How to Pick Eco-Friendly Fashions for Spring

Eco-friendly fashions describe more than just the materials used in the designs. The term eco-friendly includes the environmental and physical conditions where the material is grown and the fashions are made. Popular textiles include hemp, wool, organic cotton, bamboo, corn fiber, milk silk and soy silk. Each type of material has unique conditions that must be met in order to be within environmentally friendly standards.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Pick spring fashions made from hemp. Hemp has a small ecological footprint (the amount of land required to produce it), and it grows very densely. The density of growth eliminates the need for treating the plant with fertilizer and herbicides. Hemp is used for spring fabrics, yarn, belts and rope.

2. Consider wool eco-friendly if the sheep farmer provides a clean environment for living and carefully shears the sheep to avoid contamination. Once the wool gets to the manufacturer, it must be bleached with eco-friendly products.

3. Buy organic cotton that has had no contact with herbicides, pesticides or insecticides. The manufacturers of eco-friendly fashions for spring use natural dyes to obtain a variety of fabric colors.

4. Find soy silk as a by-product of tofu production. By spinning the liquefied proteins, fibers can be formed that can be woven or knitted. The fiber readily accepts natural dyes.

5. Pick bamboo for a biodegradable fabric with natural antibacterial properties. Bamboo meets the requirement for being environmentally friendly because of its rapid renewal property.

6. Read the label carefully for products made with bamboo. Mechanically prepared bamboo is called "bamboo linen." Chemically manufactured bamboo fiber is referred to as "bamboo rayon."

7. Find eco-friendly fashions in skirts made from pineapple fibers, organic silk used to make shirts and bicycle tires recycled into belts. The label should indicate the fabric content as recycled or eco-friendly.

8. Pick clothing for spring that is made by workers who are paid fair wages and work in safe, healthy environments. The work environment is a major component to consider when qualifying an item as an eco-friendly fashion product.

9. Select eco-friendly leather accessories that are tanned using non-chemical-based material. Look for leather goods dyed with natural dyes instead of chemical dyes.

10. Buy screen-printed items that are made with non-toxic, water-based ink instead of the more common toxic chemicals.

Tips & Warnings

• Watch for an increasing number of clothing designers and manufacturers to offer eco-friendly fashions. More companies are devising standards of production to guarantee continuity of product quality.