Natural Fashion | Review
I only recently discovered Natural Fashion (link removed at the request of Natural Fashion), an Australian wholesaler of certified organic cotton products. Looking around their site, you can see that they have a lot on offer. Along with a large range of organic cotton clothes (for men, women, and children) they also sell homewares (such as rugs, blankets, bedding, and cushions), and a great range of organic soft toys.
A few weeks back, Doug from Natural Fashion sent me a sample top (pictured) to try out and review so here goes (permission to display the relevant photo was rescinded by Natural Fashion and was therefore removed):
Organic Cotton T-Shirt Review
- Over the last year I’ve tried quite a few organic cotton t-shirts and have always found the fabric to be very soft, this t-shirt is no exception. I wouldn’t go as far as to say it’s softer than regular cotton but it’s soft nonetheless.
- I washed the t-shirt in 30 degree water (as I now do with all my clothes) and it came out clean and in good condition, as you would expect.
- I know it’s not very environmentally friendly but I put it in the dryer to dry. It dried fairly quickly and didn’t seem to shrink so no complaints there.
- The main reason I like to dry my clothes in the dryer is so I don’t have to iron them. I usually take the clothes out of the dryer and hang them up immediately without ironing them. With t-shirts, you can usually get by doing that, but not with shirts unfortunately, which probably explains why I don’t have many shirts in my wardrobe. Anyway, I got the iron out of storage especially and found this t-shirt to be easy enough to iron, even for me.
- My main complaint about this t-shirt and others available from Natural Fashion is the colour. I know it’s natural but I would never wear this, it just doesn’t suit my skin tone. I’m sure some people won’t mind, and will even like the colours available, but it’s not for me. I’m sure they could find some natural dyes to broaden their range and customer base.
- The other slight negative is the design. The above design is something my grandmother might wear, not anyone I know around my age (30ish). Out of all the designs shown on the site, there are 2 maybe 3 which I might consider wearing, though of course, not in the existing colour range.
So as far as the feel of the garment and the quality goes, I’m happy to recommend Natural Fashion’s organic clothing, but I hope to see some improvements in the colours and styles available in the future.
Update I
It seems that the guys at Natural Fashion aren’t too happy about this review. In fact, the tone of their emails to me suggests they are bloody pissed off. They even went to the trouble of highlighting, in red, all the negative comments I made, ignoring all the positive things I had to say, of course. What I wrote is too negative and unbalanced for their liking. What do you think?
They pointed out that I made a comment about my Grandmother in a review I wrote about their organic toys as well. I hadn’t even realised I’d done that. Something about their products must remind me of her, don’t know why ;). Admittedly, I probably could and should have left that comment out.
For the record, I have nothing against the colours of their clothing; it is natural fashion after all. These colours are just not to my liking and don’t suit me.
I never said their designs are rubbish, that only someone over 70 would wear them or that they are bland. I didn’t say that and I’m NOT saying that. The designs are fine, just not to my liking. Doug at Natural Fashion tells me their designs are trendy and contemporary but that is not my opinion.
You know, if you are going to ask someone to review a product for you, you have to accept what they have to say. Should I have written a glowing review just because they sent me a free t-shirt or because they are paying for banner advertising (the banner on the right sidebar) or because they are considering giving me 10% commission on clothing sales from my site? I don’t think so.
If I loved their designs I would have said so. I have mentioned Tonic T-shirts numerous times on this site because I love their organic t-shirts. Their clothing is my style. I love the colours and I love the designs and I won’t hesitate to say so and to link to them even though I am not affiliated with them in any way whatsoever. They didn’t even send me a free t-shirt. I mentioned that it would be nice if they had more designs and now a few months later, they have. Surely that’s the value in reviews. You get to find out what your customers want and then give them want they want.
I’m flattered that Doug thinks hundreds of people will read this review and that my opinion has the power to dissuade people from purchasing their products. I like to think that my visitors are intelligent enough to make up their own minds about what they do and do not like. The purpose of this website is to show people where they can buy organic products in Australia and overseas. It is not my role to try to convince people to buy certain products from certain suppliers. I’m just trying to point out where to find products and then it’s up to them if they want to buy something or not.
This post was never meant to be a sales page; it’s just a review which is purely my personal opinion. It’s up to everyone else to make up their own minds about Natural Fashion.
Update II
If Natural Fashion isn’t to your liking you could try Shirts of Bamboo. They have a great range of organic and bamboo clothing. The fabric is super soft and their clothes come in a wide variety of designs and colours. For more information see:
More Organic Articles
16 Comments so far
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Hey! Great post. I also found an interesting shirt that I posted about: http://www.luxemix.com/luxe_mix/2007/02/floss_a_tee_and.html
Well I think their range of items is not so bad - I actually saw a few that I wouldn’t mind buying if they came in different colours (yes, charcoal or aubergine would be nice, or even a soft green). I just can’t wear those natural colours. But then there is a whole brigade of people who can, and I can see them going for the styles as well - even the young ones.
Your choice of Tonic T-shirts shows you have a very different style, so maybe you should have just declined their offer and sent the T-shirt back, or else reviewed it for washability and feel and simply said “It’s not really my style or colour, but it feels good and washes well”.
However, their reaction was incredibly unreasonable. It’s not rocket science to find their site, and the publicity from having behaved in such an aggressive manner cannot do them any favours. They could have simply posted a reply saying “Come on! There are plenty of people who like the colour and it’s not all grandmothers who are buying them” Maybe that’s not true?
It’s a good lesson - next time don’t review it if you don’t like it, or else do your reviews with no financial strings attached.
Hi Helen,
I agree that they have some nice things such as the jeans and a couple of the plain t-shirts but others are much less appealing, for example, the dresses; I don’t know who would wear them.
I also agree that it would have been advantageous for them to post a comment stating why they thought I was wrong or why they believe so strongly in only making their clothes in the natural colour etc. I asked them to leave a comment but obviously they didn’t.
I’m not sure I would say there were financial strings attached to the review. The deal with the banner ad and the review were separate, as far as I’m concerned, but there is clearly some conflict of interest. That’s why I won’t be accepting any products for review in the future, as stated in my updated About page.
Thanks for taking the time to comment, it’s much appreciated.
Now I had to go and check out the dresses - hadn’t noticed them before. The first one I saw was on the front page - ‘quite nice’ I thought, and definitely not grandma material. But then I saw two more further down, and I agree - you have to wonder about their designer. I quite liked the one with the bright yellow flowers on it, if they’d left the sleeves white - that’s something that I could wear. So you can see how different my taste is from yours!
But I suppose that it’s like any commercial enterprise. Their customers will tell them with their wallets if they like their designs. We’re not going to buy from them (although I did see something really nice that looked like pyjamas that I wouldn’t mind wearing at home), but I know I’ve seen people out there who would be buying them. If we notice designs dropping off their website, we’ll know there weren’t enough of them. Good idea not to do any more of these.
Heya - it strikes me that Doug needs to get a clue. You are absolutely right to point out what you like and don’t like about their products, and he’s silly for requesting you remove the link and the photo.
Without the link I’m not inclined to even visit the site, and the photo would have given me a much better idea of the product you tried so I could make my own judgement.
As things stand, I’m not inclined to even bother checking out the site, or purchasing from them. Crazy, crazy, crazy…
Perhaps he should send a free sample to your grandmother
Yeah, I do think they acted hastily by asking for the links and photos to be removed but it’s too late now…
It’s a shame they acted the way they did when it could have all been resolved by them leaving a comment or two.
Thanks for your comment, it’s great to hear what other people think about the situation.
We would love a straight up review of our ‘Certton’ Australian made from Australian grown certified organic cotton t-shirt range!
We’re on a mission to build a sustainable Australian organic cotton farming industry, and yes our farmer in NSW grows the ACO certified organic cotton in our ts on a dryland non irrigated farm. We’ve been in business for 3 years and strive for quality and colour - the fact that we use Australian certified organic cotton is a huge bonus. Let us know what you think http://www.ocadvantage.com.au
Nick - you wanted a review, you got it!
Organic Cotton Advantage
Isnt a review meant to be an honest thing? not just talking about the goodthings and thats it? well done!!!
Yeah, it’s just my honest opinion, nothing to get annoyed about. Thanks for your support Amanda.
How strange, i was just researching natural fashion and i came upon this forum. I am currently collaborating the a natural fashion promoter (directly in Brazil) concerning their designs. I was contacted by them earlier this month for my eco line “Vestis Green” but to be honest i was put off by their designs. Why does eco clothing have to be so boring???? hence to say i will outright design a whole collection myself, use their fab techniques and fabric but the pieces will be under the vestis green lable, so if you feel like trying out Vestis Green let me know.
By the way you didn’t comment on their weaving which is amazing.
BeBradley
That sounds great, will your collection be available in Australia?
Hi
At present no, but we do sell over the internet worldwide. As the lable is pretty new, we are trying to expand here in Europe but we are open for any offers.
The collection (produced through Natural Fashion) will be available as of September, nevertheless our current collection was produced here in Italy using recycled textiles from the prato area. Have a look at the site and if you like the style forward me your contact details so i can dispatch you a sample.
Kind regards
BeBradley
Just out of curiosity, why did natural organic request you remove the link to their site?
Most people would do the opposite these days!
Sorry, ‘Natural Fashion’ not organic! oops.
I believe it was because they didn’t like my review of their clothes