Beware! Pesticides, toxic fluorescent agents, formaldehyde... may remain on your clothes.
The pesticides used in planting clothing materials, as well as the harmful chemicals used in the refining, bleaching, dyeing, color fixing, and shaping processes of clothing, may remain on the clothing and be absorbed by the human skin, leading to allergies, or even poisoning and cancer.
Cotton, the most common raw material for clothing, accounts for about 3% of all farmland globally, but it accounts for 25% of the pesticides used in its production. According to the World Health Organization, tens of thousands of people die each year from pesticide poisoning. Therefore, for the health of you and your family, consider purchasing more organic clothing. Certified organic clothing does not use pesticides or harmful chemicals in its production and processing, effectively avoiding harm to the human body.
Why can organic cotton protect your health?
Organic cotton is cotton grown and harvested using nationally regulated organic farming methods. According to the US USDA organic standards, organic cotton must meet the following conditions:
To choose the right organic clothing, you need to know:
When purchasing organic clothing, remember to check whether the garment has a valid organic certification label. GOTS is a commonly used certification label for organic clothing.
GOTS Global Organic Textile Standard:
The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) is widely recognized as the world’s leading standard for organic fiber textile processing. This certification ensures that organic textiles fully comply with regulations from harvesting, raw materials, processing, to final product packaging and sale. All substances used must meet the following basic requirements in terms of toxicity and biodegradability: they must not contain toxic heavy metals, must not contain formaldehyde, and must be non-GMO products.
The cost behind discarding a piece of clothing
Statistics show that over 110,000 tons of textiles are discarded in Hong Kong annually, equivalent to about 1,400 T-shirts thrown away every minute—enough to cover 25,000 Hong Kong Stadiums. On average, 16% of Hong Kong residents’ clothing is rarely worn each year, amounting to a waste of HK$3.9 billion (data from Greenpeace website). Indiscriminate clothing purchases not only waste money but also exacerbate deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, the toxic chemicals used in clothing manufacturing pollute water sources and land, damaging the environment and harming human health. Therefore, this center urges everyone to adopt the habit of buying only what you need, choosing durable and timeless clothing, and effectively recycling discarded clothing to reduce waste and protect our planet.
