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Green Chic: Brands Offering Organic Threads

Who says you can’t support nature and still look good? Clothes are a necessity, since it is illegal to run around naked. As this may be the most natural and eco-friendly way to go, it is still against the law. So the next best thing to do is to buy clothes that have as little impact on the earth as possible.

Adayak clothing company sells t-shirts that are 100% certified organic cotton and for every shirt sold, $1 is donated to Plant a Billion Trees, where $1 equals one tree.

Aventura produces clothes made of organic cotton, recycled polyester, rayon from bamboo, hemp and soy. You can find information on its website that explains why the company has chosen to use these materials in its clothing production and why "you’ll love it." Aventura's ultimate goal is to provide comfortable, fashionable clothing using sustainable fabrics. It has everything from dresses, skirts and pants to jackets and vests.

Cottonique produces products from all-natural, organic cotton. It sells undergarments for women, men, children and infants and claims that chemicals are not even used in its production process. This seems to be one of the ways companies get away with selling “organic” clothes; the cotton used is organic, but the clothing was still exposed to many textile chemicals.

Earth Creations offers clothing made of hemp and organic cotton and dyes its fabrics using natural clay, not chemicals. Furthermore, it is a company based in Alabama, which allows some of its products to have less of a carbon footprint than those that are made overseas. The company has also donated $50,000 in clothing to organizations, such as Audubon Society, Animal Acres, and many more that support the earth and conservation.

If looking for companies that are just eco-friendly, a non-profit organization called Textile Exchange (formerly known as Organic Exchange), whose headquarters are in the U.S., was created in 2002 in order to help expand “textile sustainability across the global textile value chain.” Its mission is to encourage sustainable practices in the textile industry so that companies can adopt earth-friendly production processes.

The organization's website contains a "Member Directory" that includes companies working with it to develop sustainable practices. You can either search by company, production country, a general “supply chain/ manufacturers” search, “brand/retailers” or “professional services” depending on what type of information you are trying to acquire. The site also contains information about each company’s sustainable practices that have allowed them to become partners with Textile Exchange. Some popular members include Adidas, Anvil, Aventura Clothing/Sportif USA, Disney Consumer Products, Econscious, Gap, Greensource, H&M, Kohl's, Land’s End, Levi Strauss & Co., New Balance, Nike, Nordstrom, Patagonia, Prana, Puma, Quicksilver, REI, Target and The North Face Inc., among many others.

You don’t have to harm the earth in order to be fashionable. Be a conscience consumer and support companies that are actually producing products in an eco-friendly way. 

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Stephanie Siemek is a freelance writer whose work can be found on Examiner.com.

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