Green Options

Indigenous Designs is a fabulous fair-trade, organic clothing company based in Northern California.  Since 1994, the founders have been working directly with international artisans in India, Guatemala, Ecuador, and Peru to bring you uniquely sustainable fashion wear. Committed to delivering fair wages, Indigenous Designs works with non-governmental organizations around the world to ensure that the men and women who craft these beautiful garments are set on the path to self-sustainability.

“With Indigenous Designs, we haven’t created just a charity situation,” says co-founder Matt Reynolds.  “It’s about taking responsibility to better our communities.”

This Fourth of July, Indigenous Designs and Feelgood Style are giving you the opportunity to win a gorgeous piece of clothing, constructed from all natural and organic fibers and eco-friendly dyes!

Recently, Eco Child’s Play editor Jennifer Lance wrote about the CPSIA that will go into effect on February 20, 2009, thus decimating the thousands of handmade mom and pop run businesses in this country. Without the ability to sell their toys, hair accessories, clothing, and shoes (yes, it’s not just toys!), these families will be gravely affected - as will the many children and parents who have enjoyed these safe handmade toys and goods.

In response to the pending act, parents, small business owners, and online websites have joined together as a means to have their voices heard and encourage government officials to make changes to the act before it puts so many folks out of business.

… and easily trade cost and environmental impact, for time!

“Do laundry”… what does that mean to most of us?  It means carting a large pile of clothes in a bin or basket to one’s home washer and dryer, or if you’re one of the many unfortunate bunch like me, you cart it to a nearby laundromat’s washer and dryer.  I’ve only “done laundry” once since moving into my new apartment, and as I don’t own a car–you guessed it–I packed my clothes into a massive backpack and pedaled it across my neighborhood to the laundromat, swaying all the way.  Obviously not an impossible scenario, but surely an uncomfortable one!

But as with so many other things about living a modern American lifestyle, my conscience shouts louder and louder each time I subscribe to certain activities that I know to be environmentally harmful.  The toxic chemicals in many common soaps aside, purely the use of electricity (when knowingly powered by coal plants, as is true for my region) is a harmful act.  I don’t like living with the idea that I must contribute to environmental devastation each time I want to wear fresh-smelling, tidy clothing!  Not washing clothes at all, ever (as many of my “crust-punk” friends do) is not a reasonable option for most of us.

The clock was ticking. I had only an hour or two to make my decision, before I had to leave for work.

Today was the periodically dreaded day when my laundry bin reached critical mass, and I realized I needed to do laundry.

Do I take it to a laundromat, dump it into appliances, and read a book while my clothes become easy-breezy clean?  The consequences of that are: energy use, travel energy, and cost!  Washing and drying clothes at a laundromat can cost up to $5 a load!

But what if we could re-invent our notion of what “doing laundry” means?  Forget “high-efficiency” washer and dryer appliances that, while an improvement in terms of water and energy use, still perpetuate widespread and probably-ultimately unsustainable practices.  Where can the energy–and water–come from that would be sustainably sourced?

Your hands.  And your sink.  (And for clothes-drying?  The air.)

It’s such a simple solution that I might almost have missed it!

Continuing our short series on how to extend the life of your clothes. Here is a quick tutorial on reattaching a button. You can read about how to fix a hole in a side seem in Part 1.

Knowing how to reattached a button is a great skill to learn, especially because a loose button is not only inevitable, but you can find great deals at stores. I once scored a particularly lovely wool coat when it was on the sale rack, missing several of its buttons. The extra ones were still attached along the tag and by pointing out the missing buttons at the register, I was able to get another 10% off the already discounted coat, all the while thinking that the buttons were such an easy and quick fix! So onto the how-to:

This post, by our own Cassie Walker, was originally published on Friday, August 1, 2008

Over 80 million children and adults are enrolled in schools across the nation, representing about one-fourth of the population age three and older. With all of these students headed back to school, it’s no wonder that this period has become so important to retailers. August clothing sales, alone, are second only to the holidays in terms of dollars spent.

But before you head off to the mall willy-nilly, stop to think about how you can make choices to reduce your environmental impact.

You are what you wear (in junior high, at least)

First, the most important category to many kids: clothes. Of course, the greenest thing to do is to wear last-year’s clothes. Exaggerated eye roll. Hand-me-downs? Irritated stare. Thrift stores? “Gah-ross!” (Hint: try calling it “vintage”–much cooler.) And so the challenge begins.

There as many ways to save energy when washing your clothes, and many of these topics have already been discussed on Green Options. Energy Star washing machines and dryers are more efficient and often use less water. In fact, our front-loading Maytag Neptune uses less power than my propane clothes dryer, and I can run it off two solar panels when our hydro turbine is down. Washing your clothes

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Do you ever find yourself thinking, "but I will wear that… one of these days.' Once you've finally decided you're not really going to wear that old shirt any more, or those pants no longer fit as well as they used to, there comes a time to pare down. Instead of tossing your clothes in the garbage, swap 'em, sell 'em or donate 'em.

Swap 'em. Hold your own

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Since we announced free wind credits for tip suggestions last week, the tips have been rolling in. Today we'd like to focus on a tip suggested by John of Santa Barbara: