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Sunday, October 18, 2009

Why Summer For Kids carries organic and sustainable fabrics?


What’s so bad about normal fabrics? Why switch to Eco Friendly Textiles?

Regular Cotton uses a lot of pesticides and herbicides which poison the ocean, near by streams and the land in general. The crops are sprayed from above affecting near by streams, farm houses and people. In contrast organic cotton uses beneficial bugs and manure in place of the chemicals. Organic Cotton also uses crop rotation methods, hand-weeding and cover crops as methods to ensure good crops. To use a field as organic the field must be free of chemical for 3 years. The cotton is processed according to acceptable standards. Other textiles like polyester are made from petroleum which is not sustainable to produce or to manufacture into fabric. The resulting process if left unchecked can be extremely detrimental to the planet and produces an excess amount of greenhouse gases. Such fabrics also poison people, your skin is your biggest organ and takes in everything that you put on it.

Making the switch to healthier, chemical free fabrics is great start in protecting you health as well as the environment.

In the US alone 80 million pounds of chemicals are used each year on conventional crops. Cotton uses approximately 25% of the world's insecticides and more than 10% of the pesticides (including herbicides, insecticides, and defoliants.).The Environmental Protection Agency considers seven of the top 15 pesticides used on cotton in 2000 in the United States as "possible," "likely," "probable," or "known" human carcinogens (acephate, dichloropropene, diuron, fluometuron, pendimethalin, tribufos, and trifluralin). (EPA) It takes roughly one-third of a pound of chemicals (pesticides and fertilizers) to grow enough cotton for just one T-shirt.

Eating food and wearing clothes grown without unnecessary chemicals is both good for you and the environment.
So every organic garment purchased helps to reduce to amount of chemicals polluting our earth and our food.
Each T-shirt made with 100% organic cotton saves 1/3 a pound of synthetic fertilizers and farm chemicals from entering the ecosystems.

What does Sustainable mean ?

The dictionary defines sustainability as "the attempt to provide the best outcomes for both human and natural environments both now and in the indefinite future." In basic terms It means that ever effort is made from the fiber to finished product to ensure the least harmful and most natural materials are used. Also using the least energy possible to produce and distribute the clothing. Starting at the fiber, using natural, easily renewable fibers like bamboo help lessen the amount of land and energy used. Using organic cotton instead of regular cotton prevents chemicals from getting into the surrounding natural and human environments. The milling process of turning the organic fiber into a sustainable clothing item is also important. Natural color organic cotton and hemp is best because little processing is needed to make the finished fabric. Using the least harmful kind or even natural dyes. Local is best, when items are made locally it is using less energy in transport. It is also great to shop local for from a community sustainability perspective. Shipping is the final rung on the sustainable clothing ladder. Shipping less equals less energy and less environment damage. All of these things add up to what it takes to make organic, sustainable clothing. When a company pays attention to what it takes out of the world to make its product it makes all of our futures brighter and more secure.

What’s so Great about Bamboo Fabric?

Bamboo fabric is not only pretty and Eco-friendly but it also has some amazing traits. Bamboo Is a tropical grass & grows faster then any plant on earth. It regenerates naturally without replanting, eliminating the need for re-forestation. Bamboo can yield 20 times more timber than trees on the same square footage of land and grows without the need for pesticides and chemical fertilizers. It produces a high quality and quantity of oxygen, 30% more than trees. It will mitigate water pollution with harmful pesticides and an array of other harmful content through high nitrogen consumption.

There are two ways to process bamboo to produce the plant into a fabric: mechanically or chemically. The mechanical way is by crushing the woody pieces of the bamboo plant and then use natural enzymes to crush the bamboo walls into a slushy mass so that the natural fibers can be mechanically combed out and spun into yarn. This is essentially the equivalent eco-friendly manufacturing process used to create linen fabric from flax or hemp.
Made in China? 
Yes! Bamboo clothes are made in many countries, including China. Manufacturing in China is not a black and white issue. Careful consideration is done before manufacturing takes place in China. Our suppliers' factories are clean, do not hire children, and honor regular working hours. Also, China grows 90% of the world's hemp. Without access to this incredible plant, we could not promote and use it for its myriad uses: cloth, paper, oil, biofuel, food and list goes on...

1. Bamboo is anti-bacterial! The fabric keeps the natural anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties of natural growing bamboo. It also stops bacterial metabolism, which means that it doesn't cause allergic skin reactions.
2. Bamboo is sustainable! Bamboo grows quickly and needs no pesticides or herbicides.
3. Bamboo is Deodorising! Bamboos antibacterial properties keep it from absorbing and retaining body and environmental odors. 


4. Bamboo fabric is breathable and keeps you dry. Another amazing property of bamboo when made into fabric is that keeps you dry and doesn't stick to you on hot summer days. It has this ability because the yarn has a cross section filled with many micro gaps and micro-holes allowing air to flow freely, wicking away moisture from the skin. Bamboo is 60% more hygroscopic (absorbing water) than cotton, this means that bamboo is that much more comfortable to wear.


5. Bamboo Fabric keeps you at an even temperature. The micro-holes also give bamboo a porous nature which insulated for temperature regulation. Cool in the summer, warm in the winter.

6. Bamboo is Healthy to Wear! The charcoal particles can absorb far infrared energy from the environment and then take that energy and help aide cell activation. This trait promotes circulation and keeps you healthy.
7. No static electricity buildup for Bamboo. Bamboo has 12 times the anti-static effect of cotton.


This is why we love Bamboo!

Soybean Fabric

Soy Protein Fiber has a number of great properties for the wearer and the environment. Soy is a renewable resource and the Soy Protein Fiber (SPF) is made using the by product of the soybean industry.

1. Soy Protein Fiber has antibacterial and UV radiation prevention properties.

2. SPF has great moisture absorption so you always feel dry and fresh.


3. Soy Fiber promotes the micro circulation of the blood capillaries and also contains many amino acids necessary to the human body. By touching the skin the fabric activates the collagen in the skin.


4. Soy Protein Fiber has a beautiful silky look and a nice cashmere feel.


Nature can only dilute and disperse so much chemical until it will begin to affect us all. We will all begin to notice these chemicals in our food and water supplies eventually. Buying Organic Clothing is one way that you can be gentle on the earth and yourself.
WEAR ORGANIC

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