldicarb, can kill a man with just one drop absorbed through the skin! Who knew wearing cotton could be so dangerous!

Not only do clothing choices impact human health, but they also affect the environment. Fertilizers used in conventional cotton production harm the environment. Nitrogen synthetic fertilizers cause leaching and runoff and emit gases that contribute 300 times more to global warming than CO2. It takes about 1/3 pound of synthetic fertilizers to grow one pound of raw cotton, and it takes that pound of cotton to make one t-shirt. That’s a lot of fertilizer, a lot of greenhouse gases, and a major detriment to the environment!

Chemicals end up on our skin and in our air, but did you know they also end up in our food? Since the pesticide ridden cottonseed hull is a secondary crop sold as a food commodity, up to 65% of cotton production ends up in our food chain, either directly through food oil or indirectly through milk and meat of animals. That makes “Do you want chemicals with that?” the accurate question to ask! Yuck!

After cotton is grown it needs to be processed into fibers to make clothing. During the conversion of cotton into conventional clothing, hazardous materials are added to the product, resulting in large amounts of toxic wastewater that deplete oxygen out of the water and disrupt aquatic ecosystems.

When examining the lifecycle of clothing, do not forget to consider the workers who make clothing. Common in the apparel industry, sweatshop labor entails unethical treatment of workers, long hours, and low pay in substandard conditions. How would you like to be treated unfairly or witness your sister or nephew imprisoned into work? Maybe we should live by the golden rule, treating others the way we’d like to be treated.

Fortunately, there is an alternative to traditional chemically produced, sweatshop made apparel. Organic farming methods use natural fertilizers, which reduce both pollution and harmful emissions. Standards prohibit the use of chemicals in organic cotton processing, making organic clothing a safer and cleaner alternative to conventional clothing.

Interested in where I learned about this or what makes my statements credible? As a summer intern at Maggie’s Organics (www.maggiesorganics.com) I am learning the benefits of organic and fair trade clothing. At Maggie’s our mission is to produce and provide comfortable, durable, affordable and beautiful articles of apparel and accessories made from materials that restore, sustain and enhance the resources, including human, from which they are made.

Maggie’s has been selling organic fibers for 16 years, making baby clothes, socks, shirts, lounge wear, and more! We are passionate about creating an alternative to traditional apparel sweatshops and are proud that every pair of Maggie’s socks has always flaunted a “Made in the U.S.A.” label. Additionally, we were instrumental in the creation of The Fair Trade Zone, a 100% worker-owned Sewing Co-Operative in Nicaragua that has helped hurricane refugees create a new life for themselves and their families (see our video here)

We are committed to socially responsible business practices, developing ongoing relationships with partners to develop environmentally sustainable practices.

In short, I advise you check out organic and fair trade clothing alternatives:

- Look for organic cotton on the label

- Check out where the clothing was made. Made in the U.S.A. is a good indicator that no sweatshop labor was used. If made outside the U.S.A. make sure the company uses a fair labor model.

Wearing organic and fair trade clothing feels better inside and out! Your health and the environment will thank you!