The Alexander Report

By Ron Maier Jr.

The call for organic products is increasing rapidly as consumers become more conscious of the foods they eat, the products they use, and even the clothes they wear. Not only are customers concerned about supporting the right organizations to help the environment, but they are also concerned about harmful pesticides that can harm themselves, their children, and the rest of the planet’s ecosystems. In the recent past, such organic or earth friendly clothing was more like new age, yoga wear rather than something the average person could wear to work or out on the town. Now, organic clothing companies are targeting a much more mainstream market, providing things like business suits, organic blue jeans, dress shoes, and stiletto heals. Regardless of the motivation of today’s earth friendly buyers, now they don’t have to sacrifice fashion at the same time.

The greatest cause of this organic clothing trend is organic cotton. It makes up 95% of these new organic fabrics, and the sales of this cotton have grown to almost $600 million in the last couple of years. Organic cotton is expected to be a 2 to 3 billion dollar industry by 2009. Regardless of these staggering numbers, organic cotton still only makes up 1% of the cotton produced world wide, so clothing designers are testing out other fabric materials such as soy, hempsilk, and bamboo and are having some great successes.

Some of the biggest clothing retailers are already beginning to follow these environmental trends, like Target, Nike, and Wal-Mart. In fact, Wal-Mart is in the top five brands to use the most organic cotton globally. Now why would this major retail powerhouse spend the extra money and resources trying to shift to more organic materials in its clothing line? The answer is simple. Wal-Mart wants to be the first to shift because they know that eventual the consumers will too. The fact is, clothing will shift to a more eco-friendly production. Enough people are beginning to understand how much this can impact our world’s economies, environment, and health, that organic production will be the way of the future.

So consider beginning to shift some of the products on your clothes hangers and racks to more organic materials. Many customers are very interested in the organic option for clothes, and with the new organic fashions coming out constantly, they will most certainly begin to buy organic clothing regularly. Some may say that this a shift that is still far on the horizon, but why not show your customers that you care about their health and the sustainability of our planet?

About the Author: Ron Maier is the owner of OnlyHangers, a leading provider of clothing hangers and decorative clothes hangers. For more information, please visit http://www.onlyhangers.com.