Understanding the High Cost of Organic Clothing |
Understanding the High Cost of Organic Clothing
Many people interested in “going organic” and purchasing only organic clothing become dismayed when they see that the price is generally somewhat higher than other types of clothing. Some even wonder if it’s some sort of conspiracy and believe that those who produce this type of clothing must be raking in the money. The truth is that there are many factors that go into the making of organic clothing that automatically runs up the price. The first of these is that many makers of organic clothing don’t make the millions of copies of an outfit that manufacturers of conventional clothing often do. Many organic companies are small family-run stores that struggle to have enough inventory for customers. Another factor involves organic cotton. This type of cotton is more expensive to grow and yields less cotton per hectare than conventional cotton. Organic crops must still deal with weeds and pests, often using more expensive natural herbicides and pesticides. This makes fabrics made from organic cotton overall more expensive. Organic cotton is more expensive to harvest than regular cotton. The conventional cotton companies use chemical additives in order to facilitate harvesting by the harvester machines. While chemical defoliation improves harvesting, it adds to the chemicals left in the cotton garments people wear. Organic cotton harvesting relies on no chemicals resulting in a somewhat lower yield. Finally, many organic fabrics are more expensive to manufacture. The lower harvest yields increases the costs of cleaning and preparing the raw cotton. In addition, because organic cotton processing is done in factories that produce regular cotton, all of the machines, cotton gins, weaving and knitting machines must be thoroughly cleaned before the organic cotton can be processed. This adds to the cost. Sadly, labor costs are less in conventional clothing manufacturing, which often relies on cheap labor or, in some instances, child labor, to manufacture. This type of practice would generally be considered unacceptable for manufacturers of organic clothing. One exception is the silk industry, which relies on millions of hand loom operators in India to make the organic silk products. An example of how conventional fabric manufacturers have a leg up on organic clothing manufacturers is a company, which makes cotton tank tops for Wal-Mart that pays a total of thirteen cents per hour in sweatshops in Nicaragua and other developing companies. Organic clothing manufacturers would consider this unethical and can’t keep up with those kinds of labor costs. Organic clothing is more expensive to ship, distribute and provide to retailers and customers. This is because the market size is so much smaller than the big retail stores and the per garment cost to ship is greater. In addition, organic clothing stores must pay more for advertising and marketing of their products. The customer base is less dense and more advertising must be done to reach an appropriate audience. The economics of organic clothing sales are such that growers, manufacturers and retailers lack the buying power of the bigger superstores and retailers. The production of organic clothing is still a very small part of clothing manufacturing so that everything from harvesting to packaging becomes a bigger process. For those who love organic clothing, however, the cost may be worth it. The environment is helped by the purchase of organic clothing and the clothing itself carries less of a health risk than conventional garments.
|
Are they Worth It? Arguments against Organic Foods On any day at the supermarket, consumers have the option of buying ... read more
Decades of Change: The History of Organic Farming Fifteen years ago, you may have had a hard time finding an ... read more
A Healthy World: International Trends in Organic Farming There has been much talk in recent years about the global environment ... read more
Wear Wholesome Clothing with Organic Cotton In today’s times, almost everything you buy contains some sort of synthetic fiber like ... read more
USDA Organic? What the Heck is that? We’ve all seen those little labels, all those letters squeezed in to a ... read more
How do I Know if My Silk is Organic? As silk is made by an organic process, the spinning of ... read more
Understanding the High Cost of Organic Clothing Many people interested in “going organic” and purchasing only organic clothing become dismayed ... read more
Organic Clothing and Our Environment Few of us would connect the idea of organic clothing with the Earth’s environment and ... read more
Taste Hot and Delicious Organic Coffee Coffee drinkers everywhere now have the option of forgoing their ordinary cup of coffee ... read more
The Health Benefits of Organic Meat Organic meat differs from regular meat in the way the animal farmer raised the ... read more
Look Lovely with Organic Skin Care Products Many people might wonder why they should turn to organic skin care products. ... read more
The Beauty of the Perfect Cup of Organic Tea As our world becomes more and more filled with plastic waste, ... read more
Treat Your Garden Right with Organic Pesticides What gardener doesn’t want to rid his or her garden of all those ... read more
Organic Milk: Is it Worth It? Organic milk producers are quick to tell you that their milk is delicious and ... read more
What makes Organic Make Up Better? Most organic make up producers take special pride in providing you with organically-based cosmetics ... read more
Keep your Dog Happy With Organic Dog Food It’s safe to say that Westerners are crazy about their dogs and ... read more
Handy Organic Ant Control for your Home It’s a fact of life, unless you live in Antarctica, that pests will ... read more
Safer Methods: Using Organic Pest Control for Roaches and Mites It’s safe to say that most of us would like ... read more
Those Nasty Mosquitoes: Organic Ways to Keep them at Bay What would warm weather and picnics be without mosquitoes? For ... read more
Fly Away Flies: Organic Repellents for Flies and Moths Flies have probably been on this earth for longer than humans ... read more
Stamp out Fleas with Organic Pest Control What pet owner hasn’t worried once or twice that their beloved pet had ... read more
Eat Healthy with Organic Foods When you go to the grocery store or supermarket to buy fruits or vegetables, do ... read more
Eat Better: The Health Benefits of Organic Foods Organic foods have become easier and easier to obtain in recent years. ... read more
Do It Yourself....Organic Composting More and more families have made the ecological decision to stop putting their organic refuse in ... read more
Go Natural with Organic Gardening! Have you noticed that the "organic" section of your grocery store has grown exponentially in ... read more
|
|
|
Disclaimer:
The Publisher has strived to be as accurate and complete as possible in
the creation of this website, notwithstanding the fact that he does not
warrant or represent at any time that the contents within are accurate
due to the rapidly changing nature of the Internet.
This site
is a common sense guide to Understanding the High Cost of Organic Clothing. In practical advice websites,
like anything else in life, there are no guarantees of income made.
Readers are cautioned to reply on their own judgment about their
individual circumstances to act accordingly.
This site
is not intended for use as a source of legal, business, accounting or
financial advice. All readers are advised to seek services of competent
professionals in legal, business, accounting, and finance field.
Any
perceived slights of specific people or organizations are unintentional.
|