Women's Organic Cotton Activewear Guide by Apparel Search

Activewear is clothing designed to be worn for sports, exercise, and outdoor activities.

Learn more about activewear in our fashion product influence section.

Organic clothing is clothing made from materials raised in or grown in compliance with organic agricultural standards. Organic clothing may be composed of Cotton, Jute, Silk, Ramie, or Wool. Other fibers which can be used in organic clothing include Tencel, hemp, bamboo, leather, and organic recycled fibers. Textiles do not need to be 100% organic to use the organic label. A more general term is organic textiles, which includes both apparel and home textiles. The technical requirements in terms of certification and origin generally remain same for organic clothing and organic textiles.

Organic cotton is generally defined as cotton that is grown organically in subtropical countries such as Turkey, China, and parts of the USA from non-genetically modified plants, and without the use of any synthetic agricultural chemicals such as fertilizers or pesticides. Its production is supposed to promote and enhance biodiversity and biological cycles. In the United States, cotton plantations must also meet the requirements enforced by the National Organic Program (NOP) from the USDA in order to be considered organic. This institution determines the allowed practices for pest control, growing, fertilizing, and handling of organic crops.

The National Organic Program (NOP) is the federal regulatory framework in the United States of America governing organic food. It is also the name of the program of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) responsible for administering and enforcing the regulatory framework. The core mission of the NOP is to protect the integrity of the USDA organic seal.
Organic certification is a certification process for producers of organic food and other organic agricultural products. In general, any business directly involved in food production can be certified, including seed suppliers, farmers, food processors, retailers and restaurants. A lesser known counterpart is certification for organic textiles (or Organic clothing) that includes certification of textile products made from organically grown fibers.

Learn about organic regulations in the United States at the USDA website.

In some countries, certification is overseen by the government, and commercial use of the term organic is legally restricted. In other companies the process is managed by organizations.

The Agricultural Marketing Service's Cotton and Tobacco Program, based in Memphis, TN, facilitate the domestic and international fair marketing of cotton and tobacco through a variety of services used by industry to measure quality, ensure consistency and report market activity. The program's standards are used by more than 50 countries for the instrument and visual grading of cotton and tobacco. Learn more at the United States Department of Agriculture website.