Why buy Piccalilly?

Many parents choose to feed their baby organic food, but don’t realise why they should extend this buying choice to include organic baby clothes and organic baby skincare too. When we consider that a baby’s skin is 5 times thinner than an adult’s and it’s the largest organ on our body, it feels more important to carefully consider what we choose to put on it. Organic baby clothes and skincare limit a baby’s chance of absorbing harmful chemicals and toxins since they are not used to create the product to begin with.

The processes brands such as Piccalilly use is also kinder to the farmers as their exposure to harmful toxins has been limited too.  To better understand, here Piccalilly explains the difference between conventional cotton farming and organic cotton farming.

“Whilst cotton to many is considered a natural and healthy choice for a baby to wear not all cotton is created equal. Conventional cotton is one of the most polluted and sprayed crops in the world. In fact, while cotton farming only makes up 3% of the total farmed land area, it accounts for 25% of the insecticides and 10% of the pesticides used worldwide, making it one of the most chemically treated crops on the planet. Many of these chemicals are graded ‘hazardous’ by the World Health Organisation. Not only do these chemicals pose risks for the farmers’ health but they’re also expensive and often end up within the water sources of surrounding communities. Chemicals entering local waterways have been associated with allergies, skin rashes, respiratory problems, cancer, birth defects, and hormonal & reproductive effects. It is estimated that over 3 million people are poisoned by pesticides from cotton every year. Conventional cotton farmers have also become locked in a cycle of debt buying genetically modified seeds, pesticides and fertilizers. The result is one of the highest rates of recorded farmers suicides in India, one farmer every 30 seconds for the last 16 years due to high levels of debt.” – Piccalilly: ethical support chain.

Piccalilly use chemical free organic cotton from an amazing project called Chetna Organic. It’s a fair-trade cotton programme with a mission to improve the livelihood of smallholder farmers by making their farm systems more sustainable and profitable. The Chetna farmers own a 10% equity stake in the factory. The cotton farmers are pre-financed meaning they are guaranteed stable cotton prices and a premium to spend within their local community.

This means the organic cotton Piccalilly uses to make their clothes is kinder to the farmer who grows it, kinder to the planet and kinder to wear on delicate skin. Furthermore, this method of growing cotton uses significantly less water than other conventional methods and mainly relies on rainfall. It produces less carbon emissions by locking carbon into the soil and the super-soft finish on their clothes is due to the fibres being left intact: hand picking the cotton prevents it from being broken down by harsh chemicals and mass processing.

At Cariad Babi, all of this is factored in to the decision to offer you gorgeous colourful clothing designed to last the test of time for both your children, and our planet.