Organic and Eco-Friendly Products

Eco-friendly Laundry Products

Conventional detergents contain a mixture of chemicals, the most significant of these for the environment being petroleum-derived surfactants, bleaches, colorants, phosphate additives, etc. When the water used in washing laundry is released back into the environment, water and soil is contaminated. For example, surfactants are toxic to aquatic organisms and are highly persistent in the environment.

Bleaches are inherently toxic and also have toxic byproducts as they biodegrade. One type of bleach, sodium hypochlorite, forms hazardous gases and chlorinated organic byproducts. Certain colorants are believed to be associated with adverse health effects in humans, as well as being toxic to aquatic organisms. Phosphate additives create algal blooms that consume the oxygen in bodies of water, killing both marine animals and plants.

Eco-friendly laundry products, such as eco laundry balls, are toxin free, gentle on clothes, and produces grey water.

Maintaining Organic Clothing

Organic clothing is easy to maintain because it has not been damaged by chemical processing. For example, organic cotton is thicker and longer lasting than conventional cotton because the fibres have not been broken down by being subjected to bleach or toxic dyes.

All Ettitude’s organic cotton clothing can be machine washed and dried. No drying is required for their organic clothing, saving not only the environment but time and money. Their organic knit wear should be hand washed in cold water and line dried – which uses less electricity of course. When choosing a laundry detergent it is recommended a non-chlorine bleach earth-friendlier product, decreasing your exposure and your children’s exposure to chemicals.

Organic textiles are also naturally softer so there is no need for fabric softeners- saving you time and money. For example, bamboo fibre  is naturally ultra soft and highly absorbent. Its odor resistance and soil releasing properties means it stays fresher for longer and does not require to be treated with bleach.

Ettitude’s organic baby and children’s clothing is also pre-shrunk to ensure a perfect fit- which means no shrinking or buckling after you wash them.

Sustainable Living

Sustainable living is a lifestyle that attempts to reduce an individual’s use of the Earth’s natural resources. The idea is to live in a manner that is sustainable long-term in relation to the planet’s cycles and resources. Sustainability is a concept concerned with meeting present ecological, societal and economical needs without compromising these factors for future generations.

Sustainable living has been described for this century as ’shifting to a renewable energy-based, reuse/recycle economy with a diversified transport system’. Two factors related to achieving sustainable living include sustainable design and sustainable development. Sustainable design refers to the development of appropriate technology for creating sustainable living practices. Appropriate technologies could include the development of carbon sequestration, wind power, solar power, non-fossil fuel cars and so on. Sustainable development is the use of these green technologies in infrastructure.

One way to increase the sustainability of one’s lifestyle is to use eco-friendly, non-toxic and organic products and clothing.

Eco-Friendly Products

Ettitude produces a range of eco-friendly, affordable and unique products ranging from baby and children’s organic clothing to luxury towels. Their collection of baby clothing redesigns the basics in 100% organic cotton to be modern, practical, stylish, low-maintenance, durable and often multi-functional: from T-shirts to rompers, pants, sleepsuits, beanies and blankets.

Ettitude also offers a range of bamboo fibre bed and bath products that are highly absorbent, anti-static, hypo allergenic, incredibly soft and silky, and 100% biodegradable. These include hand towels, face towels, kitchen towels, bath towels, quilt cover sets and sheet sets.

Then there is their range of eco laundry products that are tough on dirt but gentle on your clothes and the planet. They remove stains, thoroughly wash and soften clothes, but contain no chemicals. Their laundry balls not only last for 1000 washes (approximately 3 years if you wash every day), but are refillable so you don’t need to throw them away. Their laundry balls, dryer balls and stain sticks are toxin free so the washing water can be used as grey water.

The Organic Movement

The movement is based on a set of ideas involving the promotion of healthy food, human and animal health, and environmental sustainability. The movement can be seen both as a rejection of modern methods of farming and food production (involving fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides) or a return to traditional / peasant agriculture. The founders of the organic movement perceived it as the latter, or a positive acceptance of the ‘natural order’.

It is seen as establishing a virtuous circle that nourishes the soil to produce healthy food. This is known as the ‘Rule of Return’ where the soil’s fertility should be maintained by humans returning wastes to enrich the humus content. As a result, the movement was concerned not only with healthy food and agricultural methods, but also human nutrition, sewage disposal and rural life.

Origins of the Movement

The movement took place in the context of “agricultural depression” in the interwar years within the United States, where financial capitalism was blamed and Marxism also rejected (Philip Conford, 2001, ‘The Origins of the Organic Movement’).  The third way it established was a mixture of both social aims for stability and economic goals based on agriculture rather than industry.

The movement gained popularity during the 1940s through publications (e.g, The Land Quaterly) and the establishment of organisations such as Friends of the Land, which at one point had over 10 000 members. While this movement gained momentum, other alternatives put forward at the time did not fare so well. These included distributism, regional socialism, Tolstoyan anarchism, social credit and guild socialism. By the 1950s national interest in the issues of soil fertility, water and food quality as well as the sanctity of nature were to decline.

Although interest died off for about two decades, the 1970s showed a revival in concern for the environment. This activism took place in the context on increasing social ferment at the height of the Cold War, with protests over nuclear developments and the Vietnam War. However, this new generation would be motivated by principles of ecology rather than more socialist concerns.