Costs are slightly higher but comparable. A men's vintage-style organic cotton T-shirt at Wal-Mart is $9.83, and a similar regular cotton T sells for $8.83. Levi Strauss & Co. started offering organic denim jeans in select stores in November -- $68 for their Red Tab jean compared with $40 for nonorganic.
The look and feel of the clothes are so fashion-forward that many consumers don't even realize they're buying organic. They just like the style, says Under the Canopy's Zaroff.
A yoga devotee with long blond hair and lots of hippie jewelry, Zaroff looks younger than 39. She talks about Al Gore's movie on global warming and other environmental issues at her Boca Raton, Fla., office, where she is working on a high-fashion line debuting later this year.
The 108 line of upscale street wear includes dresses in muted tones made of soft soy and organic cotton voile.
She founded her company in 1996, when organic wear was little more than a hempseed. She expects $10 million in sales this year.
"It was frumpy and boxy and crunchy and all those things people don't want," Zaroff said of older organic clothing. "The consumer was ready. The seed was planted with organic food and beauty products."
High-end designers such as Stella McCartney are including organic fabrics in their collections and celebrity entrepreneurs are also joining the trend. U2's Bono launched his socially conscious clothing line, Edun, in 2005 in an attempt to increase trade and create sustainable employment in developing countries. About 30% of the company's clothes are made from organic cotton.
With celebrities endorsing hybrid cars, vegetarian diets and launching their own eco-friendly clothing lines, experts say it was only a matter of time before the trend caught on with fashion.
"It clearly has gotten more attention now because it's not just an industry sector. It's a global phenomenon," said Marshal Cohen, chief analyst for NPD Group Inc., a market research firm. "We're seeing it in cars, we're seeing it in homes products, apparel, food."
He says consumers are willing to spend 20% more for eco-friendly products such as organic clothes.
It takes about a third of a pound of pesticides to produce one cotton T-shirt.
About 180 to 300 pounds of chemical fertilizer is used on one acre of cotton in the U.S. About 90% of the fertilizer doesn't stay on the plant; it washes off, ending up in water supplies and habitat, says Klein of the Organic Exchange.
Retailers say it's not just about buying organic; it's about the entire process. Growing organic requires crop rotation, meaning a field that is planted with cotton this year could be used for food the next.
"So if we get a large amount of cotton production moved to organic, we'll also end up expanding the world's access to organic food supply," Klein said.
