Why we need organic cotton bath towels & organic cotton bathrobes
If you are in need of a new bathrobe or bath towels, consider organic cotton bath towels & organic cotton bathrobes, rather than conventional cotton ones.
Considering the fact that your skin is your body’s’ largest organ, it makes sense to think carefully about what you put against it. Choosing organic cotton bathrobes and bath towels are a healthy choice for you and a great way to add some sustainable self-care into your everyday life. As a bonus, you will also have a clear conscious knowing the fabric is not only good for your skin but also for the planet and people who make the products as well.
Several brands have evolved to fill this need for the conscious consumer. Terra Thread Home is a great example of a new brand that has a luxury home collection featuring premium organic cotton bathrobes and organic cotton bath towels .
Photo: Courtesy of Terra Thread Home
Here are a few reasons that organic cotton bathrobes and organic cotton bath towels are good for you, the people who make them and the planet:
Organic Cotton Bath Towels and Organic Cotton Robes Are Better for The Environment
Conventional cotton production uses large amounts of agricultural chemicals that lead to health and environmental problems. The amount of pesticide used contributes to a decrease in the pesticide effectiveness; the organisms they are meant to control adapt and become immune to them, which calls for more pesticide use. This creates a toxic circle.
Organic production prohibits the use of most pesticides and is usually in tangent with Fairtrade practices which gives premiums for growers; consequently this also is beneficial for farmers.
Photo: Courtesy of Gallant International
When compared with other commodity crops, cotton ranks the fourth largest user of pesticides in the world and the third-largest consumer in the US.
According to the US Department of Agriculture, in 2017 conventional cotton used about $4.2 billion worth of pesticides and accounted for 6.35% of all the planets’ protection of chemicals sold that year. About 48 million pounds of pesticide was used in the US alone for 12.6 million acres of cotton planted in 9 states in 2017, which averages to about 3.8 pounds of pesticides per acre of cotton grown.
Many of the fungicides, insecticides, herbicides etc. used in conventional cotton production have been associated with health and environmental problems.
Because of increased use, the effectiveness of these pesticides is decreasing; that's leading to increasing the usage of the pesticides and avhigher cost of production for conventional cotton. For example, the USDA United States Department of Agricultural natural agricultural statistics service (NASS) shows at the amount of glyphosate used nationally growing conventional cotton doubled between the years of 2011 and 2019 and the acreage treated of commercial cotton treated with pesticides increased by 38.2%
Photo: Courtesy of Gallant International
An ongoing agricultural health study funded by the National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences with over 89,000 farming community participants show a higher incidences of cancer including prostate cancer, Parkinson's disease, thyroid disease, asthma and diabetes.
Cotton agriculture requires significant amounts of water. Depending on where the cotton is grown and the methodology, each geographic region of the world will have different water usage and impacts. According to a life cycle analysis (LCA) done by the Textile Exchange, the real issue even more so than how much water is used or not used is water pollution. Toxic chemicals from conventional cotton production runoff and poison the water.
The use of regulated processing in organic cotton manufacturing per GOTS certification standards help protect water supplies from harsh chemical pollutants. Organic cotton production offers an economically workable solution to most of the health and environmental consequences that go with pesticide-intensive cotton production. There's a growing organic cotton demand and studies indicate that consumers are willing to pay any connected price premium.
Global organic cotton production has increased with a 56% growth between 2016 and 2017 in the 2017-2018 season, organic cotton reached 831,193 bales. This growth is reflected in the growth of global organic textile standard GOTS certified facilities. GOTS certified facilities across 70 countries grew globally 35%. Organic fibers is largest and fastest-growing sector in the organic non-food industry, this includes organic textiles. In the US, production increased 12.1%. To keep up with this demand, domestic organic textile production has increased its GOTS certified facilities in the US, increasing 73% in 2019.
Organic Cotton Bath Towels and Organic Cotton Robes Are Better for Your Skin
All the chemicals that we just mentioned can hang on and be left in or on the cotton fiber through all the processing, and thereby come in contact with your skin and be absorbed by it.
Organic cotton is the best one of the best materials to wear or use or be exposed to daily like bath towels and bathrobes because it hasn't been touched by any of these harsh chemicals, dyes or treatments. It's hypoallergenic and it won't irritate people with skin issues, sensitivities or asthma. It’s probably the safest and most comfortable choice, especially for babies. So if you think about it, if you are into eating organic food, it makes sense to be into organically produced fibers. You don't want to eat food that's been treated with pesticides or chemicals; you're not going to want that against your skin too because your skin is your biggest organ.
Photo: Courtesy of Terra Thread Home
Here are just a few of the chemicals used in cotton processing:
Formaldehyde, which can cause nose and throat irritation, coughing, shortness of breath asthma and chest pains.
Arsenic is mainly used for growing cotton but it has side effects that include dermatitis, excessive formation of scaly skin, headaches, sensory changes and hyperpigmentation of the skin.
Mercury-residue from Mercury use in cotton manufacturing can have side effects including nervousness, insomnia, mood swings, irritability, muscle twitching and headaches.
Benzidine is often used in processing and dying cotton and it has a wide range of side effects including bladder cancer, respiration problems and major skin irritation.
Parathion is an insecticide and pesticide used in the production of cotton and is extremely toxic. Side effects are vomiting, depression, nausea, blurry vision, convulsions, respiratory problems and skin rashes.
Aldicarb often leaves residue in fibers. It's a dangerous insecticide and has several serious side effects which include nausea, excessive sweating, vomiting and skin rashes.
All of these mentioned can be slowly absorbed in your skin by regular contact. If your skin is constantly exposed, the chances of developing an allergic response become greater. Chemical exposure is often the root cause for allergies, rubella and impetigo, psoriasis, eczema and even some types of skin cancer.
If you consider all of that-it becomes a no-brainer to choose to dry off with your organic cotton bath towel and wrap yourself in an organic cotton bathrobe.
Organic Cotton Bath Towels and Organic Cotton Robes Feel Great
This is because the threads of the cotton fiber have not been broken down or damaged by chemicals used in growing. This is one of the reasons organic cotton products will typically last longer and feel softer.
The most luxurious cotton tends to have longer fibers. Luxury organic cotton goods have come to be known for their strong, long fibers which aids in the absorption and retention of color.
The perception of luxury has evolved to not only include classifications like fiber strength, length and color/color rich quality but also sustainability criteria as well.
The luxury sector and the organic cotton sector has several things in common. Both are built on a respect for origin, craftsmanship in traditional design and construction for longevity. Similarly, sustainability has the same values; the values align very well. Longevity is very important to “quality" and usually is synonymous with the idea of a design that is made well that endures in-and-out fads.
Craftsmanship and tradition implies that they are drawn on the depth of knowledge, understanding and expertise that only results from years and years of innovation, practice, experimentation, patience and passing on of knowledge from one generation to the next.
Photo: Courtesy of Gallant International
Understanding where a product comes from, from a societal and locational manner allows an individual to make them feel like they've made a deeper connection to diversity, identity and work that's done in harmony with the laws of nature and culture.
So when you look at it like that, there's a lot of similarity between luxury design in the way that organic cotton products come about.
The organic cotton farmer works within an ecosystem where laws of nature are respected and valued to the preservation of soil fertility, community and biodiversity. Instead of leaving a trail of destruction, a goodness trail is left instead.
They do so ibn order to produce a fiber that's free from GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) and chemical pesticides. Concurrently so does a luxury design piece. Luxury items are designed with the utmost care and consciousness to use only the highest quality raw materials along with impeccable craftsmanship to produce uniquely beautiful products.
So overall, organic agriculture and the luxury sector share a commonality rather than being at odds with each other. Organic cotton production and sustainability tenants are already naturally aligned to the luxury sector.
Society needs to reorient their viewpoint and align expectations of quality to those of sustainability, ensuring that the product origin and craftsmanship and longevity and all those valuable assets extend to the to human culture and nature.
Our Terra Thread Home luxury organic cotton bathrobes and organic cotton towels are made with a high-quality fiber that stands out because of its staple length. Longer staple length usually is a barometer of high quality of organic cotton. Long staple fibers gives superior qualities, help it they respect to strength, color absorption, durability and hand feel. The longer staple length fibers are 33 mm and directly contribute to the strength and look as well as uniformity of the yarns which makes them overall more durable and softer.
Photo: Courtesy of Terra Thread Home
We at Terra Thread Home are proud to offer our luxury home collection of certified organic cotton products to you. We use GOTS certified organic cotton and our parent company, Gallant International Inc. is B Corp certified-our supply chain, our workers, and the land our 100% organic cotton comes from is grown and manufactured according to the strictest environmental, ethical, and fair practices.
Additionally, for every product sold we contribute free meals in the U.S. to the ones in need through the FEEDING AMERICA program. This contribution is matched by the Tony Robbins One Billion Meals Challenge, doubling the impact.
We are proud to create goodness that returns goodness.
Sources:
https://textileexchange.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/00_OrganicCottonFiberClassification_Guide2017_FINALforpublishing.pdf
https://www.pan-uk.org/health-effects-of-pesticides/
https://textileexchange.org/quick-guide-to-organic-cotton/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw9YWDBhDyARIsADt6sGYVVqyTc-CytrkcAz-U26-4PL0525GoF4CtffHZjOY0ao-L_gPFolAaAtMbEALw_wcB
https://www.organic-center.org/site/environmental-footprint-organic-cotton?gclid=Cj0KCQjw9YWDBhDyARIsADt6sGZq1ydXUCVV2nQ8BHH3BgELn3LhSA1SRPd4emozxhA_WLV10qH2g6caAiC8EALw_wcB
https://www.textilegence.com/en/global-organic-cotton-production-increased/
https://www.allergystandards.com/news_events/chemicals-in-textiles-and-the-health-implications/
https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/81-106/default.html
https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-09/documents/parathion.pdf
http://www.pic.int/TheConvention/Chemicals/AnnexIIIChemicals