If you follow my fashiony creations at all, you probably know I use pretty nearly only organic cotton fabric. One thing I never do is buy new non-organic cotton to use in my studio. For some reason organic-loving people seem to be thought of as either overly-earthy people who wear comfy green, brown, mustard, and terracotta clothing with no underwear. They are usually yoga instructors. While this (maybe unfairly stereotyped) little section of humans may have been the first to really attach to the idea of eating and wearing organic things, it's arrogant and prejudiced to turn up your nose at something that actually affects every person on the planet in serious ways.
When I was trying to come up with my shoot-you-in-the-eye reasons for supporting the organic cotton industry I realized I've read and heard a lot without ever trying to really memorize the main facts of the issue. After doing a little research I came across the Organic Trade Association's website, and it has an incredibly eye-opening list of facts about the whole cotton industry that are pretty hard to stomach. For example,
"Cotton is considered the world's 'dirtiest' crop due to its heavy use of insecticides, the most hazardous pesticide to human and animal health. Cotton covers 2.5% of the world's cultivated land yet uses 16% of the world's insecticides, more than any other single major crop (1)."
