Green Fashion: The Best Selling Of Organic Clothing

From the beginning of the "anti fur" campaign, the attention of the fashion industry to environmental protection is no longer a hot news. Well, environmental protection And fashion What kind of products can it bring to us? Is it a bamboo skirt on the environmental fashion show, or a green bag with the concept of "I am not a plastic bag", which has been fry up to 3000 yuan? If so, the fashion trend of the fashion industry can only be reduced to a marketing gimmick, which runs counter to the real environmental movement. Professor Parsons, a fashion design department at the New York School of design, said: "beauty is practical and environmental protection is equally important." In fact, under the spotlight and T, a real fashion change is quietly brewing.

From environmental awareness to health awareness, pure and pollution-free natural material is the real demand of consumers, because health is more important than money, they are willing to pay more money to buy organic products. Looking at the global organic market today, from organic farms to organic food, the price of organic brand is much higher than that of ordinary products, but consumers can always give generously. The annual report on organic agriculture and cotton fiber released by the international organic cotton association in January 13th said that organic cotton production increased by 15% in the global 2009/2010 year to more than 240 thousand tons. Despite the sluggish global economic growth under the financial crisis, the demand for organic cotton continued to grow. The trend of green consumerism is rising.

　　 Organic cotton challenges traditional cotton

Can all cotton fabrics be equated with natural, healthy, comfortable and pure? In fact, on the contrary, most cotton products we wear are far from natural purity, and are also one of the main factors that are harmful to the ecological environment. The International Federation of organic agriculture movement (IFOMA) points out that the world's cotton planting area accounts for about 3% of the total agricultural land in the world. However, 1/4 of the world's total pesticides are used in cotton fields, including some highly toxic and potentially carcinogenic pesticides. The consequences are severe pollution of soil and groundwater, causing tens of thousands of cotton farmers to get sick or die each year, causing great harm to natural ecology and human health.

Therefore Organic cotton Emerge as the times require. Organic cotton is planted in organic cotton fields. Here, it enjoys "good breathing environment", pollution-free water source irrigation, rich organic soil and other survival factors. The cotton picked is truly zero pollution, high quality and environmental protection. In addition, organic cotton does not use pesticides in the whole growth process. "Cotton farmers must not use chemical agents in cotton fields for 3 consecutive years. The cotton they grow can be called organic cotton, and the clothes made of organic cotton are not only comfortable, but also for the earth." An organic cotton expert said.

The use of large quantities of pesticides is only a problem in traditional cotton production. In order to maintain the yield and quality of cotton, many chemical nitrogen fertilizers are applied in the process of planting, and the soil is salinized for a long time. Moreover, from the cotton harvest to clothing, there are also health and pollution risks. For example, bleaching cotton cloth not only produces carcinogens, but also pollute the environment. Chemical dyes also contain heavy metals, such as arsenic, mercury, lead, and so on. In order to prevent wrinkles, formaldehyde is usually added. Yamaka Tomoon, an organic cotton promoter in Japan, has discovered that people can wear more than 8000 kinds of ordinary cotton t-shirts or sleeping cotton sheets. There is no such problem in organic cotton. Its original color is pure and flawless. It maintains natural characteristics in the process of planting and weaving, and uses only natural plant dyes to dye it.

　 Brand competition organic field

As a global sporting and leisure product manufacturer, Nike is one of the first retailers to aim at the organic cotton market. As early as 2004, the company incorporated the concept of environmental sustainability with the actual operation and product design of the company. In 2006, 52% of the cotton products of the company contained 5% organic cotton, with the target that 100% of the cotton garments must have at least 5% organic cotton by 2010. In May 2009, Nike launched the latest Nike sportswear series. The concept of "modern life style", which is full of environmental protection, is the main concept. The "Nike sportswear" product 100% is made of organic cotton fabric.

Meanwhile, WAL-MART, the world's largest retailer, has also played an environmental protection card. According to the information released by the organic cotton exchange, WAL-MART ranked first in the list of organic cotton in the world in 2006, 2007 and 2008. To date, WAL-MART has purchased more than 28 million pounds of organic cotton and has marketed FadedGlory t-shirts for the first time in new markets, including infants, infants, young children, boys, girls, women and men, ranging from $3.5 to $6. {page_ Break}

Levi's, the first brand of jeans, has also played the banner of environmental protection. The brand launched the Levi's eco series jeans fashion in 2008, not only using 100% organic cotton, but also using natural dyeing materials and environmental treatment methods in dyeing process. As for accessories and accessories for jeans, it is also possible to recycle, such as buttons, nails and zippers. The company has changed the old red trademark to green to show its environmental protection.

Besides using organic cotton, Levi's also produced "water saving brand". As early as 2007, Levi's made a comprehensive assessment of their 501 denim. It turns out that each pair of jeans starts from cotton fields to fabrics, to consumers, and then goes through countless washing until it is discarded. The whole life of the jeans consumes 3480 litres of water.

Levi's's technicians have decided to use ozone technology to replace the large amount of water needed to soften denim. Levi's calls it "frosted wash". This technology has created new water-saving jeans and has recently met with consumers. The average cost of this pair of jeans is equal to that of the traditional jeans, but it can save 28% of the water consumption in the production process. This spring, if the sales of this new type of jeans can reach 1 million 500 thousand, it will save 160 thousand litres.

Timberland, the famous American brand, is also an advocate of organic cotton. The organic cotton products are placed on shelves at the speed of 30% per year, and the organic cotton content of each garment is at least 10% and the T-shirt content is 100%. "The protection of the environment and human health is our philosophy," said the manager of the store.

　　 The high price is a headache.

At present, the output value of global organic clothing is around us $4 billion 300 million, and in 2011, this figure will reach US $6 billion. Indeed, compared with the total value of clothing sold in the United States only 188 billion dollars a year, sales of organic clothing are only a drop in the ocean.

It has been argued that organic clothing is only a special interest of some environmental fanatics, but if we look back on history, these sceptics will wake up. Just a few years ago, the rise of organic food was similarly questioned. In 2000, organic food was still a small industry with a sales volume of only 6 billion dollars. After 10 years, Americans consumed 24 billion dollars in organic food. "Compared with organic food, the development of organic clothing has almost lagged behind for ten years." Larry Pepel, an organic cotton farmer who has 50 hectares of land outside Texas, said: "I have been in organic cotton cultivation for 20 years. In the 90s of last century, the brand of real organic clothing was very poor. Now, 75 large clothing brands and retailers are engaged in the organic clothing industry.

Since 2005, most of the major clothing companies have joined in the production of organic clothing. Among them, there are many world-renowned brands such as Levi's, Adidas and Nike, as well as many top fashion retailers, such as H&M, Target, Nodes Tron (Nodstrom), Gap, and WAL-MART, of course. As Kathrina Conti, executive vice president of anville knitting company, who is engaged in clothing wholesale, said: "in the past five years, we did find that people firmly support organic clothing, so now it's time for clothing manufacturers to join in the trend of organic clothing. This year people's enthusiasm for organic cotton has been unprecedentedly high.

However, the production of organic clothing is not as simple and easy as people imagine. First of all, the purchase of raw materials, we must confirm that buying organic cotton is a headache process. Most cotton farmers still use chemical fertilizers and insect repellent. Therefore, some major garment manufacturers are now working with middlemen to solve the problem of raw material purchase of organic cotton. The high cost of organic cotton is also a thorny problem. According to Greensource Organic Clothing Company's chief executive, Mr bason said: "the choice of organic cotton as raw material has increased the clothing business by only 20% of the yarn expenditure. This has put us in a dilemma, either to raise the retail price or to sacrifice the profit margin of the product. Nowadays buyers and sellers are highly sensitive to price. Any choice will cause the interests of one side to be infringed. "

Therefore, the costumer usually needs to compromise between price and profit. "The key to choice is to maintain the balance between quantity and unit price," he said. Consumers are psychologically prepared to spend more money on organic products, but the price can not be too expensive. Customers are willing to pay for the lifestyle they advocate, but cost performance is always a key factor in their decision making. Mr. Kolb of Levi's added: "as long as our products meet consumer expectations and fashion and quality, they will be willing to buy organic clothing."