What’s In Your Knickers?

 

by Deborah Miarkowska

Celebrating the launch of Eco Boudoir’s new film..What’s in your knickers?

Most people’s pants and in fact all textiles used for clothing, furniture, bedding and towels are produced using shocking amounts of toxic chemicals, poisonous to the environment and the people who work to produce them.

http://www.ecochiccollection.co.uk/department/women_s_pants_to_poverty_/

Here is some info about cotton and other materials that are particularly unsustainable in their production.

Cotton is the most common natural fibre used in clothes today and has covered our naked bodies since the time of the ancient Egyptians and beyond. Today world cotton production is around 25 million tonnes a year, that’s the equivalent of 18 pairs of pants for everyone on the planet.

Such a massive industry has a substantial effect on the world, here’s a few facts about the cotton in your clothes that you need to know.

Cotton is extremely susceptible to a large variety of extremely damaging pests which dramatically reduce the yield of the crop. Therefore, a vast range of pesticides and GM crops have been developed to overcome these pests and maximise profits for the farmers. They might improve the crops but the costs to health are horrendous. In the developing world, crops are sprayed with highly sophisticated machinery which protects people from these poisons (just one drop of which on your skin can kill).  However, in many developing countries there is no such protection with the result that approximately 1 million farmers are hospitalized each year with severe illnesses due to pesticide use. Today cotton farmers spend around $2billion per year on pesticides and in India you will find 1/3 of the world’s cotton farmers (10 million people) who cultivate about 5% of India’s farmland for cotton production but use 55% of all pesticides used in India.

Pesticide…

1. Poison the land so that it cannot be used for cultivating food.

2. Poison the farmers and their families if they cannot afford protective clothing.

3. Poison the food chain when it’s washed in to rivers through run off and is fed to cattle through the
   cotton seeds.

4. Are very expensive, adding to the costs of production for the farmer and the profits for multinationals
   who insist farmers who sell to them use their own brand.

GM CROPS are seen as a potential solution to the problems posed by excessive use of pesticides.  
It is claimed that they can reduce the need for pesticides by 80% which would mean that they are almost as friendly as organic. 

Today, GM cotton is widely used in the US - 73% - and Australia - 80%. 

However the main problems with GM crops (without entering into the ethics debate) are that they are owned by the multinational corporations who earn excessive profits from their use. This may work in rich countries but in countries like India, it means that:

1. Farmers cannot save seed for replanting.

2. Farmers are prohibited from supplying seed to anyone else.

3. Farmers must pay a very expensive technology fee, plus the legal fees of the corporations if they
   violate the contract.

4. Farmers must carry all of the risk of the crop but in effect do not own the crop.

5. Natural variety and biodiversity of cotton is diminished.

In essence GM crops leave small scale farmers without power or control of their own lands.
 
Polyester is a man made fabric which comes from oil. Aside from the fact that we are fast running out, it is made using heavy industrial chemical processes and is totally un-bio-degradable. So unless you are planning to keep the item forever, you should think what happens when you throw your polyester garments away. Just think of the landfill site.

Polyvinyl chloride, commonly known as PVC, is the third most widely used thermoplastic polymer after polyethylene and polypropylene, it is one of the most valuable products of the chemical industry.
It can be made softer and more flexible by the addition of plasticizers and is widely used in clothing either to create a leather like material or at times simply for the effect of PVC.  PVC clothing is common in Goth, Punk and other alternative fashions as well as in Fetish wear. PVC is cheaper than rubber, leather or latex and so it is more widely available and worn.

These plasticizers known as additives can leak out of the PVC at any time and are particularly poisonous to human health, the state of California is currently considering banning PVC as it has such strong links to cancer.

Leather is mostly tanned with Hexavalent Chromium 3 or 6. This is a carcinogenic heavy metal which poisons the ground for miles when the effluent from the tannery is not disposed of and managed properly. The cheaper the leather the more likely it has been produced using poor animal husbandry.

Acrylic based fabrics use a chemically produced substance called acrylonitrile, which is also used in the production of plastics. Acrylonitrile tends to break down easily in the environment, though there is some argument on this point. High levels of acrylonitrile exposure might be considered toxic, but the quick break down often keeps acrylicfabric marketed as environmentally friendly. We don’t recommend it as a healthy, happy fabric.

Corn starch (PLA - polylactic acid) - corn starch based materials are man made textiles which are being suggested as a more sustainable replacement for polyester. They are made from a much more renewable resource compared to oil based fabrics and biodegrade much quicker. However the farming that produces the corn is all done by massive agricultural conglomerates that have a poor environmental record and put profit before land protection. The crops are usually genetically modified.

Devoré designed items designed items are made from a process that burns one part of a dual fabric e.g. a silk viscose blend. The problem with this process is that it uses a highly toxic chemical which is highly polluting to the people involved in the process. This devoré technique is often found in scarf design.

Unfair trade
From the first textile mills in Lancashire to the sweatshops in Bangladesh and China, the problems
are very similar; the people at the top make too much money while the people at the bottom make too little. In developing countries farmers must also deal with unscrupulous middlemen who pay as little
as they can to make maximum profit at the expense of the producer.

For our range of fairtrade organic cotton pants:

For women: http://www.ecochiccollection.co.uk/department/women_s_pants_to_poverty_/

For Men: http://www.ecochiccollection.co.uk/department/pants_to_poverty_pants/