It’s this season’s hottest number and has lit up the spring runways in various shades of glowing effervescence. Begone wintry black and welcome springly white! Let’s have a look at the some of the best ‘green’ fabrics for these LWDs and see if we can’t hook you up with the perfect number.
Cotton
Cotton is obviously a very widely used textile and this high demand has caused a lot of damage to the environment. It’s quite a destructive plant when grown intensively and 25% of the world’s total pesticide use is used to keep it production as high as possible. These chemicals are dangerous to the environment, to the people that have to work near them and, eventually, to the person that wears the fabric. The requirements for 100% organic cotton are very stringent and also take steps to rebalance the soil and diversify local agriculture (source).
Cotton Dresses- 100% organic cotton dresses are easy to come by and you’ll be able to find them on the high street. If you’d rather shop online, take a look at this sassy little Ryann Lauren dress or John Patrick’s more laid back Surf Dress.
Silk
Silk is naturally biodegradable and renewable, but there are concerns over the chemicals used by some mass producers to smoothen out the finished material. Added to this is the fact that the vast majority of silkworms are unethically treated- they are usually boiled alive inside their silk cocoons to preserve the completeness of the thread and improve the end colour. As with cotton, 100% organic is a good tag to look for, as are words like ‘undyed’, ‘vegetarian’, ‘peaceful’ and ‘natural colour’. The good news is that silk is perfect for our eco-LWD because the end product is the right colour without dying; the bad news is that peaceful, organic, undyed silk is going to cost you a bit more! (Source)
Silk Dresses- It’s quite hard to find peaceful, organic, white silk dresses! Here’s a very sweet baby doll style dress from a great little company called Indigo Handloom. I also found a good alternative to dresses made from new silk: Sarah Zin makes pieces from reused and repurposed materials and this remnant dress would make a very special outfit. There are also some lovely silk dresses in different colours from Deux FM and Fin (that one’s 100% wild handspun silk!).
Bamboo
Bamboo’s getting a lot of eco-attention at the moment. Although it’s better than non-organic cotton, there are downsides to its production. The biggest problem is the chemicals that are used in the refining process. They’re officially not harmful to human health, but many are concerned that the current standards aren’t strict enough. Even if we put human health aside for a second, use of sodium hydroxide and carbon disulfide on a large scale is not good for the environment. It is possible to get bamboo fibers that haven’t been treated in this way, but they’re very hard to come by. Having said that, bamboo is a sustainable resource in its native form and it’s doing wonders for raising awareness about the validity of ‘alternative’ textiles. (Source)
Bamboo Dresses- Elwood’s Strange Fruit Jumper Short is made from a french terry mix of bamboo and cotton. This is actually a romper, but it does the same job! Alternatively, Cmarchuska‘s Robin Dress is made from a blend of chemically refined bamboo and spandex and was put together in New York. Lastly, if you like the idea of about eight dresses in one (and why would you not?!), then AngelRox’s ‘The Wrap‘ is for you. It’s made from chemically refined bamboo and was manufactured in the US.
Hemp
Wonderful hemp! A sustainable plant with a longer, stronger and more absorbent fibre than most other textiles. Like cotton, it can be made into a wide variety of end fabrics, like linen. It doesn’t require any herbicides (and can easily be defended with organic pesticides), grows at an astonishing rate and maintains the quality of soil. Like bamboo, manufacturers use either the non-harmful ‘mechanical’ method, or the more dangerous ‘chemical’ method. However, unlike bamboo, the mechanical method is much more widely used and ‘organic’ hemp is much easier to come by.
Hemp Dresses- Only one hemp dress for now I’m afraid. This pullover dress is from a label called Mountains of the Moon and is made from a mix of hemp and cotton.
