Cotton clothes the world, but its popularity has come at a high price. Cotton requires massive quantities of water, herbicides and pesticides to grow well. It's often grown in marginal areas and forced to produce with irrigation and chemicals. Much of this occurs in developing countries with lax environmental and workplace standards. Cotton alone accounts for 25% of all agricultural chemicals used globally and is also one of the most genetically modified crops grown.

Organic Cotton uses far fewer and less-toxic chemicals in its cultivation, though it still requires a great deal of water. Any cotton Tee we sell, either 100% or a blend, uses organic cotton and we try to ensure that it's U.S. grown. Our favourite organic cotton Tees are made in the USA by T.S. Designs, who also print them. Not only do T.S. Designs make a great Tee, but they're also a very ethically and environmentally conscious company.

Organic Cotton for T-shirts

Organic Cotton really exhibits no differences in feel and wear from an equivalent grade of conventional cotton. It requires no special care beyond what you would normally do for conventional cotton clothing. Our REHANCE dyed T-shirts will not shrink.

T.S. Designs and Clothing Facts

We've chosen T.S. Designs™ for all of our Organic Cotton Tees. They're quality is excellent and best of all, they're manufactured sweatshop-free in the U.S.A. by a company that truly cares about the environment. You can learn more about them and their amazing REHANCE water-based dye printing process here, or you can visit their website.

The Ugly Side of Conventional Cotton

We'll soon be adding more information and resource links to illustrate the problems with conventional cotton production. In the meantime, please look at these videos posted in the Forum portion of the Artevist website. They'll make you think twice about your next cotton purchase.

• India's Cottony Pesticide Cloud
• More Cotton Woes

We Prefer Unbleached Tees

Unbleached Tees are so much better for the environment. Very few natural fibres are pure white, and even the finest cottons exhibit a yellowish tone and colour variations. Pure white is a product of fashion and only possible with the use of chemical bleaches and large quantities of water.

However, it wouldn't be fair to deny artists a pure white canvass for their work, so some of our Tees may be pure white. We want to keep it to a minimum and encourage artists to design with off-white in mind, or any one of the large variety of T-shirt colours available.