INDUSTRY BUZZ: Going organic, piece by piece - Montreal Gazette

Monique Beaudin writes in her Green Life column in the Montreal Gazette that eco-friendly raw materials are becoming more popular amongst those in craft circles - and further, those craft circles are growing as people grow more environmentally conscious about the impact of the materials they use on their environment.
Heads up, retailers - this isn't a conventional type of consumer. While you may have focused largely on products that fit into certain defined categories, there are also eco-minded individuals who are looking at raw materials and want to create their own products with those raw materials. Why not be the go-to for the raw materials right down to the finished items or natural health products? For an excerpt of Beaudin's piece, see below - for the full piece, check out the Montreal Gazette.

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Montreal Gazette

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Green Life Column: Going organic, piece by piece

Eco-friendly raw materials are increasingly popular as those in craft circles grow concerned about the environmental and ethical impacts of the materials they use

By MoniqueB Mon, Apr 26 2010 Green Life


By Monique Beaudin, The Gazette,

You've probably heard the words organic, fair trade and sustainable bandied about when it comes to foods like coffee and chocolate, but have you ever thought about those issues when it comes to your clothes and household items?

How fabric, yarn and other materials are produced is a topic that is starting to get attention in crafty circles.

While some companies are introducing organic alternatives, most of what's available is still produced the conventional way.

Becky Stone makes baby blankets, quilts and other accessories by hand at her home-based business in Hudson. After years of sewing with conventionally produced materials, she decided that the environmental impact of cotton production was too much for her.

She was concerned about the amount of pesticides and insecticides used to grow cotton, and the chemicals used to turn it into fabric. According to the environmental research organization Worldwatch Institute, the dyes used can contain toxic chemicals and processing cotton can release formaldehyde gas, a probable carcinogen.

"As I became more aware of the environmental issues, I began to feel increasingly guilty about buying conventional cotton," Stone said. "I didn't want to be a part of that."

Now Stone uses only organic cotton and batting. She said the response to her choice has been favourable. Since launching her business, the Organic Quilt Company, in 2008, she has been selling her environmentally friendly quilts and blankets in boutiques and online around the world. Every year, she makes hundreds of baby blankets and accessories, as well as several custom-made quilts, she said.

"As people become more aware of organic cotton and environmental issues, they are actively seeking alternatives, especially for babies," she said. "When you're thinking of a newborn baby, you really want to protect them with the very best that you can."

Stone gets some of her materials from the United States and the rest from India, where she buys from a fair-trade producer, which means the people working on the cotton are getting fair wages and have decent working conditions.

Still, organic cotton makes up a tiny amount of worldwide cotton production. Conventional growers are trying to reduce their effect on the environment, but some of the ways they are doing it are controversial. The industry says pesticide use on cotton crops in countries around the world dropped after growers chose genetically modified seeds - another issue that many environmentalists find problematic.

Realizing that some consumers are looking for more eco-friendly alternatives, though, many companies are developing new crafting materials for people who knit and sew. You can now find yarn made from bamboo, soy and even wood by-products.

But some materials touted as eco-friendly aren't really so, said Montreal designer and knitter Véronik Avery. Bamboo, for example, requires the use of toxic chemicals during its processing, she said. Last year, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission charged four companies with making false green claims, and published a guide for consumers warning them of the "toxic chemicals in a process that releases pollutants into the air."

Avery is one of nearly two dozen contributors to the new book Knitting Green (Interweave Press, $24.95), a collection of Earth-friendly patterns and essays about knitting published last week.

Last fall, Avery launched St-Denis, her own line of wool yarn, produced and processed in the United States. The wool comes from sheep raised in the U.S. Midwest, which is processed at a mill in New England. Avery said one of her goals was to reduce the environmental impact of her yarn, and having it produced in North America meant it didn't have to be shipped from countries like China, Peru or Turkey. Avery said she was concerned about the working conditions for employees of yarn-manufacturing companies operating in those countries. Textile factories have been found to use child labour, force employees to work for days on end without a break and pay extremely low wages.

"I think people should stop looking to get the cheapest possible product, and think about the consequences," Avery said.

"I don't have assurances, if I buy something that was made in China, that nobody was abused."

The problem, for many crafters, though, is the difference in price between conventional and organic materials. The organic cotton Stone uses, for example, costs double what conventional cotton costs. But Eleanor Allen, who runs the yarn store Tricot Quartier in Notre Dame de Grâce, said yarn manufacturers are now starting to offer organic cotton yarns at a variety of prices, with some very close to the price of conventional cotton yarns.

SOURCE: Monique Beaudin, Montreal Gazette