March 2008
Get Eco-Friendlier
You’ve got to know what organic cotton means, and what’s involved in making recycled garments. Also, is there eco-friendly imprinting? Here’s what you need to know to show your clients you’re green.
Looks like Kermit the Frog was right when he said it’s not always easy being green. Today many consumers expect manufacturers to produce products made of natural materials through earth-friendly processes – and without a lot of waste. Within the last year, “climatary solution” has become a part of America’s vocabulary. As environmental advocates such as former Vice President Al Gore discuss the planetary crisis and global warming (conditions fueled by green house gasses and industrial emissions), consumers are demanding that companies do their part to try to mitigate the problem.
That includes ad specialty product suppliers, particularly those involved in apparel manufacturing – a process that uses chemicals that are particularly harsh on the ecosystem. In every aspect of production, suppliers are touting more natural products and cleaner production, from using natural energy and organic crops to experimenting with recycled goods. Consumers, in return, are lapping it up. In the organic market alone in 2007, the National Organics Standard Board says demand grew 21% to reach $17.7 billion and it’s predicted to grow another $3.5 billion this year.
Eco-friendliness is a nationwide movement, where people are realizing the importance of recycling, reusing and reducing.
Allison Fruetel, Bentley PromotionsDistributors are in the middle – from trying to figure out which suppliers offer what type of eco-product to delivering the type of earth-sustainable products their customers want. Fortunately, Margaret Crow, director of marketing at S&S Activewear (asi/84358), says distributors aren’t making uneducated decisions about what they’re buying; they’re asking questions about the difference between “organic” and “eco-friendly,” what exactly makes a product environmentally friendly, and other tricky definitions. In the wearables sector, distributors want to know when more colors and lower-cost materials will be available.
Crow says questions such as these are a step in a positive direction. “People realize eco-friendliness isn’t just a passing trend and really is a viable option for a wide range of promotional programs,” she says. Whether those programs include organic apparel, recycled products or an array of goods made in an eco-conscious way without waste, it’s up to distributors to advise their clients on the best products for their needs.
Top 10 MarketsJust getting started in the eco-friendly niche? Bodek and Rhodes (asi/40788), one supplier that’s exploring this niche, shares the top 10 markets buying organic apparel. |
What’s ‘organic’?
The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) defines “organic” as a crop grown without the use of pesticides or chemical additives – that is, those that use “materials and practices that enhance the ecological balance of natural systems and that integrate the parts of the farming system into an ecological whole,” according to the board.
“Organic products are grown with no synthetic pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, chemical fertilizers or any other chemicals,” says Jacqui Bracey, executive manager of Continental Clothing Co. USA (asi/46410). Rather, the soil is kept rich through compost and crop rotation; weeds are controlled by hand labor, machinery or flame; insects are killed by natural predators; and water use is regulated. In growing crops this way, no toxic substances are created and the earth maintains its natural balance.
This balance, Bracey says, is greatly upset by conventional agriculture, especially cotton production. “It takes around one-third of a pound of chemicals to produce enough cotton for one conventional T-shirt and three-quarters of a pound for a pair of jeans,” she says. Plus, the NOSB says conventional cotton is one of the most chemically dependent crops, sucking up 10% of all agricultural chemicals and 25% of insecticides on 3% of arable land. Not only are conventional crops draining the environment, but they can be health hazards, as 20,000 deaths occur each year from pesticide poisoning in developing countries where most apparel is produced.
While there are many different types of organic products that can be used to make apparel, such as bamboo, modal, corn soy and hemp, Bracey says organic cotton is by far the most popular. Organic cotton doesn’t have to be blended with any other fabric to increase durability or achieve a soft hand.
Yet Bracey sees potential in these alternative organic products, especially bamboo, which grows rapidly and naturally without any chemicals and is biodegradable, naturally antibacterial and moisture wicking. “While bamboo doesn’t outsell our cotton product, primarily due to higher prices, it sells outstandingly well,” she says.
Drab to FabJust because a product is eco-friendly doesn’t mean it has to be a basic item. To meet end-user demand, many wearables suppliers involved in the green initiative have expanded their selections beyond the drab, unisex tee. Now, they’re offering apple-colored hoodies, reversible beanies and reusable totes – just to name a few. Here are some of the most unique garments we’ve found:
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Recycled fabrics
Rather than growing and manufacturing crops to produce garments, recycled apparel is created from existing products such as leftover fabrics (polyester, cotton, denim), recycled plastics (soda bottles, plastic bags, plastic packaging) or coconut shells – just to name a few.
Boardroom Custom Clothing (asi/40705) specializes in recycled apparel. Offering 13 different fabrics, 10 of which are recycled, the product line includes tees, hoodies, jackets, wovens, polos and pants made from many post-consumer and post-industrial recycled products. The supplier also offers organic garments made of cotton and bamboo.
Jason Neve, graphic designer and sales support rep for Boardroom, says the majority of questions he’s asked are about how recycled “trash,” such as plastic soda bottles, can be made into fabric. The process begins when the bottles are put in a bath of high heat so all the labels are stripped away, he says. Then, the plastic is ground into a liquid form and filtered through a sieve that spins the plastic into filaments of yarn. Finally, it’s blended with a man-made fabric, such as polyester, Lycra or spandex, for support and durability.
One of Boardroom’s newest fabrics, Eco-Milliflex, is a stretchy, silky smooth blend of 91% recycled polyester and 9% spandex. While Boardroom would like to offer a garment that’s entirely recycled, Neve says the clothing wouldn’t maintain a high-quality look and feel after multiple wearings and washings without an additive such as spandex.
Neve says it’s Boardroom’s goal to one day offer apparel made from 100% natural fibers – either recycled or organic. “We’re getting closer, and we’ve made great strides toward offering even more environmentally friendly alternatives in just one year,” he says.
Compared to organic apparel, there aren’t as many suppliers offering recycled wearables. Vantage Apparel (asi/93390), for one, now offers a fleece vest made of recycled soda bottles. Within the next decade, however, Neve says the United States will start catching up to the progress his company is seeing in Canada. “It seems Canada is way ahead of the U.S. with this side of the market,” he says, attributing the country’s success to the number of smaller suppliers capable of offering/experimenting with new products, such as EcoRight (asi/51654) and Bishop Garment Co. (asi/40585).
There’s no clear indicator when a price drop will happen. While prices for organic and recycled apparel used to be double what they are today, organic products still cost about 20% to 50% more than conventional cotton and recycled garments up to 8% more than their traditional counterparts, according to suppliers. And despite Neve’s belief that prices will level as demand grows, Bracey says it probably won’t be immediately.
“The demand for organic fiber in 2007 was around 30% more than expected, and in many areas of the world, crop yields were poor due to adverse weather conditions,” Bracey says. If the organic demand grows to the level the NOSB is predicting (another $3.5 billion in 2008), costs will remain high.
Getting the message
Within the last year, Conrad Franey, vice president of Gateway CDI (asi/202815), says he’s become positive about the staying power of all eco-friendly products as supplier after supplier goes green – despite higher costs. Eighteen months ago, however, that wasn’t the case.
When a San Francisco technology company, a client of Gateway CDI, wanted to make all of its online store’s selection eco-friendly, it was Franey’s job to deliver. “The account does north of $3.5 million annually with us, so we jumped,” he says. Yet when he began looking for products, he was disappointed in the lack of selection. “We found that most of the large suppliers had little to nothing to choose from, and what they did have was boring,” he says.
In the last year, however, Franey says many larger suppliers have really ramped up their offerings. But more work and more promotion must be done. “Suppliers need to broaden their offerings and realize end-users want eco-friendly everything,” he says. “Our clients just can’t get enough of the organic/eco-friendly/green initiative and we find this concept is a great way to knock down doors and get appointments with potential customers.”
Allison Fruetel, president of marketing firm Bentley Promotions (asi/137626), is knocking doors down in New England. “Eco-friendliness is a nationwide movement, where people are realizing the importance of recycling, reusing and reducing,” she says. With clients in fields ranging from technology to pharmaceuticals and media, Fruetel says her clients are very eco-conscious.
Really eco-friendly?
Andrea Engel, vice president of merchandising at Broder (asi/42090), says it’s becoming difficult to tell who’s offering “authentic” products and who’s taking shortcuts. And with no single, specific entity available to certify organic or recycled goods as “authentic,” suppliers are creating their own standards. “There will be increased scrutiny placed on organic cotton apparel products and increased government intervention will be needed in order to cut through all the claims made for organic wearing apparel that may not be truly organic,” she says. In 2007, the Federal Trade Commission said it will quickly re-evaluate the guides for green destinations in marketing (last updated in 1998).
In the meantime, the best way for distributors to determine if a supplier is legitimate is to ask for proof of authenticity. For garments and other products made of organic cotton, suppliers should be able to show proof that the cotton was certified organic and that the manufacturing process for making the item was also certified as earth-friendly.
Eco-Friendly Printing
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AMY LUCAS is associate editor for Wearables. Contact: alucas@asicentral.com.
