What materials are the greenest and why?

What materials are the greenest and why?

Terra: For new clothes, if you can find clothing made out of organic cotton, hemp, bamboo, recycled polyester, or Tencel (made from wood pulp) -- these are the more eco-friendly fabrics. 

Organic cotton is currently one of the more commonly found eco-friendly materials.  To grow and process regular cotton (also called "conventional cotton"), it usually requires a lot of intensive chemicals and pesticides -- and some people feel that the residue from those chemicals stay in this cotton after a shirt or pants are made.  However, with organic cotton the farmers are required to grow the cotton without toxic fertilizers and pesticides.  This is of great benefit to you, so that you're not exposed to these chemicals, as well as great benefit to our soils, water, and beneficial insects (like bees).

Hemp is not as common but has great promise because it requires little-to-no pesticides or herbicides, less water to grow, and can be turned into several different types of fabrics -- faux silk, linen, knit, stretch, canvas, and muslin.

Other fabrics like bamboo, recycled polyester, and Tencel are great for reasons of using less resources to grow (bamboo), re-using (recycled polyester), and being biodegradable and chemical free.