Organic clothing: what you should look for

You probably know a thing or two about organic food, but what about organic clothing? If you choose to eat organic food to take better care of your body, you may also want to choose organic clothes to also start caring about the outside of your body.

It’s a great idea to choose organic clothing if it’s something you’re wearing directly on your skin or if it’s a piece of clothing you use a lot. It can be, for example, nightwear, underwear or just your favourite blouse.

What is organic clothing?

Basically, organic clothing is defined as clothing produced from organic natural materials (such as organic cotton and wool) without the use of pesticides, fertilisers and genetic modification. There are no requirements for the subsequent production, but if you buy organic clothes, you can be sure that the criteria for the natural materials used for the clothing have been met.

Know the certifications of your clothing

Although there is a lot of organic clothing being produced, it’s not necessarily always environmental-friendly. Clothes in organic cotton are less harmful to the environment, but if you want to take a step further and buy sustainable clothes that are not only organic but also environmental-friendly, there are some labels you need to keep an eye on.

It can be expensive and time-consuming to get every single piece of clothing certified, and therefore you may find that some companies do not have a certificate for their organic clothing for women. This can still happen even though it meets the requirements for, say, organic clothing. In these cases, it may be stated in the product description or washing instructions. However, if you want to be on the safe side, you should always go for the official certificates.

GOTS

When it comes to organic clothing, the best certification you can find is GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard). In addition to the GOTS certification guaranteeing that a minimum of 70% of the fibres are organic, it also places demands on the chemistry, the environment and social responsibility.

GOTS is the certification that places the highest demands on both environmental and social responsibility. Additionally, it’s a global certification that is valid across national borders. This means that you can, for example, easily buy an organic dress in your local area and still be sure that the requirements are met, even if the dress is produced outside the country's borders.

The EU Ecolabel

The EU Ecolabel is used to ensure high standards of environmental-friendly products on the European market. The Ecolabel takes into account the entire product's journey from production to consumption and places demands on raw materials, chemicals and environmental impact in general. An EU Ecolabel testifies to a high level of environmental awareness, and you can therefore safely buy products with this certificate.

OEKO-TEX

Although the name might suggest it, the OEKO-TEX certificate has nothing to do with ecology. On the other hand, the clothes that have this certificate have been tested for a wide range of chemicals, which can be harmful, allergenic or carcinogenic. There are no requirements for the actual production of these clothes, but it guarantees that the clothing doesn’t contain selected chemicals above a certain limit.

Why organic clothing?

When you buy organic clothing, you first and foremost take better care of both yourself and the environment. You protect your body from harmful chemicals and expose the environment to far less pollution. In addition, the quality of organic clothing is often better because, among other things, it has softer and stronger fibres, greater absorbency and less tendency to form fluff.

When you buy organic clothing, you take better care of both yourself and the environment.

Keep an eye on our Reflect certificate

At Zizzi, we of course strive to take good care of both each other and our environment. Therefore, you’ll also find more products that take this into account – we call this concept Reflect. It’s our guide to make more reflective choices when you shop with us.

You can recognize these items by their Reflect certificate. Items with this certificate contain at least – and often more than – 50% organic cotton, 30% recycled polyester, 50% Lenzing™ EcoVero™ Viscose or 50% Lenzing TENCEL™.

If you’d like to read more about how we at Zizzi can contribute to changes that benefit the world, you can do so on our Reflect page.