Organic Gym Bag

Conventional Gym Bags

Avoid conventional gym bags made with toxic dyes, glues, chrome tanned leather and polluting materials. They are made with toxic tanning process and synthetic materials or other petroleum-derived materials. 

❌ Synthetic fabrics: such as polyester, nylon, and other plastic-based materials. They deplete our natural resources and pollute our environment, creating a more synthetic world.

❌ Toxic leather: conventional leather tanning may contain chromium, arsenic, and other chemicals that pollute the environment and water supplies.

❌ Petroleum-based: environmentally harmful and made of petroleum-based foam.

❌ Chrome Tanned Leather: 90% of the leather is chrome tanned. Chrome tanning is a widely used method in the leather industry, involving the treatment of animal hides with chromium salts, primarily chromium(III) sulfate. Toxic wastewater from tanneries can contaminate local ecosystems. It can lead to toxic chromium (VI) formation, which is harmful to humans and the environment.

❌ PFAS: not only harmful to you but also to the environment. They are found especially in waterproof materials.

❌ CA Prop 65: Many of you have seen the label attached to backpacks with the California Proposition 65 Warning stating: “This product contains chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer and/or birth defects or other reproductive harm.”

Greenwashing Gym Bags 

Avoid Greenwashing gym bags made by brands that pretend to be organic, better, or sustainable when they are not. They will use misleading marketing tricks to convince you to buy their products. Many came with vegan leather alternatives, bringing more plastic to the world:

❌ Synthetic material: such as nylon or other plastic-derived materials. 

❌ PVC: most vegan leathers today are currently made from PVC, made with petroleum. PVC is, for this reason, harmful to the environment. 

❌ PU is another synthetic vegan or faux leather. By definition, PU stands for Polyurethane, a plastic polymer derived from petroleum. Even less than PVC, PU still requires petroleum. 

Organic Gym Bags

Here you will find the best organic gym bags on the market. Eco-friendly gym bags are made with natural, sustainable, and safe materials that not only protect humans but the planet as well. Made with:

Less than 1% of the world’s cotton is organic.

✅ The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS): is a certification that prohibits the use of toxic chemicals, heavy metals, pesticides, GMOs, chlorine bleaching, toxic dyes, and PVC (all things that conventional cotton has ) during processing and includes strong labor provisions to protect and empower workers. 🍃It also certifies that the production has respected ecological rules on waste, water use, disposal, and protection of the environment, that it has followed rules that respect the workers, and finally, protection for the consumer’s health.

It is the worldwide leading textile processing standard for organic fibers, which includes ecological and social criteria on the entire textile supply chain. The standard covers the processing, manufacturing, packaging, labeling, trading, and distribution of all textiles made from certified organic natural fibers. The standard aims to ensure the organic status of textiles, from the harvesting of the raw materials, through environmentally and socially responsible manufacturing, up to labeling.

• Organic: This label requires that a product contains at least 95% certified organic fibers.
• Made with Organic: This label requires a minimum of 70% certified organic fibers.

✅ The Fair Trade Certified Factory: logo means these brands partner with Fair Trade Certified™ factories that provide safe working conditions, community support, and additional development funds to those working on-site.

Here is the most eco-friendly vegan leather on the market, made with renewable resources and also by-products, that is made with plant-based material that would have been wasted. 

• 🌿 Organic Cotton: made without toxic chemicals and pesticides. It protects the soil and 💦water (71% less water used) and energy⚡️ (62% less energy), while 👩‍🌾protecting farmers who work the crop! ☁️ Biodegradable, vegan, breathable, durable, and anti-mycotic. 

• 🌿 Organic Hemp: Hemp has long fibers, which bring a big edge in durability when making fabrics. For that reason, hemp is in many ways the strongest natural fiber available. According to the Hemp Foundation, hemp can be even stronger than steel.

• 🌳 Cork: one of Portugal’s most treasured sustainable materials. This process is mindful of the trees with a goal of sustainable production every 9 years for a 150-year lifespan. Animal-free and plastic-free, each product is handcrafted in small batches by skilled Portuguese artisans.
• 🌿 Chrome-free vegetable-dyed leather: manufactured without chromium during the tanning process, and there are no harmful chemicals. It has a higher production cost.

• 🍍Piñatex (Pineapple leather): made with leaf fiber leather Piñatex®inatex Organic material, made from pineapple leaves that result from the waste of the pineapple harvest. The fibres that are not used in Piñatex are distributed as fertilizer.

• 🍏 Apple leather: also known as AppleSkin, is a bio-based material made using the leftover pomace and peel from the fruit juice and compote industry. The fabric is created by first taking the recovered apple waste and reducing it to a powder. The apple leather used in our products is made using 50% apple waste mixed with 50% PU, coated onto a cotton/polyester canvas. Ecological, breathable, waterproof, and durable fabric has been a game-changer in the industry. Apple Leather

• 🌵 Cactus Leather: DESSERTO USDA-certified cactus is grown in an organic farming system in the fertile and mineral-rich region of Zacatecas, Mexico. Cactus naturally regenerate the soil. It takes approximately only 3 leaves of cactus to create one linear meter of Desserto.

• 🥭 Mango leather:  Fruit Leather created by Koen Meerkerk and Hugo de Boon, crafted from natural mangos 

• 🍄 Mushroom leather: Mylo​

​The Best Organic Gym Bags Brands

My number one organic gym brand recommendations are: 

• 🌿 Terra Thread  10% off code: PRETTYORGANICGIRL10. Made with 100% GOTS Certified Organic Cotton.
• 🌿 Tiradia Cork   10% off code: PRETTYORGANICGIRL

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