Category Archives: Ethical Clothing

What is Cotton in Conversion?

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Cotton in conversion or transitional cotton, is cotton which is on a journey to being organic.

Organic cotton is grown under strict regulations, such as no use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides or genetically modified organisms, which allows it to be certified as organic.

Selvedge of organic fabric

Organic cotton must be grown on land which is clear of these chemicals for usually 3 years.  Historically, this meant that farmers couldn’t use the chemicals when growing cotton, for 3 years, but would only be able to charge for standard cotton prices.  Cotton in conversion is a bridge which allows farmers to charge an intermediate price while they are converting from conventional farming to organic farming. 

The demand for organic cotton fibres in the clothing industry is rapidly growing so the conversion process is essential for meeting the future demands.

If you would like more information on organic clothing please contact us here

Clothing from Flour Sacks

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I was talking to a group of ladies at a local sewing group and they told me all about how women used to repurpose flour sacks into dresses and clothes in the 1930’s during the great depression, when money was very tight.

The flour companies heard this was going on so they decided to start printing the flour sacks with patterns so that the clothing looked pretty. Some of them even came printed with instructions which would then wash out. You can read more about this and see images here.

When the clothes wore out, the fabric was reused again by being cut up and used for quilts.  When the 2nd world war began cotton was rationed for soldier’s uniforms so flour was packaged in paper bags and still is today.

At Impact Trading and Cotton Roots, we manufacture aprons and we have made them for customers from coffee sacks. Another great way to upcycle waste fabric. You can order coffee sack aprons from here.