Green Options

Environmentally-Friendly Car Service is the New Black

A new Parisian company called Verture would like you to take a green turn away from your standard taxi service. If you’re tired of uncourteous service, an invasive musical environment, torn seats and an overwhelming sense of guilt for the 3.5 minutes you just stood still in bumper-to-bumper traffic, then Venture is for you.

Venture’s fleet of all black hybrid electric/gas Toyota Prius offer similar prices to regular taxi fare, without the regular hassles. Flat screens, TV’s, DVD players, IPod hook-ups, a laptop with Internet access, a baby seat and a universal battery for recharging your must-haves are just a few of the accoutrements that Venture has to offer. And how ’bout those carbon neutral journeys? The Toyota Prius emits 1/2 the carbon dioxide of a regular car, and Venture works with Climat Mundi to offset the miniscule amounts of carbon dioxide that do manage to slip out to fund international eco-projects. 

If ecouture has its way, your home — and your closet — will soon be a lot greener. The San Francisco-based startup believes that consumers would buy far more eco-friendly clothing, gifts, baby products and décor if they could only find enough stylish and high-quality options.

Going green isn’t as difficult as it used to be with the array of vegetarian delights and eco-friendly products available on the market today, and environmentally-conscious clothing is becoming as popular as the fashions themselves. But M641 takes it one step further with a philosophical approach to designing clothes that are living, breathing representations of the spirit, passion, and friendship that created them.  For Ina and Subu, earth-minded fashion is about a lifestyle — not a trend — and the result is a stunning experience in heart couture. 

I had an opportunity to talk with Ina, one of the founders of M641, and learned more about the designs, the philosophy and the friendship that foster feel good fashions and plaid with a pulse.

When former model, Leanne Mai-ly Hilgart, couldn’t find a warm winter coat to match her vegan lifestyle, she launched Vaute Couture. She started with a design challenge and an offer to produce the contest winning garments with portion of proceeds going to Farm Sanctuary. 108 entries, 20 finalists, and over 8,000 votes later, one of the three winning designs is now available for purchase.

Before being ‘green’ became fashionable, and terms like ‘eco-chic’ were coined, being environmentally conscious was synonymous with words like ‘granola’ and ‘treehugger,’ generalizing the eco-conscious crowd as a free-spirited-Birkenstock-wearing-Grateful-Dead-loving bunch of Liberal hippies chanting ‘Peace, man.’

But being green has definitely gone mainstream, and from celebs like Julia Louis-Dreyfus with her lavish, multi-million dollar solar-powered home, to Pierce Brosnan, aptly named the ‘Best Dressed Environmentalist’ by the Sustainable Style Foundation, the stereotype of the gritty, unkempt nature wanderer that once dominated the category no longer applies.

Recently, MSN posted a list of the ‘Top 14 Green Celebrities,’ which contained some long-time environmental advocates and a few surprising new additions, all echoing a commitment to championing this important cause through various initiatives like Leonardo DiCaprio’s documentary film about global warming, the 11th Hour, featuring interviews with green leaders and a companion website where everyone can sign up to take action in their local communities, and George Clooney’s Oil Change, a campaign aimed at ending America’s independence on oil.  

In the past, when you’ve thought about helping the environment, things like recycling, using rechargeable batteries, cutting back on your power and water usage, and carpooling or bicycling to reduce pollution probably leapt to mind. 

I doubt that carrying a chic, designer bag topped your list. 

But with all of the eco-minded designers popping up, using alternative materials to craft high-end, contemporary creations worthy of a runway romp, you can do your part to save the planet, and look stylish doing it.

Here is a list of the must-have sleek and sustainable haute couture handbags available for the eco-savvy shopper:

My children have always reminded me of little monkeys. Maybe it is evolutionary or maybe it is my fondness of Curious George.  When I discovered this Kee-Ka’s little organic monkey onesie sold by Manhattan Living Baby, I thought it would make the perfect gift for my new little cousin Avery. Avery is doing little monkey tricks earlier than most babes, and she will look adorable in this organic outfit.

Kee-Ka is named for the sweet babbling of babes, and the company is devoted to eco-chic apparel for little ones.  Eco-chic translates to fair trade, fair wage, 100% certified organic, low impact dyes, social responsibility, charitable contributions, and ecological responsibility.  Of course, babies don’t care about their fashionable onesies, but their bodies deserve only the purest organic fibers against their skin.

I spied these gorgeous slingbacks from Terra Plana that are made with veg leather and a fabulous eye for style a few weeks ago and cannot get them off of my wishlist.

Very eco-chic indeed. The company sources locally when possible to minimize transportation cost and impact and uses recycled materials, like old parachutes for soles.

Proving once again that eco-conscious fashion does not have to be frumpy or “earthy,” Callie Mick’s line of adorable aprons are hot couture, indeed. The Sadie and Lily aprons give full coverage so that you can spend less time doing laundry and more time indulging in your homemade kitchen creations, while the Julia apron provides the perfect size splatter shield from waist down in case you have a tendency (like I do) to bump up against the counter.

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