Organic products, from coffees to creams, are taking the world by storm. People love the health benefits and the fact that our environment is not suffering for their production, but what about organic fabrics?

Toxic dyes are one of the reasons we need to start using organic fabrics. Water supplies are being polluted by them and are believed to be carcinogenic. Around 10,000 different dyes are used industrially, with over 700,000 tons of synthetic dyes produced worldwide annually. These dyes are designed to resist biodegradation so that they do not fade from the fabric, however this feature is not the most useful one once they find their way into our environment.

One of the key features of organic foods and products is the avoidance of the use of pesticides. Non-organic cotton uses more pesticide per cotton plant than almost any other crop in the world. Pesticides damage the environment since they travel away from the cotton by wind or water, and can end up harming other plants and animals once they get into the food chain. We all know if this is happening, they are find their way back to us too. The World Health Organisation estimates that over 20,000 deaths a year are caused by pesticide poisoning in developing countries.

Our fashion choices are destroying the planet, along with our own population – old and young alike. With only one percent of cotton grown being organic, it’s about time that we started looking at our fashion choices, and that starts with the consumer demand – you.

Saniya Chughtai, Newstead Wood School