Natural Clothing Blog

Longing for clothing reflecting the concerns about sustainability, Natural Clothing Company introduced their own basic clothing line. The fabric used is organic cotton, sustainably grown in Texas. Th line is inspired by people comments of what they  need and like. Simplicity.

“I like the message ‘Live Green’ and the symbols of simple life. These garments are stating a wish, not a demand and are usually met with a smile,” the owner says — at least in places like her local Farmers Market in Snohomish, Washington.

Natural Clothing Company commitment to sustainability shows in its vegan, natural and organic clothing store where you may search clothing choices by fiber – hemp, organic cotton, bamboo and even soy fiber reclaimed from making tofu.

“Live Green” selection consists of natural, mostly unbleached certified organic cotton. Nothing is printed with PVC containing plastisol – so garments are a great choice for people with sensitive skin. While every manufacturing step involves some compromise, “I try to navigate the best possible choices, there is always more room to keep raising the standards higher” owner explains.

“There are so many people with skin problems, having hard time with chemically laden clothing. Also, since I am a gardener, the bottom line for me is: after the years of use, if I can throw the clothes into my compost, because they don’t have toxins, metals , PVCs and so on,  they will decompose and improve the soil, help grow vegetables. You can feel really good about it.”

You can find out more about Live Green clothing at NnaturalClothingCompany.com/live-green-cotton-organic-clothing

At the recent radio interview, consumers inquired “How green is bamboo clothing?” Is bamboo a true and viable eco-friendly material? Bamboo clothing is popping up more and more often, not just in selective boutiques but at the main chain retailers across the US. Always promoting it as being eco-friendly, sometimes organic, sometimes anti-bacterial. Is it true? In case of bamboo even green activists seem to be quite divided, so no wonder that general consumer is quite confused. The additional controversy is added by the fact that China is the only place where bamboo is processed,  simply that’s where the patent is closely held.

Well, to some extend it is an illusion that one plant, one fiber will be everything we want it to be, wearing a green halo around its leaves. The simplicity is that commercial manufacturing of anything is not a black and white (or green) process, period. Breaking down the fiber requires either significant mechanical (energy consuming) efforts and water or chemical processes. The true evaluation comes from looking across all the factors involved from start to end AND comparing it to alternatives. That places that product higher or lower on the scale of sustainability.

Bamboo as a crop is actually classified as grass and is one of the fastest growing plants on a planet. Talking about renewable – you cannot really beat that. On top of it, bamboo fends off the insects and pests very well, so it does not need chemical spraying and requires very little water to grow. A lot of eco friendly clothing is made from actually certified organic bamboo, grown in truly sustainable manner. When bamboo grows, magic happens – it processes carbon dioxide in volumes larger than similar size trees. That is probably actually the biggest benefit of bamboo crop where it truly earns our support. Bamboo unaltered fibers have also multitude of wonderful characteristics, mentioned later in the article.

The problem is that – according to Federal Trade Commission, there is no evidence that these properties actually stay with the fabric after is processed. Bamboo is processed a lot and at this time is not processed organically at all. The fibers are broken down and dissolved through series of chemical processes, sprayed through the small holes and then regenerated back again into cellulose fiber. The FTC requires calling “bamboo textile” a rayon or viscose, being chemically altered, not carrying the characteristics of original fiber and a man-made textile. For more information, go to www.ftc.gov and search bamboo. There are many types of viscose, some

created from wood, cotton and some – from bamboo in similar process. There is a lot of effort put into creating better processing methods and not releasing the chemicals but reused. There is also bamboo processed mechanically like flax but it’s not very common.

The finish viscose from bamboo is quite beautiful though it might vary depending on length of fibers. It is extremely soft, has beautiful sheen and it being anti-static drapes very well, allowing for flattering clothing.  Like I mentioned before there are legal limits of what I can say about viscose from bamboo but I can share my own experience. I was stunned when I used bamboo towels at first, it wicked water so well, much better than our old friend cotton. Bamboo is said to have anti-bacterial properties, similar to hemp or soy, which inhibits creation of body odor. Is it true?  My son loves wearing his bamboo Tee for PE classes (despite different intentions of his mother) because it absorbs the moisture so well and there is no unpleasant smell, same for his bamboo socks. That’s a sell! It is very comfortable and it washes very well without losing any color or getting much wrinkles. Probably the best is to give it a try – all in all considering the benefits of bamboo as crop, great properties of clothing itself and especially comparing it to oil derived polyesters, this textile has quite a lot to be respected for.

For more info visit http://www.naturalclothingcompany.com/bamboo_clothing

One can say – nothing; we say – everything. There are probably millions of us around the planet, aghast, upset and worried about the amount of devastation caused by Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Our technological incompetence in face of true catastrophes, the loss of lives, both human and marine, strips away the temporary narcissist faith in our control over the universe.

We were celebrating the Earth Day with our company in our small town, when the news reached media, 41 years after the 1969 Santa Barbra oil spill, which contributed to founding Earth Day itself. Together with number of local organic farms, businesses and organizations, we were acknowledging the accomplished progress in protection of the environment. The oil spill put a different perspective on that – are we really moving forward? There are some, like British The Dark Mountain movement, which see this civilization already past the point of return. As much as unreal this seems – look at the gone ancient cultures: ancient China, the pyramids, the Coliseum in ruins. Civilizations do rise and fall and mostly they destroy themselves.

Nature and our relationship to it are worth a double look each day. Acts of nature are often unpredictable, acts against nature are not. Drilling through 5,000 feet of water and then 13,000 feet of rock are acts of greed, arrogance and unfounded confidence in the superiority of our technical knowledge and equipment. There is nowhere else to point the fingers than ourselves. Our blind love of oil, which Dana Lyons sings about in “Lubricate the Red, White and Blue” feeds 97% of our cars, trucks and plains. When we walk around in conveniently non-wrinkly, easy to wash polyester derived directly from oil, carry our oil derived shopping bags, we condone the price of the event like this one over and over again.

We have reached the state of the illusionary technical expertise which cannot answer the most basic question: “How do you reverse it back to the way things were?” We are so smart combining the chains of polymers but once synthesized, we don’t know how to degrade them. We can split an atom but we have never figured it out how to put it back together. We feed our children Genetically Modified foods, ignoring all the warnings. We give the free ticket to mad scientists to combine plant DNA with fish DNA, spike our soy, corn, wheat, sugar with cancer producing insecticide molecules and most of the time don’t even know it and don’t ask. There is no one on earth able to reverse the loss of 96% of our soy, large percentage of cotton and corn to GMO crops. Most of us don’t even know that we are not eating food anymore, we are eating the largest science experiment in history of humanity, only called “food”. Our grandchildren will tell us if we gambled right. In a meantime, we observe with astonishment the rising of illnesses, “food” intolerances, rash and eczema where our chemical laden clothes touch the skin. Just like when Chernobyl blows up, when drilling rig explodes, we look with surprise at damage created, saddened and always clueless how to reverse it.

At this point there are no perfect solutions, only compromises but first, it is crucial to recover our lost reverence to nature, our respect for natural resources. We need these for thousands more years. Maybe we should not drill the hole if we don’t know how to plug it. A petroleum engineer involved in the spill supposedly said in a radio interview “It just seems like every now and then, you can’t win against Mother Nature.” Correction – you can never win against the Mother Nature. That’s not the direction we want to keep going.

Please, keep doing your part in taking steps, no matter how small or challenging they might be in supporting the eco-friendly efforts and groups which try hard to not work against Mother Nature. We are in it together.

Do you remember the 70’s  - with leaded gas cars, polluted skies, and when rivers caught fire?  Look how far we have come! When Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson created this movement in 1970, 20 million Americans joined the protest. Today Earth Day Network expects 1.5 billion people to be part of global events and programs.

The green community of Snohomish invites you to join us in celebrating Earth Day’s 40th Anniversary. On Thursday April 22nd, 1 pm – 6 pm, local green businesses, farmers, and organizations will display their products and services in KlaHaYa Park, right off historic First Street by the Snohomish River. Various businesses along First Street will also be participating.

Recycling Queen Karen of Snohomish Farmers Market, Full Circle Farm, Flying Tomato and Caruso Farm will present their green ways and eco-friendly methods. Cedar Grove Compost will share secrets of successful composting and Earth Wise Excavation explains how earth work can be done sustainably with care for the environment. Natural Clothing Company will display organic clothing of hemp, organic cotton and other natural fibers, along with information why are organic textiles important for you and even better for the planet! The Boys and Girls Club will display art made from recycled materials. Sip organic coffee from Java Inn while sampling certified organic skincare products from NYR Organic Skincare. Rowdy Rascals Toy Store will demonstrate which toys are safe for your youngsters. Come and meet Chris from Wolf College as he describes his fascinating camps and classes on survival skills and his fascinating camps and classes on surviving in the mountains, wild cooking and herbology and more. SongCroft is a self sufficiency school and a family farm run by Marilene Richardson, who is not only Master Gardner, Certified Permaculture Designer but also an originator of Foundation for Sustainable Community. Check out www.NaturalClothing.com/Earth_Day for a other exhibitors, like Esoterica Candles – all natural soy wax candles, hand-crafted locally.

Each exhibitor will answer the question: how is your business/organization sustainable? The answers might be as varied as the issue. Is it organic? Energy efficient? Recyclable? Reusable? Compostable? Helpful to future generations? You can ponder on that and your own definition at Grilla Bites Cafe, which offers delicious food with lots of organic choices and non-gluten or non –diary options. Grilla Bites composts its trash, serves as a pick up place for the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program and is a great gathering spot for the community. Join us there after the event for great food at a special Earth Day discount and appropriately enough – Dirt Cake! Also, a showing of the 20 min video by Annie Leonard “The Story of Stuff”, will be a great finale for an amazing day!

Thursday’s Earth Day event is sponsored by Natural Clothing Company and Grilla Bites Café with help from City of Snohomish and Historic Downtown Snohomish.

Don’t forget to join us on Saturday, April 24th, 9 am to 4 pm – for the City of Snohomish Spring Clean-Up. Join us at the Boys and Girls Club, 402 Second Street, for sign up and assignments. Bring gloves, rakes and enjoy a day of fun and community spirit helping to make the city more beautiful. This yearly event is sponsored by City of Snohomish, Chamber of Commerce, Lions Club, Kiwanis Club and the Snohomish Parks Foundation. There will be lunch served by the Snohomish Lions Club. The Household Clean-Up is held at the City shop yard, 1801 First St where City of Snohomish residents can dispose of household waste items.

There might be no uniform definition of “sustainable” but it is simple to recognize when one really cares about their environment. Our community certainly does –come and see!

In our not-so-natural anymore world I ask myself this question a lot: how much technology do we really need and want in our life to live better?

It is a very interesting question. Nano-technology fascinates many by binding particles like silver, with its anti-bacterial properties, with common materials presumably for our benefit. But there are also serious opponents of that technology with valid concerns about possible health dangers.  As the owner of Natural Clothing Company, I come across much of different and often very interesting information, which does not have a clear cut answers.

Take for example the Chinese Hebei Metals & Minerals Corp, a producer of fiberglass insulation, mineral wool and calcium silicate insulation. These products make an organic person like me shiver… But let’s look. The company is exploring other hi-tech applications as production and sale of the anti-electromagnetic radiation fabric, anti-static fabric and apparel. Their anti radiation material was used by for astronauts.

As many holistic people confirm, there is a growing concern about the effects of electromagnetic wave (microwave) and increased by it cell temperature on human organisms. Hence the concept of anti-electromagnetic radiation fabric was born, shielding 99.99 percent of harmful electromagnetic waves.

Hebei  other path of research involves two naturally occurring materials like bamboo fiber & silver, then spinning and weaving together. The result is an anti-bacterial fiber, which retains its properties with washing, sun etc. On a surface, sounds like natural product. Is it?

OK, my actual question is: can we really protect ourselves from ill effects of technology by increasing our use of the technology itself? Are we playing catch-22 with ourselves?

Hemp, bamboo, even soy  have inherent anti-bacterial properties serving us, as in case of hemp for thousands of years. Well, does it protect from  electromagnetic waves?  Who knows… I know the vibrations of natural fibers do increase our well-being, consciously or subconsciously.  When you put on natural fiber clothing,  your body registers something, a vibe of goodness, a breath of relief.  Maybe a solution is  a “middle path”:  we limit the offensive forces in environment, while we work like crazy to grow and process natural fibers organically. If we fast enough we might repair some of the damage to our earthly home and ourselves.  What do you think?

Hemp has served mankind for thousands of years, discovered in ancient civilizations at least 8000 B.C. Was grown widely in U.S. by colonial farmers including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. With such a long history, why is it illegal to grow it here? Is it a relation to the marijuana family? Hemp fiber is harvested from the large annual plant Cannabis Sativa. This industrial hemp has negligible alkaloid content and cannot be used for any drug. Canada, China, most of the European countries like France, England and many more allow growing and processing hemp – they don’t have problem with distinguishing the difference. What is different about US?

You can eat it, wear it, us it but not grow it. But hemp is the fastest growing agricultural crop, gentle on the land, requiring no chemicals in its cultivation. It produces more fiber yield per acre than any other source. It leaves the soil in excellent condition for any succeeding crop. It adds rich organic matter to the topsoil and helps retain moisture. Studies done in Poland show evidence that hemp is excellent plant to remove metals and toxins from the soil, multiplying its environmental benefits. Is it possible that we simply don’t want (or care) about environment as much as we claim?

In any way, it is one of the strongest and most durable of all natural textile fibers. It will outlast the competition. In the mid 1980’s, researchers developed an enzymatic process to successfully remove lignin from the hemp fiber without compromising its strength for multitude of uses: including textiles, energy generation, paper, construction, bio-plastics, food, cosmetics, and more. It is its comfortable and the more is used, the softer it gets. Hemp fabrics are great for people with sensitive skin because of the lack of bleaching agents used in the processing. Some of its amazing qualities is the resistance to mold and ultraviolet light. The porous nature allows hemp to “breathe,” so that it is cool in warm weather and the air trapped in the fibers makes it naturally warm in cooler weather. Due to the porous nature of the fiber, hemp will retain its color better than other fabrics.

We welcome readers input and information you would like to share.

A young girl at the fair asked: “So what is your clothing? Can you eat it? I thought organic means that you can eat it safely?”

Well yes, maybe not it it but wear it safely since it has no toxins for your skin or the planet! To us simply means it is not poisoned: by pesticides, insecticides, dyes with metals or PVC in it.

What does it mean to you?

Organic and natural fiber clothing is growing as fast as organic food. Is it just “green washing,” an attempt to sell an “organic” or “natural” label? Organic veggies, organic cookies, why do you really need organic tee shirts, jeans or bed sheets?

In short – it is because you can spare our planet pounds of chemicals, avoid toxins for yourself and push the karma of this unbalanced world an inch in better direction. An inch is an inch.

Cotton is one of the most polluted crops on earth, perhaps due to a wrong perception as a non-food crop, causing a significant risk to our freshwater. Picture this: cotton uses 24% of global insecticides market but… at the same time, its acreage amounts to only 2.4% of the world’s cultivated land. Well…  All nine pesticides used on cotton in the U.S. are classified by the U.S. EPA as Category I and II- the most dangerous chemicals.

What doe is mean to You? If you love wearing your favorite T-shirt and pair of jeans, as we do, you have to live with the fact that it took a lot of chemicals, many of them carcinogenic (cancer creating) to create it. To “solve” the problem, a recent wave of Genetically Modified cotton has became widespread, covering 43 percent of the world’s cotton.   An additional concern related to using glyphosate on cotton is that the herbicide has been shown to move from cotton fabric into and through human skin.

I think that you do know the answer. The solution is NOT a better pesticide, but crops without poisons and chemicals. Goodbye, wrinkle free shirts! Hello hemp and linen, which look great either way or bamboo and soy! They are sustainable, effective and resulting in fibers with great qualities: breathable, some, like hemp naturally deter bacteria (and so body odor – hello socks and T-shirts!), very strong. Bamboo and soy blends are incredibly soft and pleasant to the skin.

Most importantly, they are safe for the skin, your body largest organ. Personally, we investigated for years possible causes of skin and health problems for our children and ourselves. We don’t make any health claims, but for our family – moving to rural area, growing organics and wearing organic clothing, definitely works. For more information go to http://www.NaturalClothingCompany.com/frequent_questions

When I moved to USA 20 years ago from economically collapsed Eastern Europe, I soon discovered a dream come true: Thrift Stores and garage sales!

For 25 or 50 cents (at that time) I could buy great quality clothing. Well, maybe sometimes not great quality but … the most important – there was lots and lots and lots of clothing, affordable, often almost brand new, rainbow of colors, sizes, textures. I have never been too obsessed with looks but there is something native to it. I don’t know about guys, but for a girl there is no better inspiration, soothing the soul as getting a new “thing”: a scarf, a bag, a chance to play with your identity just a little… Fun!

As an owner of organic clothing store now, I love the idea of sharing the beauty of natural fibers. So… a new page was added – Green Clothing Swap! If you want something, if you have some clothes to share – visit http://www.naturalclothingcompany.com/clothes_swap You can share your treasures and maybe find a new one for yourself!

Welcome to my first post on Natural Clothing Blog! Wow, writing a blog is probably highest achievement of my technical skill… First things, first though – forgive me if my grammar is off. Being born on a different continent, I have an excuse, even though it is getting weaker and weaker the longer I live in USA (28 years coming soon). Spell checkers are great for spell but so so for Polish/English grammar…

Two – I have lots of ideas and thoughts which I would like to share with you but… most of all, I would love to know more about You!

What part of green movement makes sense to you? In your mind, if you have to go an extra mile (or extra dollar) to live organic, what would you say?

a)Organic clothing is a bit over board right now. With my budget being so low I don’t buy much period, I would rather not spend more on organic food, even less on clothing.

b) I have mixed feelings. I am a bit concerned, I hear about toxins used on a lot of crops but we don’t live close to any agricultural fields, I don’t see them sprayed. And after all, it washes off in a laundry, doesn’t it?

c) I am really concerned, I noticed my skin (or my spouse, kid) more and more sensitive to soaps and shampoos, maybe clothing should be free of chemicals, too. I definitely don’t want to eat sprayed fruit or veggies. I’ll buy organics even though I have to pay more.

If above options don’t fit, can you share any of your own thoughts on organic food or clothing?