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Synthetic fibres invariably rely on non-renewable resources for their production and so Scene Green recommend clothing made from natural fibres instead. In addition, natural fibres each have their own characteristics (summarised below) which are difficult for synthetic fibres to mimic.
We would always urge consumers to use their buying power to support organically grown produce and this includes wool. Since sheep are 'free range' and eat grass, this would suggest that most sheep are pretty much organically raised anyway. However, organic wool comes from sheep which are grazed on land which is free of chemical fertilizers and herbicides and they are given no routine drugs or food additives. It also means that the sheep are not sprayed with organophosphates. All of which sounds like good news to us.
Conventionally produced cotton is more of a concern since it is the most highly sprayed crop in the world. Despite the fact that cotton is grown on approximately 5% of global cultivated land, it accounts for 25% of all insecticides and 12% of all pesticides used globally. Herbicides are also used during conventional cotton production as they are used to defoliate cotton plants at harvesting to make the cotton easier to pick. Aside from the environmental concerns, we can find no evidence that this pesticide residue is harmful when the finished product comes into close contact with the skin. However, we believe it is always best to err on the side of caution and therefore recommend organic cotton for clothing.
Another fibre which should be considered for clothing is silk. It is a natural product that will keep your child cool during the summer and warm during the winter. It can wick moisture away from the body quickly. It is mould and mildew resistant and of course, feels great next to the skin. Due to the high content of silk gum in the finished fabric, it is also thought to have a natural healing and antibacterial effect, which may benefit skin complaints such as eczema and psoriasis. However, silk production methods may be a cause of concern to some consumers.
The threads of silk that make up the fabric come from the cocoon of a moth. When the larvae is ready to pupate it spins a cocoon around itself using one continuous thread of silk. The chrysalis must be killed without damage to the cocoon - cutting the cocoon at one end to allow the moth to escape would cut the continuous silk thread into thousands of short threads, which would be useless for fabric production. Some moths are allowed to emerge safely from their cocoons in order to reproduce. The remainder of the chrysalis are killed by heat – immersion in boiling water, steaming or drying in an oven. The silk fibre can then be retrieved and used to weave into fabric. Vegans avoid wearing silk due to the number of moths killed in order to produce the fabric. Although the fabric is natural, and so avoids the use of chemicals in its production, it is very labour and resource intensive – one hectare of mulberry trees yields 11.25 tonnes of leaves (the principal food source for the larvae), producing around 200 kg of cocoons, but just 40 kg of raw silk. If any of these issues are a cause of concern for you, you might like to investigate bamboo as an alternative to silk - the finished fabric has similar properties and a lustre that can compare to silk (although we have found no evidence to suggest that it may help with skin complaints as silk may do).
Bamboo is an ideal organic fabric crop - it needs no pesticides to grow (it is resistant to pests), it does not need chemical fertilizers (it can grow well on poor quality land without them), and it does not need to be sprayed with herbicides (it outgrows weeds). Bamboo puts down long root systems helping to prevent topsoil erosion and actually improves the soil on which it is grown. Due to it's rapid rate of growth, bamboo produces more fibre than cotton per acre and is excellent for planting in areas which have suffered significant soil degradation and/or deforestation.
Another area of concern is the dyeing methods applied to the finished fabrics - in most conventionally produced fabric, harmful heavy metals and other synthetic chemicals are released into the environment and residues may remain in the end product. We don't have space to go into further details here, since dyeing methods and ingredients will vary from fabric to fabric, and even from colour to colour. But wherever possible, we recommend fabric items made from natural dyes or without the use of potentially harmful synthetics.
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