Making Eco Ready for Fashion

Business is booming for eco-consultants

When Isaac Nichelson pitched designing organic fashion lines to various activewear labels more than four years ago, the 36-year-old designer and consultant consistently received a red light for green fashion.

“I remember one guy telling me, ’It’s just too expensive to save the Earth now,” Nichelson said.

The production of environmentally friendly fashion is still generally more expensive than conventionally manufactured clothes. But in the past two years, Nichelson found that trends might have caught up with him. The same labels that initially rejected his ideas have warmly embraced his environmental expertise.

Many of these labels have debuted organic fashion lines. They are riding the crest of a burgeoning trend in the wider fashion industry. From popular T-shirt labels such as American Apparel to contemporary fashion labels such as Los Angeles–based Linda Loudermilk, designers and manufacturers have sought to change the way that they make clothes to be environmentally friendly.

It’s grown popular enough to where fashion trade-show producers have taken notice. This year, more than four top-tier fashion trade shows have produced environmentally conscious mini-shows within their larger events. A show specifically focused on organic fashion, Global Eco Trade Show, debuted in February at The Venetian hotel in Las Vegas.

Along with a higher profile come new rules. In March, American organizations leading the organic industry, such as the nonprofit Organic Exchange and the Organic Trade Association, accepted the Global Organic Textile Standard, an international code that spells out what steps a company must take to make an organic garment.

With this backdrop of a new industry seeming to gain strength, Nichelson has become one of a handful of people working as consultants to companies that want to open a door to this new world.

Nichelson, a former semi-pro snowboarder, once had few takers for his organic advice, yet for the past two years he estimated that he spends 50 percent of his time consulting with companies. He spends the other half of his time running Livity Outernational, a Topanga, Calif.–based manufacturer of organic headwear and clothes.

Nichelson never graduated from college, yet what he is offering established manufacturers is an extensive education on what textiles are environmentally friendly.

Researching Nichelson’s extensive resource library saved months of sourcing work for Meghan Martens, a product manager at Irvine, Calif.–based snowboard-wear manufacturer Foursquare. Foursquare, which is owned by influential snowboard maker Burton Snowboards, will collaborate with Livity to design the 13-piece premium Green Piece collection. It will be in stores in winter 2009.

Some of the textiles that Nichelson helped source are hemp and fabric made from recycled plastic bottles that is called recycled PET, or polyethylene terephthalate.

Going purely organic can be tough. Manufacturers worry about the availability of organic materials in a world market where only 2 percent of the cotton is organic, according to The NPD Group, a market-research firm based in Port Washington, N.Y. Fashion-label chiefs also worry about the cost of making organic fashions, which can be priced 10 percent to 50 percent greater than conventionally manufactured clothing.

Robert Wright, founder and designer of Lake Forest, Calif.–based streetwear label L-R-G said that cost and sourcing made him wary of eco-fashions. His resources complained that they could not reliably find organic fabrics to consistently stock the 80 styles of clothing that L-R-G manufactures every month. Then there’s the matter of cost.

“If it was too expensive, our customers would not understand it,” Wright said. “There’s got to be a medium ground with doing the right thing and having the costs be correct.”

Nichelson contends that the price gap for organic and conventionally made fabrics is decreasing. He said the retail cost of organic T-shirts often is $2 to $10 more than a traditional tee.

Others wonder if the push to make apparel production and sourcing organic is important to manufacturers, not consumers.

Dave Hollander, president of influential surfwear chain Becker Surf & Sport, said that he has never encountered a customer asking for organic clothes. “It doesn’t mean that they don’t care,” Hollander said. “But they are not basing their buying decisions on it.”

Trending green

But consumer interest might be growing. In 2006, The NPD Group asked consumers if they had interest in buying organic products. Eighteen percent of respondents said yes. It’s a big leap in interest from 2000, when only 5 percent told NPD that they would be interested in buying organic.

The market for organic clothing could mirror the growth of the market for organic groceries, said John Foster, an inspector for Oregon Tilth, a Salem, Ore.–based nonprofit agency that certifies food and, in the past few years, textiles. The American market for organic food reached $14.6 billion in 2005, according to the Organic Trade Association.

“It’s where the organic-food industry was 20 years ago,” Foster said. He anecdotally judged the growth in interest in organic textiles from the calls that he received from manufacturers and fashion labels asking how they can be certified organic. In 2006, he estimated that he received one call each month. In 2007, he gets more than three calls each week.

Other certifying groups said that many of these calls are from small textile mills looking to gain a competitive edge by offering organic fabrics, said Matt Mole, a founder of organic-wool producer Vermont Organic Fiber Co., based in Middlebury, Vt. There are an estimated five organic mills in America, said Mole.

Nichelson does his sourcing in China. He first met representatives of Chinese hemp mills in 1997 at the Northwest Footwear and Apparel Textile Materials Show in Portland, Ore.

Nichelson had been designing snowboard clothes at the time and called himself an environmental activist. Yet he became unhappy upon hearing an environmentalist view on how the textiles that he was using were produced with unhealthy chemicals and pesticides.

Since 1997, he has been designing new textiles with the Chinese hemp mills. He said that he sometimes gives these mills written descriptions of what textiles should look like. Sometimes he sends a photo of vintage textiles.

He believes that the demand for organic lifestyle will skyrocket once more consumers look to expand their organic choices from their kitchens to their fashion choices. “The next move is for them to update their wardrobes,” Nichelson predicted.

OTA: Taking Organic Beyond Cotton

If February’s MAGIC Marketplace was any indication, Lori Wyman’s voice is going to get hoarse in August. “I have to talk nonstop when I’m there, and the hours are long,” says the education and information-services administrator for the Organic Trade Association.

The OTA has a longstanding booth at Sourcing@MAGIC, and each show it gets busier. The OTA has a presence to educate show attendees about organic fabrics and encourage manufacturers to add them to their lines.

At the August MAGIC show in Las Vegas, the latest buzz will be about organic wool and leather, not just cotton. On Aug. 27, Wyman will moderate a seminar titled “Organic Cotton, Wool and Leather: Expanding the Breadth of the Organic Apparel Supply Chain,” featuring a panel of industry experts.

Wool and leather are certified organic at the farm level, Wyman explains, not the production level. (Currently, organic production standards are voluntary.) In order to meet certification requirements, sheep and cows farmed for fibers must follow the same guidelines as if they were being farmed for meat or milk. These guidelines mandate, among other things, that no chemicals be used in the animals’ feed, in the pasture they graze on or in the treating of fleas and ticks.

The ecological benefit is that such chemicals are kept from entering the soil and neighboring water supplies, Wyman said.—Christian Chensvold

A Glossary of Eco Fabrics

Organic CottonAmong organic textiles, “organic cotton is definitely No. 1,” said Anne Gillespie of Continuum Textiles. Organic cotton remains the most popular choice for eco clothing, whether it’s in the contemporary-fashion category or athletic wear. The conventional method of growing cotton is known to be heavily dependent on synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. It takes approximately one pound of chemicals to grow three pounds of cotton. Organically grown cotton relies on biologically based agricultural methods. To be certified as organic, the soil for the agriculture of organic cotton has to be free of chemicals for at least three years (three growing seasons). Farmers and processors are subject to annual inspections, and regulations are very strict and timely. Given the growing demand for organic cotton, more fields are starting the process to be certified.

Organic DenimMade with 100 percent organically grown cotton, organic denim is offered in a range of weights and is available in rigid and stretch fabrics.

BambooMade from the pulp of bamboo grass, bamboo textiles are very soft, light and durable, with wicking properties and a natural anti-bacterial function that helps to reduce bacteria that thrive on clothing. “There is a strong interest in bamboo,” said Gillespie. “The issue that people have to watch for with bamboo is to be sure that the processing is actually environmentally positive; even though it’s a renewable fiber that grows quickly, it is produced via the rayon process, which is heavily dependent on solvents. It is important that the spinner is responsible in the way that they use and dispose of these chemicals.”

TencelSoft and silky, Tencel fabric is made from cellulose extracted from trees using a nontoxic and chemical-free process. Resembling rayon or high-end silk, Tencel is more durable and is machine washable.

HempAdvances in plant breeding and treatment of hemp fibers have yielded a finer, softer fabric for clothing. Hemp is durable, non-irritating to the skin, insulating and absorbent.

MerittonA blend of organic cotton and merino wool, Meritton (from Continuum Textiles) combines the soft, cool comfort of organic cotton with the unique performance properties of fine merino wool. Machine washable and tumble dryable, Meritton also has anti-microbial properties.

Soy

Similar in feel to cashmere, soy fabric is produced from a byproduct of soybeans and is therefore a renewable resource.—Dena Smolek