You can design your own organic cotton t-shirts at Custom Your Shirt, an Australian printing company based in New South Wales. You just upload your design, choose the product you want to print on, and place your order. Products available for printing include:

• Australian made organic t-shirts
• Regular cotton t-shirts
• Polo shirts
• Hoodies
• Aprons
• Mouse Pads
• Mugs

I love this kind of website where you can easily design your own products or gifts. It’s very similar to Cafe Press which I’ve used a number of times before.  The benefit of Custom Your Shirt is that they have a larger range of organic t-shirts and they are made of Australian organic cotton. Here’s what the have to say about their organic cotton t-shirts:

Grown in Australia organically and with no irrigation. Certified organic (ACO 10305ic). This certified organic cotton are farmed without the use of pesticides,  genetically modified seed or synthetic fertilizers.  The soil is built up over the years to retain moisture and fungus enabling the organic cotton to prosper on a dry land (non irrigated) farm.

The other environmental benefit is that transportation is reduced when purchasing from an Australian company. I’m pleased to see a local company doing this kind of thing.

Visit their site to make your own Australian made organic t-shirts.

Urban Baby is an online shop providing a wide range of items for you and your baby. They are currently having their annual Summer Sale with items between 20% and 60% off the regular price.

The sale covers:

• Fashion
• Homewares
• Toys
• and more…

Items on sale include the Gaia organic cotton clothing range.

Visit Urban Baby now as stocks are limited.

While writing my review of Organic Cotton Advantage, I came across Huggalugs, a company which uses OCA’s organic cotton to manufacture some of their fatalistic children’s clothing.

Huggalugs is a fun and funky baby, children’s and maternity clothing label. All Huggalugs products are designed to hug little ones in colour and are made in Australia using high quality materials, such as Australian grown organic cotton and superfine Australian Merino wool.

They specialise in Leg Huggers (or leg warmers if you prefer) which are so cute. Really adorable! They come in loads of different colours and designs. The range of Leg and Arm Huggers are:

Designed to keep little legs and arms warm at all times:

• under pants or under skirts
• no pants or no skirts
• just a nappy or no nappy
• under tops, over tops or no tops at all

Huggalugs super funky Huggers will keep little legs and arms covered, protecting them from the elements and hard surfaces.

Huggalugs also sell:

• T-shirts
• Wraps
• Blankets
• Bump Huggers

Their products look great so check their site or visit one of their stockists.

Nick from Organic Cotton Advantage asked me to review his website promoting their Certton organic cotton t-shirts so I’ll start by quoting his comment:

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.

To start with, I’m pretty impressed that he would ask for a review after reading the negative review I made about Natural Fashion. However, I can understand why he’s clearly not worried about what I have to say - he has a great looking site, which is easy to navigate, full of information about organic cotton and their products. The Organic Cotton Advantage site shows off their simple organic cotton t-shirts which are proudly made in Australia.

What’s to like about Organic Cotton Advantage?

• Their products are Australian made and the company is Australian owned.
• The cotton is certified organic meaning it’s produced without the use of pesticides, genetically modified seed, and synthetic fertilisers.
• The t-shirts come in a wide range of colours, all of which are appealing.
• They sell organic cotton fabric by the roll which is fantastic for manufacturers.
• You can buy directly from their website or from one of the many stockists.

I’m going to be really picky and say one negative thing about their site. What’s with the use of American English throughout the site? They make a special point of mentioning they are an Australian company and are ‘Australia’s Organic Cotton Specialists’ and then they use American spelling and terms like cell rather than mobile phone. Ok, it’s not a big deal, it’s just a little strange that’s all.

I almost bought a few of the Certton t-shirts, just to check them out, but was put of by the international shipping rate which was more than the cost of one t-shirt. That’s not their fault of course, it’s my fault for living in France! I’ll definitely get some when I’m back in Australia - they look great.

Organic cotton clothing and homewares are becoming more readily available in Australia and you can now find a great range at Gaiam. Gaiam is an American company which promotes apparel, homewares, health and fitness equipment, and DVDs. Their Australian website has this to say:

Gaiam is involved in the marketing of a range of products defined as LOHAS…Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability… through direct mail and supplying retail stores. The brand connects strongly with the trend towards inner health; beauty and harmony; and concern for resource protection and conservation. Gaiam brings our customers a range encompassing a healthy and harmonious lifestyle and this is a perfect fit with the profile of the needs of our customers.

Organic Clothing

Organic cotton clothing available at Gaiam:

• yoga pants and tops
• t-shirts
• hooded jackets
• organic socks
• underwear
• sleepwear
• bathrobes

Organic Homewares

Organic cotton homewares from Gaiam include:

• bedding
• blankets
• throws
• towels

They have a lot on offer and prices look reasonable so Gaiam could be a good option for your organic cotton needs. If you don’t see anything you like there you could go for bamboo clothing instead, which is a personal favourite of mine.

Daisy Blossom is a Victoria based company with a great range of organic cotton baby wear. They sell Under The Nile baby clothes which are made of 100% organic Egyptian cotton. The range includes:

• baby body suits
• kimonos
• long sleeve snap tops
• side snap pants
• side snap layette set
• footies
• flannel rompers
• mittens (these are gorgeous)
• blankets

The range is very cute, with lots of colours and designs to choose from. Prices start at $21 so they’re affordable and they currently have a deal where postage (within Australia) is included.

Most of us are aware of the wasteful nature of plastic bags and the damage they can do to the environment and especially to marine wildlife. Taking your own reusable bag to the supermarket is fairly common place and sometimes essential with certain supermarkets banning plastic bags.

I live fairly close to the supermarket so I walk there with one of those trolleys which you see old ladies pulling around (apologies to any old ladies reading this) which I can’t remember what they’re called. Yeah, it’s a bit embarrassing but when you’ve got a lot of stuff to carry it’s indispensable.

Of course, sometimes I just buy a few items on my way home and so use a little fold up bag which I carry in my handbag. It folds up to around 10cm by 5cm making it ideal for carrying with me at all times. It can take a fair amount of stuff and these days, I couldn’t live without it. It is getting a bit scruffy though so I’m thinking to replace it with an organic cotton tote bag. One that would fold up to fit in my pocket would be perfect but I am yet to find one like that.

Organic Cotton Tote Bags

If you are looking for an organic cotton tote bag you can try these two sites.

• Earth Tote Bags have a handful of different tote bags which would carry an awful lot (they look huge) but are not exactly what I’m looking for. A bag like that is just too big and not suitable for doing the shopping. On the other hand it would be great for taking to the beach so if that’s what you are looking for then these bags would be ideal. They also sell hemp bags and organic cotton string bags which look a bit more versatile.
• Justsite has a 100% organic cotton canvas tote bag which I really like although it only comes in khaki and I would much rather have one in black.

I might have to keep looking until I find exactly what I want. What kind of reusable bag do you use?

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:

• bamboo clothing
• bamboo socks and underwear
• bamboo baby clothes
• bamboo towels
• bamboo knitting yarn

Organic cotton clothing is becoming more popular as people become aware of the health and environmental risks of using pesticides and herbicides on crops. Even though demand for organic cotton products is rising, it’s still not that easy to come by.

Natural Fashion has a wide range of cotton products which are certified organic. The cotton comes from small farms in Brazil which work to support the local community by providing employment. They produce a wide range of products including clothes for men, women, and children, homewares, accessories, and soft toys. No chemicals, bleaches, or dyes are used in their production so are a completely natural alternative.

Women’s Organic Natural Fashion

If you want simple, natural coloured clothing then Natural Fashion has plenty of choice for women. The women’s range includes:

• t-shirts
• tank tops
• dresses
• skirts
• shorts
• trousers
• jeans
• jumpers
• sleepwear
• jackets
• socks
• scarves

The design is generally very casual so you should be able to find some good basics for everyday wear.

Men’s Organic Natural Fashion

There is less on offer in the men’s organic cotton range but still enough to please most guys. The range includes:

• plain t-shirts
• v-neck t-shirts
• polo neck t-shirts
• long sleeve t-shirts
• sleeveless t-shirts
• shirts
• jackets
• jeans
• sleepwear

Organic cotton clothing is generally very soft making it great for sleepwear or for wearing around the house.

Children’s Organic Cotton Clothing

I think the children’s range of clothing is the best on offer by Natural Fashion. They have some very cute outfits including dresses, tshirts, shorts, socks, sleepwear, tracksuits, and organic cotton soft toys.

Organic Cotton Homewares

I was surprised to see that there is also a wide variety of natural homewares available. My favourite items are the cushions but they also stock:

• organic hammocks
• organic serviettes
• organic placemats
• organic rugs
• organic bedding
• organic tablecloths
• organic blankets

Natural Fashion also produces a range of bags and shoes so if it’s organic accessories that you’re after then check out their site. For more information, read my Natural Fashion review.

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:

• bamboo clothing
• bamboo socks and underwear
• bamboo baby clothes
• bamboo towels
• bamboo knitting yarn

Organic cotton clothing is made from cotton which has been produced without the use of pesticides and other harmful chemicals. Gaia Organic Cotton is one of Australia’s premium producers of organic baby clothing and their products are ideal for a baby’s sensitive skin. Gaia’s baby clothes are made from 100% certified organic cotton, ensuring they are produced in an environmentally sound method. The Gaia fashion and classic ranges are made in Australia reducing the transportation costs of getting the product to consumers.

This adorable long sleeve kimono style top comes with matching pants. The wrap style makes it easy to dress your baby as well as being extremely comfortable. It is available in a range of sizes and colour combinations. The organic cotton stretch knit is natural and unbleached with a satin trim in either cream, mushroom or pink.

Note: Some outfits in this range are currently on sale.

Why Buy Organic Cotton?

If you haven’t bought organic cotton before you may not be sure why to buy organic cotton instead of conventionally grown cotton. Here is a brief summary as to why we think it’s a good idea:

• Around 25% of all insecticides used in farming are sprayed on cotton.
• Runoff from cotton farms has polluted many waterways including the Murray-Darling basin.
• Pesticides used on crops also kill many micro and macro organisms in the soil, leading to soil degradation.
• Single crops farming, such as with cotton, results in loss of wildlife, especially birds.
• The lack of birds and predator pests results in even more crop pests, requiring the use of more pesticides.
• Many chemicals known to cause cancer have been banned in Australia but continue to be used in developing countries.
• Cotton farm workers have a high incidence of cancer and respiratory problems.
• Companion planting, commonly used on organic cotton farms, encourages wildlife and reduces pests.
• Natural fertilisers such as green manures enrich the soil and reduce water pollution.
• Farmers reverting to organic methods often produce higher yields than they had previously.

Choosing organic cotton reduces soil degradation and pollution and protects farm workers from the effects of toxic chemicals. Organic cotton produces a very soft fabric which is perfect for baby clothes.

Gaia Organic Cotton Kimonos are available online at UrbanBaby.