Fiber Facts

We all know that organic cotton is tops for the environment. But what about other natural fabrics? Here's the lowdown.

Hemp

"Certified organic hemp" appears often on labels for soap, cereal, protein powder and hand cream, whereas certified organic hemp cloth is virtually non-existent. Why? It stems back to hemp's not-so-secret history as a marijuana plant. While it's legal to import industrial hemp, free of the levels of THC that make smokers high, growing any form of hemp has been illegal in the U.S. since the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act. Today, most hemp for cloth is grown in China and Eastern Europe, and most organic hemp seeds used in food and personal-care products come from Canada. In 1998, Canada legalized hemp growing for commercial use. Yet according to Jason Finnis, founder of Hemptown—one of Canada's most successful hemp clothiers—there still are no hemp-cloth manufacturers in North America, but this is now changing. "Hemptown has bought acreage for growing hemp and is in the early stages of building a processing mill for hemp cloth production," Finnis says. They are also contracting with local farmers to purchase certified organic hemp.

Only a handful of companies claim to manufacture organic hemp clothing, and fewer still mention certification. Rawganique's hemp comes from Romania and will be certified organic in 2005. Of The Earth (OTE) is working toward certification with a Chinese organic standards organization, the Organic Food Development Center (OFDC), according to Richard Ziff, president. As China's organic industry develops and more Eastern European countries enter the EU, certified organic hemp-cloth imports should become more common.

Organic Hemp Clothing Resources:

www.rawganique.com, www.oftheearth.com, www.minawear.com, www.dankforest.com

Silk

Still produced primarily by worms in China, this fiber is also edging toward organic certification. Traditionally, keeping silk worms alive has precluded extensive use of synthetic pesticide and fertilizers. But the pesticide methoprene is now being used as a hormone disrupter to slow the worms' growth rate, extending the time during which they produce silk. Methoprene, in combination with the plant-based steroid hormone phytoecdysone, has been shown to increase silk production. It is the inhumane treatment of the silkworms, however, that concerns many consumers. Traditionally, the pupae are killed—either by baking or drowning—before emerging from their cocoons, which breaks the long silk threads.

Happily, there are alternatives. Wildcrafted silk is organic, produced without killing the pupae and available from select retailers. Alkena Textiles, a joint venture among China, Switzerland and Germany, makes organic silk, cotton, linen, hemp, ramie and wool. Alkena claims to produce organic and biodynamic silk in accordance with the European Economic Community (EEC) organic standard, which prohibits the use of methoprene but would not necessarily rule out killing the worms.

Organic Silk Resources:

Aurorasilk (www.aurorasilk.com) offers Wildcrafted Tussah Silk.

Rayon & Tencel

Rayon, Tencel and acetate are made out of cellulose, most often from softwood trees like beech, though tropical hardwoods and even cotton fiber are used as well. These materials may begin as biomass, but the end result is a synthetic too processed for the term "organic" to be relevant. In terms of their environmental impact, according to Co-op America's WoodWise guide, "about a third of the pulp obtained from a tree will end up in finished rayon thread," and the rest is discarded. Extracting the fiber also requires a lot of water, and powerful chemicals like sodium hydroxide and carbon disulfide to break the tough cellulose cell structure.

Tencel (the trade name for lyocell), the newest of these cellulose materials, was developed by one of the world's largest manufacturers of rayon, Courtauld Fibers, who have since sold the business to Lenzing. The company presents Tencel as environmentally friendly, and, indeed, the process of making Tencel requires less water and does use biodegradable solvents. The material itself has been demonstrated to biodegrade as well. It should be noted, however, that in 1995 the EPA rated Courtauld the sixth-largest producer of inorganic pollution in the U.S. for its releases of "industrial inorganic chemicals" and "cellulostic manmade fibers" from its Tencel- and rayon-manufacturing plants in Alabama. Lenzing currently claims their trees are harvested from managed forests, even though they've yet to seek Forest Stewardship Council certification.

Linen

Over the last several years, the USDA has been evaluating the economic feasibility of developing the flax plant, from which linen and oil are made, as an agricultural commodity. According to the USDA, all textile-grade flax fiber is imported, whereas certified organic flax seed for oil has been grown in 21 states as of 2001. Quality Assurance International (QAI) and the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) certify organic linen in Europe, and the products are slowly becoming available in the U.S.

Certified Organic Linen Clothing can be found at Maggie's Functional Organics (www.organicclothes.com) and Rawganique (www.rawganique.com).

Wool

In conventional wool production, sheep are given hormones and antibiotics. The sheep are often "dipped" in organophosphate paraciticides, which creates health risks for the sheep as well as the workers and contaminates ground water. Traditionally, wool is processed with toxic solvents and detergents. According to the Organic Trade Association, "28,510 pounds of [certified] organic wool were grown in the U.S. and Canada in 2001." To be certified organic in the U.S., wool production must meet the same standards as certified organic meat, dairy and other animal-fiber products set by the USDA. Federal organic livestock standards prohibit chemical inputs at every stage of production.

In Sonoma County, California, a pilot program for producing organic wool called Pure Grow follows federal organic livestock standards but has also implemented stringent rules regarding how the wool is handled once it's shorn. Interestingly, Pure Grow is not yet certified organic, but California has indicated that it will adopt the Pure Grow criteria for its state organic certification standards. In Vermont, Green Mountain Spinnery turns fleece from regional small sheep farms into yarns using an organic process that has been certified by the Northeast Organic Farming Association. No chemicals are used to bleach, moth-proof or shrink-proof the yarns, and a nonpetroleum soap and oil are used for scouring, carding and spinning.

Green Wool Resources:

Pure Grow wool blankets are available from EcoBedroom ($199 for twin size, www.ecobedroom.com). Also see: Vermont Organic Fiber (www.vtorganicfiber.com), Pure Grow home (www.vivetique.com), Green Mountain Spinnery (www.spinnery.com).

Organic Cotton Resources:

This season we would love to get or give a long ($44) or short ($36) ruffled nightgown in natural or low-impact-dyed lilac; and three pairs of socks ($20) in natural or black, both from Gaiam (www.gaiam.com). Also men's and women's untreated organic cotton tops and bottoms (about $30 and up) at www.Patagonia.com.