We occasionally receive emails and calls from people who are
confused, concerned, dismayed, and even irritated about the cost of organic and
natural clothing. This is a touchy point
that often comes up in the organic industry – clothing and also vegetables,
fruit, skin care, and everything that can bear an organic label. We truly do understand people’s concern and
irritation at the perceived high cost of some organic and natural clothing.
On their web site, Wal-Mart sells a Ribbed Tank with Ribbon Trim made from conventionally-grown cotton and manufactured by Faded Glory for $3.00 + 97 cents for shipping. At LotusOrganics.com, we must charge $24.00 for our naturally clay-dyed Peace Tank manufactured from 55% hemp and 45% organic cotton made by Earth Creations and our shipping is free.
Like most new and emerging industries, small companies and “mom and pop” stores are working hard to build the organic and sustainable clothing market. Small companies lack the size and buying muscle to achieve economies of scale that drive prices lower. But the organic and sustainable clothing industry is about more than achieving Wal-Mart’s “always low prices”; it is also about ethics and sustainability and doing what is right for workers, consumers and the planet.
But all the fuzzy feel good issues aside, how can Wal-Mart charge only $3 for a conventionally-grown, manufactured and hand-sewn women’s cotton tank top while LotusOrganics.com charges $24? The reasons are many, complex, and vary according to a large shopping bag of factors. Let’s examine some of the most common and significant factors that affect the price of organic clothing. These are not in any particular order.
- Organic cotton is more expensive to grow than conventional,
chemically drenched and unsustainable cotton. At first blush, you might think that organic should be less expensive to
grow because organic doesn’t use expensive GMO seeds, expensive petroleum-based
fertilizers, or expensive toxic herbicides and pesticides like conventionally
grown crops and cottons. But organically
grown crops still must contend with weeds and fight devouring insects and this
all costs money … actually more money than conventional chemical methods which
is why conventional methods use all those toxic and deadly chemicals.
- Organic cotton is more expensive to harvest. To reduce harvesting costs and improve cotton
yields, conventional cotton harvesting uses a variety of harvest-aids such as
spraying cotton fields with chemicals like thidiazuron to defoliate cotton
plants by removing mature and juvenile leaves to facilitate machine harvesting,
suppress growth of new plant leaves, desiccants containing pyraflufen ethyl,
carfentrazon, dimethipin, paraquat, and glyphosate to kill and dry leaves remaining
on the cotton plants and weeds after chemical defoliation, and chemicals
containing the active ingredient ethephon to accelerate the opening of the
cotton bolls. Organic cotton harvesting
is done without the use of these chemical harvest-aids and is more labor
intensive resulting in higher harvest costs.
- Organic fabrics are more expensive to manufacture. Because of the relatively small quantities of
cotton involved, it is more expensive to gin, clean and manufacture organic
cotton fabric. Almost all organic cotton
fabric is manufactured in facilities that also process and manufacture conventional
cotton fabrics from conventionally grown chemical cotton. But, before the organic cotton can be
processed in these facilities, all the cotton gins and weaving and knitting
machines must be cleaned of all residues from the processing of the
conventional cotton. Of course, the
facility owners add the additional costs for this cleaning and equipment
downtime to the production costs for the organic fabrics. This all contributes to driving up the costs for
producing organic cotton fabrics.
- Organic garments are more expensive to manufacture for many
reasons. Some of them relate to the
relatively small size of the organic clothing market and the need to frequently
share manufacturing facilities with conventional clothing. Like the manufacturing process, all sewing
machines and work areas must be cleaned of conventional garments and
contaminants before being used for sewing organic garments.
But there is another more significant factor why much conventional clothing is so inexpensive – cheap labor that often borders near being sweatshop or indentured. We have written several articles on the social pollution of sweatshops in the garment industry. Basically, most large clothing retailers contract with many dozens of clothing manufacturing facilities scattered in developing countries around the world. Many of these facilities exploit the poorest and most desperate workers and pay pennies a day to workers who sew long hours under appalling conditions to make those cheap, inexpensive shirts, pants and undergarments that fill the large, mega stores in our home towns and shopping malls.
Faded Glory, who manufactures those $3 rib knit cotton tank tops for Wal-Mart,
has been implicated by the National Labor Committee of using desperately poor
women and child labor working as much as 13 hours per day and 7 days per week
at a base wage of 13 cents per hour in sweatshops in Nicaragua and other poor
countries. Think about it! How can a company buy the fabric and
materials, hire workers to sew the garments with a scoop neck accented by a
satin bow and with ribbon-woven crochet trim around the neckline and armholes
and a frill edge hem, ship them to a U.S. port, truck them to stores across the
country, pay retail workers and building expenses, have a little profit for Wall Street, and only charge $3 for a tank
top? You can be sure that very little of
that $3 is going to the garment workers who did the sewing. And how many can a garment worker cut and sew
in an hour for a few pennies each? 
Fair trade and fair pay for workers are important cornerstones of the organic
and natural clothing industry and significantly add to the cost of organic and
fair trade apparel. Also, natural
clothing companies such as Earth
Creations and Blue Canoe
manufacture in the U.S. and
pay fair wages plus benefits in an attempt to revive the deceased U.S. garment
manufacturing industry. - Organic garments are more expensive to ship to distributors, retailers and customer. This isn’t because they are organic, but because the market size is so much smaller. Wal-Mart, Gap, J.Crew and the other large retail chains can deliver a large trailer load of clothes to their stores at significantly lower per-garment prices than it costs to FedEx a box or two of organic clothes to your local organic clothing store.
- Organic clothing retailers find it more expensive to advertise and market. The huge retail chains can use their enormous marketing budgets and muscle to get the most cost-effective advertising. This, also, is really a small store vs. enormous chain store issue but it figures into the perception of organic clothing being more expensive than conventional clothing.
Organic growers, manufacturers and retailers lack the mass
buying power and the economies of scale found in the large retail chains. Trade organizations such as Co-op America, Organic Trade Association, Soil Association, Green People, and a growing number of
non-profit organizations are helping promote, expand, advertise and market
organic and sustainable clothing and apparel. Their help is hugely appreciated.
Although we have frequently mentioned cotton, the same factors are generally also true for other natural fibers such as hemp, bamboo, wool, soya, corn and the growing number of other natural fibers being used to manufacture natural and healthy fabrics.
An inconvenient truth is that organic and all-natural clothing will always be more expensive than conventional, chemical clothing. The good news is that the price gap will continue to shrink as the market size of organic clothing grows and the economies of scale improve. Doing what is right is not always easy … or cheap, sometimes. But, as Dumbledore counseled Harry Potter, “It’s not our abilities, but our choices that define who we are.”
Don’t worry. No one is growing fat or wealthy from selling organic and all natural clothing. We all wish that everyone could easily afford all the organic, sustainable and healthy clothing that they need and we are working toward that end. But it will only happen by all us working together and supporting each other. The blog Organicasm has posted "How to Get Great Deals on Organic Clothing" to help consumers make the best use of their eco-dollars. Check it out.
Enjoy.
Michael
LotusOrganics.com
Where purely beautiful & healthy clothing is only natural