Organic, free range, recycled and Fairtrade are all common phrases that we see every day – whether we’re walking through the supermarket or looking through a product brochure.

The promotional product industry, however, has a great reputation for supplying and distributing environmentally friendly merchandise that is not only functional and practical, but also atheistically pleasing and, more often then not, extremely innovative.

It’s a fact, the hottest buzzword in the promotional merchandise sector is ‘green’. With a passion not seen in the industry for many years, both manufacturers and distributors are seeking out products, including clothes, which are ecologically safe and environmentally sound.

Your wardrobe may not be the first place you'd think to look to reduce your CO2 output. But clothing manufacture involves agriculture, industry and commerce – and now, more so than ever, businesses are becoming fashion conscious about the choices they make as a statement about greenhouse gasses as well as style and brand promotion.

A good portion of promotional clothing is made from cotton and there is nothing wrong with that. However, there is now a growing trend whereby distributors and end users are looking for clothing ranges that are less harmful to the environment.

The fibre for making cotton is tough to grow, so farmers use enormous amounts of energy-intensive, CO2-emitting chemicals and fertilisers. According to the Organic Trade Association it takes three-quarters of a pound of fertilisers and pesticides to produce just one pair of regular cotton jeans, and a T-shirt takes one-third of a pound.

Cotton uses more than 10% of the world's pesticides, a quarter of the world's insecticides and more insecticides than any other single crop. While the use of pesticides may not impact on the end user in the finished product, their use does endanger the health and safety of cotton farmers and workers. Pesticides also threaten the health of farm workers and the surrounding environment, depleting wildlife, impoverishing soil and poisoning water systems.

The alternative is to farm with organic fibres, which, by contrast, releases less CO2 into the air and use 50% less energy. Cotton, hemp, bamboo, ramie, linen, and silk can all be grown organically – as can wool, cashmere and alpaca.

Many Bulletin readers will be aware that the growth of the organic-food market has spread like wildfire over the past 10 years, and large retail manufacturers such Nike, Levi’s, and even Marks & Spencer are starting to buy organic textiles (the clothing equivalent of a free range chicken). In fact, it’s believed that demand for organic cotton far outstrips supply.

Recycling clothing is also on the increase, and PROMOTA often hears from end users and distributors looking for promotional clothing that use recycled content. The environmental impact of recycling worn-out polyester into new polyester fibre, for example, is significantly lower than making that same fibre anew, and CO2 savings can be as high as 71%.

In this industry, promotional clothing is often based on cost, practicality and fashion rather than ethics. However, as companies and organisations of all sizes become aware of the world around us, many are now beginning to ask a number of different questions such as: Where has this been made? What sort of conditions are those producing the clothes working under? Are they getting paid enough? This, of course, is where Fairtrade comes into the picture.

Only a tiny proportion of clothes are manufactured in the UK. Instead, due to cost, companies prefer to import clothes from countries where labour expenses are low and workers have fewer rights. In 2004, the EU imported 71bn euros worth of clothing – with more than 50% of that coming from the following five countries: China, Turkey, Romania, Bangladesh and Tunisia.

The clothing industry is notorious for its poor treatment of workers, and there have been many high-profile campaigns trying to persuade companies to take more responsibility for overseas workers. But it's not all bad news. In the promotional sector there are a number of suppliers that have codes of conduct, or work with manufacturers who are members of the Ethical Trade Initiative (ETI), which aims to change the way companies do business.

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