The uncomfortable truth about the clothes we wear is that the garment manufacturing processes used today by most brands include chemicals and harmful toxins to speed up the job and produce more even, defect-free clothing.
Although the garments do undergo an intense washing and rinsing process before delivery onto your department store shelves, there may still be toxins lurking inside.
Kids are especially susceptible to negative effects and reactions to these hidden chemicals and though your adult immune system may be strong enough to fight your clothes, it’s important to be aware of what strain you’re putting on your children.
Remember, potentially-toxic baby clothes fit directly onto their skin, the largest organ in their bodies.
The uncomfortable truth about clothing is that simply putting something on could be adversely affecting your health.
Seek out Toxin Free Clothing
Here’s a list of things to consider and do in order to cut down on toxic chemicals in clothing.
Wash clothes before use. Although this method doesn’t solve the root issue of the presence of toxins, you can help protect your youngsters with a wash before wear. Remember to hand wash or use a water-reducing rinse cycle in your washing machine.
Hashtag. Social media really does drive social change in this era and ‘people power’ may be strong enough to turn the tides in garment manufacturing. Use the hashtags #detox, #peoplepower, and #toxinfreeclothing to drum up awareness about this important issue.
Shop Responsible Brands. Some brands like Zara, H&M, Valentino, Mango, Victoria’s Secret, Levis, Nike, and Burberry have signed pledges to move away from toxins and detoxify their brands within the next few years.
Although the list for children’s clothing retailers is shorter, this shift, backed with your support, will inevitably move there too.
You can read more here if detoxing the fashion industry is a subject close to your heart.
Consider bamboo clothing
As bamboo can grow up to 120cm per day, food is not taken away from our beloved pandas; it’s natural pest-resistant and anti-bacterial and it doesn’t require fertilisers to boost its growth, or pesticides. Bamboo is naturally pest-resistant.
Bamboo is a more efficient crop than cotton or timber, which needs to be replanted at every harvest and requires extensive spraying and watering to achieve optimal growth.
Bamboo is chemical-free and requires very little water to grow. In many respects it is an environmentally wonder plant, as it absorbs more carbon dioxide from the air than cotton or timber.
Releasing more oxygen into the environment, bamboo improves air quality. Cotton farming, on the other hand, requires extensive irrigation and chemical spraying – a single cotton t-shirt can use up to 2700 litres of water in the process.
Bamboo is 100% natural and biodegradable which gives conscientious consumers true peace of mind. Once you have no further use for a bamboo product, it’s comforting to know it will return to the Earth leaving little environmental impact.
And high-quality bamboo garments don’t need to cost the Earth – check out some excellent priced examples here. Bamboo is naturally thermal-regulating, so it will keep children warm all night long.
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