Going Eco Friendly with your Clothing

Nowadays everyone is all about going eco friendly. There is energy efficient and/or green everything: appliances, health products, home products, and probably anything else you could think of. The one place you probably don’t really think about going 'green' is in your closet. It is possible, though, to lower your impact on the environment while you shop. Organic, sustainable or recycled clothing is the newest trend in going green, and everyone should be doing it. Several factors can help you determine whether the clothing you are about to buy is ‘green’ or not.

Eco friendly clothing is any clothing made with ‘green’ materials or clothing made by a company who has started using an environmentally friendly production process. ‘Green’ clothing can also be clothing that is made from recycled clothing or materials, or even can be defined as clothing bought second hand. There is a broad definition of environmentally friendly or ‘green’ clothing, but you pretty much can’t go wrong when you are paying attention and trying to making a positive impact on the environment.

First of all, we will address environmentally friendly clothing made from ‘green’ materials. ‘Green’ materials means organic materials that have gone through limited processing and have made a small impact on the environment on their way from being a plant (or whatever their original form was) to the fabric or material used in the clothing item. A lot of designers and clothing companies have started using greener materials when making clothes. An example of an item of clothing made from organic, ‘green’ materials would be a shirt with ‘100% Organic Cotton’ on the tag. Be certain to check and see if the clothing you are about to buy is organic the next time you are shopping.

The second factor to consider is the clothing production process. The process in which the clothing is made can be harmful or helpful to the environment. We are looking for companies with an environmentally friendly manufacturing process. This means that when the clothes were made, the process had a small impact on the environment. An example of this is hand dyed fabrics. The fact of the matter is the less machine you use during the process the lesser the environmental impact. Another eco friendly clothing production process would be hand or sewing machine sewn clothing, on a small scale. Do some research on your favorite designers and clothing stores and see if the clothes they sell are made environmentally friendly.

The next thing to consider is the use of recycled materials in your clothing. Just like all those plastic bottles that could potentially wrap around the world twice, old clothing and fabric materials are also often wasted and should be recycled. Old shirts, pants, or other materials and products can be used to create beautiful garments and fashionable outfits. Many companies nowadays are utilizing recycled materials when making clothing. Another form of recycled, eco friendly clothing is simply buying clothing second hand. People’s old clothes can be worn or even turned into something magnificent, while lowering the impact on the environment.

If you are going green, check with your wardrobe and see how it feels about the environment. Keep these tips in mind before buying new clothing, and try to lessen your carbon footprint, one shoe at a time.