long sleeve 100% organic cotton To ameliorate the environmental and working conditions and of course to produce clothes that are a joy to our skin, LEELA COTTON only uses organic cotton. Our organic cotton is grown in Turkey, free of pesticides, insecticides and fertilizers. Every two to three years a crop rotation is taken. Only natural products are used for fertilizing. Only biological methods are employed to combat weed and pest. Defoliants are not part of the process; instead cotton is culled by hand. That way the ecological balance in the growing area is kept; the ground, the air and the water are not polluted and the workers? health is not endangered. Chemical additives do not play a role in the processing of organic cotton - formaldehyde, flame resistant, moth resistant and static inhibitors are not applied. The clothes are printed and dyed in an ecological way. The dye does not consist of toxics; it is eco-friendly and synthetic. (Unfortunately plant colours are not an alternative because they do not last on cotton. Besides, environmentalists doubt that the mass use of plant colours would be an ecological improvement, as an example of this the colour indigo caused problems with the effluents). During the process of dyeing no optical brighteners, heavy metals and no chlorine bleach are used. The prints are water-based. White garments are bleached with oxygen. Some garments are not dyed at all. Accessories such as buttons or zippers are made from natural products ? the buttons are made of wood, shell or coco, the zippers of nickel-free metal. For sewing only cotton yarns are used; unfortunately, due to their breaking strength they have to be mercerized, though. CONTROL UNION CERTIFICATION B.V. (former SKAL) is an independent and internationally approved organisation verifying every step from the cultivation and processing of cotton up to the final product. Another part of the inspection deals with the social conditions of the workers in the fields/place of production. Both factories in Istanbul and Izmir take care of European standards: there is a workers? council, minimum wage, no child labour (minimum age of the workers is sixteen years of age), payment for mothers and sick persons etc. Care LEELA COTTON clothes are machine-washable. To treat the fibres with care and to keep the natural colour we recommend you to use detergent without optical brighteners (mild-detergent or biological detergent). Also you should not wash them in a warmer temperature than 40° Celsius. All fabrics have been pre-washed eco-friendly and artificially shrunk with hot steam (Sanforizing); still you cannot avoid further shrinkage during the wash (according to the kind of cotton fabric and washing temperature between 2-6% shrinkage can occur). Before the clothes are sewn, they are tested against twisting. If you use a dryer, it is possible for the garment to lose its form or to shrink more than expected after the wash (especially terry cloth is very sensitive). Natural fabrics should always be shaped back into their original form, by hand, after the wash. Your organic cotton garment has to be treated differently than clothes produced in the traditional, chemical way. Those products are resistant to wrinkling and shrinking which the organic cotton clothes are not, but then again you have a piece of cloth in your hand that is good to your skin and your health; you might have to treat it with more care but it cares more for you, too because it does not cause skin irritation or allergies and it balances your body temperature and humidity. We hope that you can see the advantages of organic cotton and that you will feel the joy of wearing them!