Cot­ton has gai­ned a bad repu­ta­tion in recent years. Howe­ver, it is a renewable natu­ral mate­rial with many good qua­li­ties. Cot­ton can bear a lot of usea­ge and was­hing. It feels com­for­table to wear and does not easi­ly elect­ri­fy. Cot­ton is the­re­fo­re very ver­sa­ti­le. Cot­ton pro­ducts can be mec­ha­nical­ly recycled, that is, they can be torn back into fibers. Deve­lo­pe­ment of mec­ha­nical recycling is now well advanced.

I have noticed that after the cot­ton has had a bad repu­ta­tion, it has been replaced with visco­se. Of cour­se, con­su­mers are not told that the visco­se process uses toxins that con­ta­mi­na­te the envi­ron­ment and makes wor­kers or people living in the vici­ni­ty ill, if reclai­ming is not done pro­per­ly. In count­ries whe­re visco­se is pro­duced, legis­la­tion and cont­rols may not be in order. In addi­tion, visco­se can bear less usa­ge and was­hing. So the life of the gar­ment is shor­ter. Howe­ver, visco­se has also been deve­lo­ped into more envi­ron­men­tal­ly friend­ly fibers, which are often also stronger.

Some of the suppliers I am using are just switc­hing to orga­nic cot­ton. I think it’s bet­ter to use their exis­ting fabrics first, even if they aren’t made from orga­nic cot­ton, than to make a new, simi­lar knit from orga­nic cot­ton. The fact that unused fabrics are thrown to was­te is a bad thing in many ways.