While the national trend of organic clothes is increasing, Athens store owners are saying that small budgets are forcing students to find other ways to be environmentally friendly.
Ashley Hansford, manager of Artifacts Gallery, 2 W. State St., said that she sells a few organic cotton T-shirts in her store, but the cost keeps eco-clothes from becoming popular in Athens.
Organic clothes are too expensive for college and local budgets
Hansford said. People here are hard-pressed to spend the $18 I charge for a T-shirt made of organic cotton.
Bamboo U is a small T-shirt company that makes eco-clothing for college-aged women. The company's T-shirts cost $30 and are made from 70 percent bamboo and 30 percent organic cotton, which are made without the chemicals that go into other T-shirts.
It takes about 1/3 of a pound synthetic fertilizer to produce the cotton that goes into one T-shirt Jeff Fuller, owner of Bamboo U said. We don't use any of that.
Although bamboo T-shirts are made by the same process of cotton shirts, they are more expensive than other shirts because of the cost of shipping and because Bamboo U uses water-based ink, which is environmentally friendly but harder to use.
Water based ink costs about twice what plastisol (the ink used on most clothes) does Fuller said.
The trend of sustainable clothes might not be catching on in Athens, but Molly Shea, a junior environmental geography major who works in the Office of Sustainability said Athens practices eco-friendliness in another way - thrift store shopping.
Thrift stores are incredibly eco-friendly
Shea said. They don't create any new waste and avoid the waste stream from processing. Even biodegradable clothes don't do that.
Shea added that there are a number of large thrift stores in the Athens area and they are very popular among residents, making Athens an environmentally friendly place.
People in Athens may not be able to afford organic clothing but they are definitely eco-friendly because they reuse
Shea said.
Wendy Jakmas, a member of the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce also said she thinks the lack of eco-clothing doesn't mean Athens is less than eco-friendly, but the city will discuss becoming more environmentally conscious at their meeting next week.
College kids keep us in the loop
but the economy is driving everything right now
Jakmas said. Athens is eco-friendly
but we are working on more.
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