Question from Peter Drew
My wife, Joanne, has given up trying to buy commercial, off-the-rack clothing, organic and otherwise. She is chemically sensitive and was just diagnosed with hyperparathyroidism. We’ve discovered that even organic clothing can be contaminated by formaldehyde fabric treatments in manufacture.
In our latest failed effort, I purchased two pair of pants for Joanne from an online retailer that sells only organic clothing for women. This company contracts with a clothing manufacturer here in the US to make the clothes. Supposedly, the pants were washed only in cold water after they were made, but I was not told how they were dried. The only guess Joanne and I have is that the clothes were dried in a dryer also used for clothes with fabric treatment and picked up the formaldehyde-based resin from the dryer. Joanne is highly sensitive and actually allergic to formaldehyde. So, the pants are no good to her, even after many washings in baking soda and vinegar.
As Debra has pointed out in responses to questions about formaldehyde-based fabric treatments, the treatments never wash out entirely. They are resins, which are designed to stick very tightly to the fabric’s fibers and not let go. That’s why some clothing brands claim that their clothes don’t need ironing even after 50 washes.
We’re looking for an individual, preferably in a home business, who specializes in sewing pants and shirts for chemically sensitive people, and can work from measurements and organic fabric we supply. It’s important, of course, that the sewer be fragrance-free.
Please reply to this post with any recommendation you might have anywhere in the US. Joanne’s down to a few outfits and they’re really starting to wear out. Any help in locating a sewer would be truly appreciated. Thank you very much.
Peter in CT
Debra’s Answer
Readers?
