Bokki makes
TEA TOWEL ORGANIC
Come and enjoy this stunning range of colourful and cheeky tea towels we have created, based on our legendary Tapestry Kit designs!
All Bokki Makes tea towels are made from 100% Organic Cotton.
Our cotton is grown by an Organic Farming Co-operative in Pakistan where the fabric is also created.
Using organic cotton (instead of the non-organic alternatives) is incredibly important to us here at Bokki. This is due to the immense benefits it brings, not only to the environment, but also to the health and lives of the farmers (and their families) who grow and harvest the cotton.
Organic farming protects and works with the environment, avoiding the use of dangerous chemicals, combating climate change, protecting water supplies and giving control and essential rights to farmers.
The organic cotton is then sent to the UK to be cut, sewn and printed to create our divine tea towels!
By making this righteous buying decision, you are actually making the world a better place.
Yay YOU! And thank you.
Tea towel organic
WHY ORGANIC COTTON?
Organic farming is designed to sustain the health of eco systems, soils and people.
Farmers work with nature, avoiding pesticides and fertilisers; creating healthy soil and a flourishing eco system, in order to produce healthy, resilient crops.
Cotton is usually grown as a single crop, which is risky. There is no back up if a crop fails, no food or other crops are grown alongside it and there is no protection for the top soil, or the environment as a whole.
Organic farmers always grow other crops alongside their cotton. This ensures the soil is healthy and productive, that the ecosystem and biodiversity is supported and encouraged, natural pest control is created and farmers have crops to eat and sell.
It’s all good! Buying organic cotton makes such a difference, in so many important ways.
No pesticides are used in organic farming.
Non organic cotton crops use just 2.5% of agricultural land, yet they utilise 7% of the world’s pesticides and account for 16% of all insecticide use. Which are fairly scary proportions!
Non organic pesticides damage eco systems, poison rivers and severely damage the health of farmers and their families. There are about 385 million cases of acute pesticide poisonings every year, meaning 44% of the global population working on farms are poisoned annually.
11,000 farmers are killed by pesticide poisoning each year, with 60% of these occurring just in India (the second largest producer of cotton).
Organic farmers work without pesticides by encouraging wildlife and biodiversity, which alongside planting the right companion crops, create natural forms of pest control. The soil can flourish, the harvests are successful and the health of the farmers and environment are protected.
Cotton is a thirsty crop, but organic cotton uses far less water than non-organic cotton. Because organic farming creates healthy soil, it doesn’t wash away in the rain; instead it can soak up the water when there are floods and hold on to it longer during a drought.
Cotton uses around 11,000 litres of water for each kilo of cotton produced.
With organic farming, 80% of cotton production is rain fed, instead of irrigated, which preserves the essential stores of groundwater. When cotton is farmed organically, it is proven that there is a staggering 98% less water pollution than with non-organic methods.
When farming organically, the rivers and drinking water are protected from pesticides, fertilizers and toxic dyes draining into them.
GM seeds are banned in organic farming. GM seeds are ironically more vulnerable to drought and disease.
GM companies control the non-organic farmers and the seed market, ensuring farmers have not only far less variety and quality, but they were forced into GM seed use when GM companies removed non GM seeds from sale.
GM and non-organic farming and its excessive pesticide usage, not only has a huge cost for the environment and the health of farmers, the financial cost can also be devastating.
Pesticide costs can be as high as 60% of the cost of cotton production, forcing small scale farmers into unmanageable debt.
Tragically, at least one farmer every day commits suicide because they are incapable of repaying their debts.
One of the many fantastic things about organic farming, is that not only are the environment and the health of the farmers protected; but also the organic farming standard demands that there are mandatory environmental and social provisions for the processing and manufacturing of the cotton fabric.
This means that organic farmers work as part of a collective.
The collective protects the farmers, their families and their rights.
They have freely chosen employment and freedom of association. They bargain and do business as a collective, rather than as individual giving them far more power and protection from exploitation.
There is no harassment or violence and there is no child labour.
Their health and environment are protected from toxic pesticides, and they also have the benefit of occupational health and safety.
The co-operative provide education, training and social programmes to continually improve the quality of life of farmers and their families, also ensuring an essential focus on the empowerment of women and child welfare.
