Baby magazine 8/2018: "The manufacture of even ecological material can turn out to be unecological"

How do I know that children's clothing is ethically and ecologically produced?

This is what Mirjam Sokka, 26, started thinking about after having her first child three years ago. Now she is a mother of two children and has noticed that there is no one right answer to the question.

- For example, the use of organic cotton is ultimately quite unecological, because its production consumes a particularly large amount of water. Working conditions can also involve ethical problems, he thinks.

- On the other hand, the minimum batches of more ecological materials, such as linen, nettle or recycled materials, are so huge that even their production becomes unecological if the clothes cannot be sold. The use of these materials also increases the price of the clothes even more.

However, you can always strive to make better choices: lyocell rather than viscose, organic or fair trade cotton rather than regular.

Familiarity with the clothing industry and love for fashion led to Mirjam founding her own company, Kaiko Clothing . Kaiko produces children's and women's clothing, and in the fall the first men's clothing will also appear.

The spark to try had actually been ignited a few years before, when Mirjam watched the news about the collapsed clothing factories in Bangladesh.

- Around that time in Finland, domestically produced children's clothes started to be preferred, which is good, but I was left wondering what the fate of women working in developing countries would be if they ran out of jobs. I wanted to help them, and that's why Kaiko regularly donates money to educate Nepalese women.

When I buy children's clothes,

• I prefer used. Especially small children's clothes get so little wear that you can find a lot of clothes in good condition at flea markets.
• for new clothes, I check whether they have certificates of ecological production and non-toxic materials. These include, for example, GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard), which states that the garment is made in an environmentally friendly way, and Öko-Tex , which guarantees that the garment does not contain harmful chemicals.
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• I get to know the story of the company that made the clothes. It is interesting to know what kind of values ​​the company has and what things the brand considers important.

The original story was published in Vauva magazine 08/2018 and online –
Children's clothing entrepreneur Mirjam Sokka: "Even the production of ecological material can turn out to be unecological"