At age 12, Teresa Remple sold her first piece of clothing after receiving a sewing machine for her birthday. What was once a childhood hobby has turned into a career of making clothes with eco-friendly fabrics. Remple, now an outgoing 32-year-old, moved from Vancouver, B.C., to Bellingham to set up her clothing company, Texture Clothing Inc.
According to the Organic Trade Association, conventionally grown cotton is the most chemically intensive crop on the planet. Growing cotton requires approximately 22.5 percent of all agricultural insecticides, herbicides and fungicides. As a reaction to these practices, businesses and citizen-activist groups are bringing environmentally friendly clothing into the mainstream.
Remple makes her clothes from a blend of hemp, 100 percent organic cotton and Lycra. Remple distinguishes her clothing from the conventionally grown cotton clothing that dominates many fashion lines by using hemp, an alternative natural fiber. Remple said she has always loved working with hemp because it is an environmentally friendly alternative.
"I make clothes with not only an environmental conscience but also with a comfortable and fitting one," Remple said. "I believe a person should wear clothes that they love everything about — what it is made of and how it fits."
Remple combines hemp with 100 percent organic cotton, both produced without synthetic chemicals or pesticides. The inclusion of organic cotton gives Remple’s clothes a soft, flexible feel, contrary to a common stereotype of hemp clothing being rough.
Ruth Harper-Arabie, an environmental toxicology assistant professor at Huxley College of the
Environment, said the chemicals in pesticides can enter the environment in many ways, depending on the properties of a specific chemical. Pesticides can evaporate, dissolve into water or attach to sediment. Eventually, organisms can take these chemicals into their systems. The degree of harm a pesticide has on the environment depends on its mechanism of transport.
According to the Organic Trade Association, the environmental effects of pesticide use in cotton production is the primary reason environmentally conscious farmers, manufacturers and consumers are searching for alternative fiber sources.
One place for consumers to look is in Bellingham’s Happy Valley neighborhood where Remple’s bright, open studio is filled floor to ceiling with an array of colors and styles of fabric. This summer will be Remple’s third in Bellingham. She sells her clothes at the Bellingham and Ballard farmers markets.
"I moved here because I was sick of the city," Remple said. "This community is so supportive; I really don’t think I could have done it in any other community."
Like Texture, businesses on local, national and international levels are entering the organic-cotton and alternative-fiber markets. In 2003, according to the Organic Trade Association, sales of organic fiber products increased 22 percent in the United States and Canada.
In 1996, Patagonia Inc., based in Ventura, Calif., switched to 100 percent organic cotton in all its clothing.
"In the early ’90s, as part of our long ongoing environmental assessment at Patagonia, we learned that the most damaging fiber we were using in our line was conventionally grown cotton," said Coley Malloy, a public relations representative for Patagonia. "Who would have thought that a natural fiber was causing more harm than polyester or nylon, which are both made from a nonrenewable source?"
Malloy said this was a risky move for Patagonia. Once it learned how damaging the pesticides used in conventionally grown cotton really were, the decision to switch was clear. After launching an extensive education program to communicate the importance of organic cotton to the entire staff, Patagonia made the switch.
"Yvon Chouinard, our founder, was willing to put the fate of the company on the line, in order to do the right thing for the environment," Malloy said.
According to the Organic Trade Association, many businesses do not choose to use organic fibers because of possible economic loss.
"Many companies are afraid that customers will not respond," Malloy said. "We have proven that they do."
Although sales are on the rise, organic fiber represents only one in every 2,500 articles of clothing in the U.S. clothing market, according to the Organic Trade Association.
The Sustainable Cotton Project, based in California’s Central Valley, is one organization that has been working to develop the organic-cotton market. The project connects farmers, manufacturers and consumers in creating markets for organically grown cotton.
"We are devoting our energy to making organic cotton a viable agricultural and economic alternative," said Lynda Grose, the project’s marketing consultant. Grose said she recognizes that in order to popularize organic cotton, knowledge and education must reach farmers, manufacturers and consumers.
The project has organized three main campaigns. One campaign, Biological Agriculture Systems In Cotton, works directly with conventional cotton farm issues and educates farmers on the advantages of organic practices. Another, the Cleaner Cotton campaign, educates manufacturers about proven business models and strategies to incorporate organic-cotton fibers into existing products. Care What You Wear is an initiative that educates consumers about the issues of conventional cotton production and the environmental importance of purchasing organic cotton.
"We are consciously commited to socially and environmentally conscious clothing," Grose said. "With consumer, farmer and manufacturer participation, we hope to achieve the critical mass necessary to redirect the future of the world’s favorite natural fiber."
It’s hard to miss Remple’s sign that stretches across her two booths at the Bellingham Farmers Market and reads, "Texture: Clothing with conscience." Her sign epitomizes what the green clothing market is about: making clothing with the environment as the top priority. Remple said she hopes consumers on a local and international level will become aware of the rising wave of environmentally friendly clothing options.
"Even if it’s buying one organic cotton shirt this year, it is a huge step," Grose said. "Any step of participation by the consumer is a step in the right direction and a statement of environmental care."