slowmo news 05 | 15
Friday, May 22, 2015Hurray!
The 5th anniversary of the Malzwiese festival taking place at the Malzfabrik is titled „Die Wiese JUBELT!“
slowmo has been part of this wonderful event with music, food and a nice market of sustainable goods since the beginning in 2010. We will bring a small selection of shirts and knits and are looking forward to seeing you there, spend a nice summer day together and enjoy the festival. Following our slowmo motto „care for what you wear“ we will also present a limited edition of slowmo products!
For all those who will not be able to come by: there will be a chance to get the limited edition in our webshop as long as stock lasts.
When: June, 6th, starting at noon, free entry ||| Wo: Malzfabrik, Bessemer Str. 2-14
slowmag:
The new slowmag is here!
For all those who don't speak German: get friends to help you in translating! It contains great articles all about the lifestyle of health and sustainability but is only available in German. You can find all details in the German version of this newsletter.
Organic Cotton
Cotton, the white gold.
Cotton is probably the most well known and most often used natural fiber; soft, hard-wearing and with a high ability of moisture regain.
These characteristics make cotton an excellent fiber for clothing. It's success story started only 251 years ago with the invention of the „Spinning Jenny“.
Cotton became suitable for large-scale production, because it was now able to be worked with industrially and therefore at lower costs. Step by step other fibers like linen, hemp or wool vanished.
The consequences of this development on our environment, working conditions and society got more and more visible just in the last few years.
In comparison to other crops cotton needs a lot of water. 2,2lb of cotton need depending on the clime between 22,000lb and 64,000lb of water.
Water that also transports all poisonous substances sputtered on the plants into the ground water. And there are more toxins on cotton than on any other cultivated crop.
The natural cycle of nature gets manipulated in order to raise the profits. The perennials are only planted for one season and in a monoculture. The harvest gets speeded up through highly toxic defoliants. The lack of nutritive substances in the dirt caused by monoculture is compensated through chemical fertilizers which make the plant more prone to insects. More insecticides and pesticides are being used.
In order to have a better control crops are often genetically modified. The market is being controlled by monopolists like Monsanto.
It remains to be seen what the consequences will be for our future. It is a fact though, that a system has been established, that ruins millions of farmers and leads to a high rate of suicide. It is no longer possible to get the money needed for expensive crops, fertilizers, insecticides and pesticides with these often times bad and inferior yields.
We should notice that this does not only have an impact on the farmers and their surrounding latest when we wear cotton clothing. The toxical substances remain in the fibers and get transported into our body through the skin. Consumers can not find out if the crop of the cotton used has been genetically modified.
But: cosumers have the choice: organic cotton is the alternative.
Organic farming preserves variety and proscribes genetic engineering. The well-tried way of planting in a three season rythm allows the earth to recover and obviates therefore elutriation and erosion. The other cultivated crops like sunflower and beans are also used to reduce insects and create an additional income for the farmers.
Organic fertilizers bind nitrogen instead of ejecting it. Eutrophic grounds are able to bind more water and so the usage can be reduced. Organic farming costs less, often brings more income because of the high quality fibers and supplies toxic free cotton for the consumer.
We will report in an article about colors, dying, printing and finishing why this does not necessarily mean toxic free garments.