Organic cotton & olee

WHY SHOULD YOU PREFER ORGANIC COTTON ?

Organic Cotton has a distinguished personality like my patrons. Has an understated elegance and rustic raw appeal to it.

Qualities of Organic Cotton

I use a lot of organic cotton in my sarees. My cotton collection is indeed popular so far.They are very suitable for Indian summers and a contemporary lifestyle where low maintenance and overheads is a key to dressing besides the way it looks and feels.The prints on these sarees are of course subjective in taste but believe me, when I say, that almost all agree unanimously that these organic cotton sarees sublimely merge with your skin ! It’s almost as if these sarees in organic cotton understand your gait and grace, stride and style.Here, I shall try to decode the mystery shrouding organic cotton and its merit over regular cotton; And as a designer, my experience of working with both kinds of cotton. 

Organic Cotton Flower

Farming of Organic Cotton vs Regular Cotton

Comparison of Farming Organic and Regular Cotton

Both organic and regular cotton crops yield the same thing that is white cotton but the characteristics of both are rather different. Before discussing the tangible differences between the two, I shall explain the key steps involved in agricultural and production techniques with organic cotton and its’ counterpart. Agriculture of organic cotton as with every crop starts from choosing the right seeds to harvesting it. The different steps involved are:

COMPARISON OF HARVESTING REGULAR & ORGANIC COTTON

 

Regular Cotton

Organic Cotton

Choice of seeds

 

Regular cotton often or always is cultivated from seeds that are treated with fungicides or insecticides and possibly GMO which is Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO). 

Organic cultivation of cotton prohibits using genetically engineered seed. Only natural and untreated seeds.

Soil Treatment

For regular cotton cultivation, soil loses its quality and fertility due to intensive irrigation and synthetic fertilizers and suffers loss of nutrients and permanent damage. This eventually does reflect in the quality of cotton. And worse news is that few of these harmful pesticides are cancer-causing agents. It is harmful for the cotton cultivators.

Agriculture of organic cotton, due to safe agricultural processes replenishes and maintains soil fertility and health through crop rotation. In organic cultivation, the soil retains moisture and other nutrients from organic manure an d farming procedures.

Harvesting

Once the cotton bolls burst open, the crop is ready for harvesting. With regular cotton, the bolls are force burst with the help of toxic chemicals to expedite the production of cotton.

Harvesting happens through natural harvesting processes – slow and steady. The resulting cotton is a statement of time, care and valuable resources that are invested in farming it.

That was all said about the agricultural processes involved in growing both the cotton categories from seed to fiber. There is more to cotton, which is the conversion of fiber to fabric or the production of fabrics.

COMPARISON OF TREATMENT OF REGULAR & ORGANIC COTTON YARNS

 

Regular Cotton

Organic Cotton

Bleaching Process

Whiter the cotton, purer its image and higher it’s commercial value: Hence we treat regular cotton with chlorine bleach to make it white. As a result, toxic by-products are released in the environment.

Safe peroxides are used for organic cotton and I have not seen any organic cotton so far, they all have an off whitish tinge to it which speaks of its natural character.

 

Finishing, Dyeing and Printing

VERY IMPORTANT WARNING !

Production processes of  regular cotton involves petroleum based pigments that contain heavy metal and sulfur that not only make the fabrics coarse, but if you care, it leaves a steady and huge stream of pollutants that eventually finds its way to the waterways and streams where we get our drinking water from.

Natural dyes, low impact water – natural inks or metal free pigments are used for dyeing and printing.

FAIR TRADE AND ORGANIC COTTON

QUICK STATS

  • India leading producer of Organic Cotton worldwide
  • Madhya Pradesh and Odisha are leading producers of Organic Cotton in India

how to identify organic cotton ?

Organic cotton usually comes with a certification. So ask for the certification. It is issued by the Textile Exchange of India and looks something like the stamps below.

Organic Cotton Stamps
Organic Cotton Stamps

 Now if there are designers and not manufacturers of organic cotton, they will most likely not be able to provide you with a certificate and that is when all this knowledge will come to use.

How to Idendtify Organic Cotton

PRICE YOU PAY FOR ORGANIC COTTON

Organic Cotton is every bit worth it !

WHY DO I PREFER ORGANIC TO REGULAR COTTON ?

As a designer, I have experience working with different kinds of cotton. And you might have guessed right, that I am partial towards organic cotton. Apart from the fabric having a hunch for our silhouettes, it is extremely gentle and well-behaved. Did I mention any time, that my personal style is the slightly care worn – imperfect look. This intelligent fabric reads my mind well!

  • An organic cotton saree will never billow up, the fall will obey you and stay in place.
 
  •  And I love them for the compassionate nature of the fabric. By that I mean you don’t need much expertise in draping a saree when it comes to these organic cotton sarees. The pleat easily without much ado.
  • However you might drape them, they scream classy.
 
  • I love bright, but I do have a penchant for an earthy pallet and understand that you too. There are few fabrics and organic cotton being one (linen  the other) that absorbs earthy dyes very well.

Here are few of my top pics from my organic cotton collection.  To view the complete collection of Organic Cotton sarees ,  visit the link below.

Kaali from Collection Ashanti
Captivating Krishnachura from Collection Behind the Krishnachura
Adorn with Genda from Collection Rendezvous with Genda
Karuna from Collection Ashanti
Scent of Shiuli from Collection Reminiscent of Shiuli
Hasi from Collection Ashanti

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