Green Options

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Starting this weekend the UC Davis Design Museum opens a new eco-exhibit:
Designing with Conscience ::: A Sustainable Fashion Symposium ~

The Design Museum’s concurrent exhibition, Fashion Conscious, will display modern and wearable designs by established and up-and-coming green designers. This exploration will focus on the two most salient points prevalent in contemporary eco-fashion: the use of new materials that claim to be better for the environment and the reuse of existing materials.

I am in LOVE with this company, Speesees, which provides fun and stylish children’s things from beautiful kimono onesies to au natural baby hat. Here are the other reasons to love this Eco-conscious and green company.

• It’s manufactured under fair trade practices in India and the owner has developed a close relationship with the farmers who live bio-dynamically and receive health care.
• Everything is made from handpicked organic cotton, and knit and dyed with low impact dyes. All the products are made sweatshop free. “Natural light floods the premises and our energetic team, including disabled members, work decent hours for fair living wages. An organic garden surrounds the premises.”
• They give back to the community by donating $1 to every $100 earned from online retail orders. The company has also implemented a recycling program.

Bamboo-Fabric Tees That Make Everybody Happy

When Kathryn Haydn-Hays read a story six years ago about forced child labor in foreign sweatshops, she realized that she didn’t know where her clothes really came from. “I really understood, for the first time, that nearly everything we purchase has a direct effect on people around the world, whether it’s an environmental or socio-economic impact,” says Haydn-Hays.

So she made it her life’s work to raise awareness and create more conscientious consumers. She started Affirm-Aware.org, a website which sells bamboo and organic cotton fabric tee-shirts, soy candles, organic reusable totes, and lovely unique jewelry — all created by 100% sweatshop-free labor.

But Kathyrn wanted to go a step further. She wanted to print affirmations on the tee-shirts so that the wearer would benefit from reading it every time he or she looked in the mirror, so she printed reverse images of the affirmations and called them “AffirmaTees.” (The “Duet” line has the affirmation both forwards and backwards, for those that want to spread the happy thoughts in both directions.) The site also features an “Affirmation Cafe” which has tips for meditation and positive thinking.

Editor’s note: Leather hasn’t come under quite the scrutiny of other animal products like fur, but our friends at Life Goggles ask a good question today: should an environmentalist wear the stuff? To answer the question, LG blogger Adam interviews Katleen Baum of georgette, a Belgian store that specializes in “animal friendly footwear.” This post was originally published on Thursday, May 8, 2008.

Katleen Baum and her twin sister Liesbet run georgette, an online and real world shop in Antwerp which specializes in animal friendly footwear. The website is a delight. Handily written in English, you navigate with a flea circus and clicking on a link can give you a nice surprise. Oh, and the shoes are great too. Katleen spoke to Life Goggles about reconciling veganism with wearing leather.

“Ever since we were kids, we were always fascinated with fashion and shoes. And also with animals. From the moment we realized that the animal we saw in the country, ended up on our dinner plates, we did not want to eat it anymore. So we became vegetarian and evolved to veganism. No biggie, right? But as time progresses, you start to question other things…

Every vegetarian or vegan, some day, will be confronted with the same dilemma: how to reconcile a strict vegetarian-vegan diet with wearing leather?

While I wrote a preview of tonight’s episode of Big Ideas for a Small Planet this morning on sustainablog, Lucille’s right: it deserves a mention over here at Feelgood Style. So tune in (in about 45 minutes Central time) for the award-winning series’ focus on fashion tonight. Get a look at Del Forte Denim’s use of organic cotton, Nau’s sustainable methods of both creating and selling outerwear, and Revolution Cleaner’s greener alternative to traditional dry cleaning. And keep an eye on the extra coverage that appears during BIFASP, and the documentary that follows: word is that our own Jessa Brinkmeyer’s Pivot Boutique may be on tonight.

And while I’ve got you, throw your name in the hat for a green giftbag from the Sundance Channel. It’s easy to do: just subscribe to Green Options Media’s biweekly newsletter.

Impatient? Can’t wait 45 minutes? Here… take a sneak peak at tonight’s episode:

After previewing tonight’s episode of the Sundance Channel’s Big Ideas for a Small Planet, I couldn’t help but think that this week’s topic — fashion — tied in very closely with last week’s show on food. After all, we all eat, and we all dress. Our clothes, like our food, generally start off as crops in fields, and the process of transforming those crops into garments typically involves heavy chemical inputs and many miles traveled (especially in this era of globalization). The fashion industry has a heavy environmental footprint, but a number of designers and manufacturers are challenging those norms, and creating clothing that’s both fashionable and sustainable. Take a sneak peak at one of these companies featured in tonight’s episode: Del Forte Denim

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/C3LDLoGMJSU" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Shown here is a feature from Crow Clothing a new online eco-boutique with a socially responsible mission. I find the Crow Clothing links very interesting. I see a commitment to environmental consciousness on the fabric page here, and movement toward social responsibility on the learning pages. There they explain:

“Crows make use of tools in their daily activities. They learn as they live- they adapt. Crows also come to the aid of unrelated crows

[…]

Pictured here is American designer Rogan Gregory and one of his new organic designs for a partnership with Target that is set to create the next limited-edition collection for GO International, ® an innovative program designed to provide affordable fashion created by world-renowned designers.

Starting this week Barneys New York, will showcase an affordable Target collection from eco-conscious designer Rogan Gregory ~ Rogan for Target. The collection will be preview at Barneys New York in Manhattan from May 9 – May 11 and in Beverly Hills from May 16 – May 18. All cotton used in the collection is 100% certified organic.

Previously we highlighted a Loomstate event at Barneys. Rogan was actually once a designer for Loomstate, Edun, and his own CDFA/Vogue Fashion Fund award winning line.

I LOVE my Envirosax Totes, the fashionable alternative to plastic bags. Invented in Australia (Gotta love the Aussies) , it’s incredibly durable, versatile and Oh so tres chic. I even toted 15 library books using mass transportation 7 months pregnant; that’s how useful they are.

Now, Envirosax introduces their children’s reuseable shopping bags with really quirky graphics and vibrant colors (truth be told, all of their bags are pretty vibrant).  Their philosophy is “Educating the next generation in the responsible re-use of bags, Envirosax Kids will help tomorrow’s future move in the right direction.”

While her uncle’s Presidential record on the environment has been a scandalous disaster, fashion model Lauren Bush has created a 100% organic cotton and sustainable burlap bag — and an accompanying humanitarian initiative — exclusively for Whole Foods, launching today.

For $29.99, you can purchase Lauren’s “Feed 100″ bag: a lightweight, white, cotton tote that collapses easily into its rectangular burlap zippered pouch. The bag is created in facilities which ensure fair treatment of workers, […]

I love discovering new companies that feature eco-friendly clothing for kids, and the market for green children’s gear is growing in both supply and demand. I recently was led to Toby and Rei: eco friendly clothes + accessories for you and baby. This Massachusetts based company, founded by designers Alanna Mallon and Kate Browning, features adorable t-shirts and lunch bags made from organically grown cotton, among many other green products for your child.

100% Organic Kids Graphic Tee

The elephant graphic tee is my favorite shirt! I’ve always had an affinity for elephants. The elephant tee is hand sketched and printed on American Apparel’s 100% organic cotton t-shirt. These sweatshop free shirts made in LA are then dyed at Red Fish-Blue Fish Dyeworks in NH “in the most environmentally friendly way possible without harsh fixing agents or formaldehyde.” This is a hip green tee for your child!