Environment & Sustainability (Tea Towels)

My tea towels are woven and printed using Soil Association-certified organic cotton at a locally owned textile manufacturer in Cornwall.

The cotton used in the tea towels is sourced from India. Organic cotton means that the cotton farmers are not exposed to the harmful, fossil-fuel based pesticides often associated with cotton farming in India. What’s more, they are not reliant on buying genetically modified seeds every year from huge ethically-questionable agri-businesses like Monsanto. Pesticide use and reliance on GM seeds are known to be a huge problem for Indian cotton farmers, so we hope that by using organic cotton we can contribute to an alternative.

Using cotton from India does mean that it is shipped over long distances, which is not ideal. However, it is unfortunately difficult to find organic cotton closer to home. Hopefully that will change in the future - if you know of an organic cotton producer located in Europe, feel free to let us know!

Most of the dyes used are vegetable based and screen-printed by hand, but the colours in some of my more vibrant designs cannot be achieved using these dyes. Instead, my work is digitally printed. While the dye is water based, it is not organic, and neither is the coating that is used to allow the dye to bond to the cotton. I have spoken with the company, and they are hoping that the technology to print digitally with organic inks will be available soon which will make their processes fully organic.