Why Organic Cotton?

Organic cotton is one of few non-chemically treated natural fabrics and is breathable, comfortable and skin-safe for your baby to wear.

TØY baby clothes are made with only 100% organic cotton certified by the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), which verifies its purity and organic status. 

A little bit more background

We embarked on a baby clothing journey because we wanted to create high quality products, which both parents and babies would love. High quality, above all, meant finding a durable, comfortable and safe fabric, so we did a ton of research to find the best one.

Baby clothes are usually produced from either natural fabrics like cotton, linen and wool, synthetic fabrics like polyester, spandex and rayon, or a mix of both. Natural fabrics are made of animal or plant-based fibers, while synthetics are produced from or using PVC, petrochemicals, esters, and other chemicals. 

Through our initial research we learned that close skin contact with synthetic fabrics can lead to skin irritation, allergies, and even eczema in babies.  This was a big red flag for us and we crossed the possibility of using any synthetic fabric (fully or as a blend) off the list.

We then moved on to investigating the potential natural fabric options, with cotton, organic cotton and bamboo being the highest on our list. We soon realized that not all natural fabrics are created equal and choosing a 100% organic fabric was necessary to keep your baby away from chemicals. 

Conventional cotton is not surprisingly one of the most chemically treated crops in the world. While it only makes up 3% of the total farmed land area, conventional cotton accounts for 25% of the insecticides and 10% of the pesticides used worldwide. There are dozens of pesticides used on conventional cotton crops and about half of them have been named as possible or probable carcinogens by the EPA, which to us is a concern.

Bamboo fabric is known for its softness, durability and breathability, which made it a great potential candidate for our clothes, but we quickly realized that the fabric itself is not as natural as it sounds. In order to process hard bamboo into a soft and baby-friendly fabric a ton of chemicals needs to be used. It is not as bad as purely synthetic fabrics, but it is also not the natural and risk-free fabric we first thought it was. 

Organic cotton on the other hand is both grown and processed into a fabric without any of the chemical pesticides, harmful fertilizers, GMOs and other dangerous substances, which makes it the most safe and comfortable fabric for babies and therefore our fabric of choice. 

Organic cotton is also known to be better for our planet than non-organic fabrics. It sustains the health of soils, ecosystems and people by using natural processes rather than artificial inputs.