Tomorrow night in San Francisco, Global Green USA is holding their 4th Annual Gorgeous & Green benefit. This celebrity-studded event at the stunning Bently Reserve is co-hosted by Kate Bosworth, along with Jason Lewis, Daphne Zuniga, and Bay Area darling, Michael Franti. Chairing the benefit is Matt Petersen of Global Green, Nadine Weil from Heart of Green, and Zem Joaquin of ecofabulous.com, who has pulled out all the stops to make the event well, ecofabulous.

There will be spa treatments by International Orange, Jane Iredale, and Juice Beauty, food by O Organics, artisanal wines by Iron Horse and Newton Vineyard, organic spirits by VeeV and Square One, and an eco fashion show featuring sustainable designs by Stewart + Brown, Bahar Shahpar, EDUN, Lara Miller, Del Forte Denim, Eco Citizen Boutique, Loyale, Thomas-Ray Eccles, John Patrick Organic, Linda Loudermilk, Cari Borja, Juleselin, Larsen Grey, Loomstate, Sara Shepherd, shoes by Charmone, Cri de Coeur, Olsen Haus, and jewelry by Amber Marie Bently.

If you are anywhere near San Francisco next week, you’ve got to carpool, train, bus, or bike over to Green Fest. This green marketplace meets trade show meets sustainable lifestyle conference is a must-attend for the West Coast eco-conscious community.

There will be over 100 eco fashion companies from all over the country including Alchemy Goods, Indigenous Designs, Kate Organic, Autonomie Project, Simple Shoes, Mission Playground, Helen Riegle, and Green Guru. There are amazing deals to be had, especially on Sunday afternoon, when vendors are willing to wheel and deal in order to reduce the weight of the inventory for their schlep home. You can get samples of all kinds of new products: food, beverages, beauty products, bodycare, media.

What I love most about Green Festival is getting a chance to connect directly with the founders, CEO’s, and craftspeople behind all my favorite products. Putting a face and story to my favorite yerba maté, straw fedora, organic soap, yogurt, or toothpaste really makes my shopping experience back home much more rewarding. I feel like I’m supporting my friends, as well as their missions that I’ve come to know, from conserving old growth rainforest to cleaning up rivers to backing sustainable farmers.

Ashley Van Dyke is a fashion model, high speed race car driver, and if you don’t beleive me, check out the YouTube clip below. So much for women having poor hand-eye coordination. Ashley is part of this new crop of female automotive thrill seekers making their way into the racing circuit. But she’s also a green girl! We met at the Tesla Motors showroom and took the roadster out for its paces. You can read all about it on the Electrifying Times website.

Ashley wanted to attend the Coco Eco magazine launch party at the Designers & Agents Green Market but she had a previous engagement at a charity function. It was great meeting all the people I’d been working with for the last few months in person. I’d hooked up with Anna Griffin on MySpace, Courtney Dailey on Model Mayhem, and discovered Emma Pezzack’s FutureNatural on a CT blog. We all shared the same mission, taking green to the next level. I introduced them to each other and they formed the core team of what is now the first all green editorial fashion studio in Hollywood.

Paul Newman passed away last night… He had come to incarnate Westport, Connecticut. He moved here years ago, tucking himself on a large property hidden in the woods, with his wife Joanne Woodward, and their children. They helped prevent the building of a nuclear power plant on Cockenoe Island and the construction of a Nike missile base, which they later turned into a comedy Rally Around The Flog Boys! 

We all loved his movies, but not everyone loved his shifting politics. Most recently, last year, before his illness became public knowledge, to everyone’s great surprise and dismay, he agreed to speak out on behalf the relicensing of the Indian Point nuclear power plant on the Hudson river. His Newman-Haas racing team is in part sponsored by nuclear industries, and never once promoted Green Racing initiatives.

Now why would a man known for leftist tendencies, a supporter of the Center for Defense Information, do such a thing? That question may well remain unanswered for ever. What does it have to do with fashion? Let’s take a step back from green fashion for a second, and look at it in context with the whole fashion industry. Concerns for sustainability are relatively recent. Yet, the emerging market opportunities for independent new designers who have embraced green ethics as a business model, are doing extremely well… while older, more established clothing companies, often the ready wear divisions of famous old design houses, are starting to wane…

Launch Date: Fall 2007
Location of Headquarters: Encinitas, CA
Location of Manufacturing: San Diego and LA
Number of Staff: 2
Design Heroes: Rogan Gregory, Issey Miyake, John Varvatos, the team at Trovata

Chad Alasantro (formerly a designer with Reef and Aaron Chang) and Joe Kudla (formerly a model for D&G, Versace, BCBG) have successfully created some of the most exciting eco graphic tees we’ve seen in quite some time, here in eco fashion land. The 100% organic cotton designs are colorful, classic and extremely intriguing. It’s not the typical, obtuse green messaging that we’ve seen in 2008, that seemed sooo au current in ’07. Vuori instead captures images of flora and fauna integrating with the human and the spiritual realm in a way that is artful and edgy. Vuori miraculously grows most of their cotton in the US, and their cut and sew production in Southern California. Each of their designs pays tribute to an environmental hero, like Simran Sethi, Nathalie Fobes, and Graham Hill.

What was your inspiration behind Vuori?
Both Chad and I drew inspiration for Vuori from our experiences traveling extensively to various remote parts of the world and seeing first hand deteriorating eco-systems and the effects of global warming…Along with being avid surfers and adventurous people where the natural environment has played a big part in our lives, these travel experiences have opened our eyes to just a few of the environmental issues facing our generation and has resulted in a strong appreciation for the natural world.

Where is your organic cotton grown?
We try to source our cotton domestically as much as possible in which case the cotton is actually picked in Texas, but at times we are forced to use textile company’s that source their yarn from overseas. We are approximately 75% domestic, 25% overseas.

What are some of the influences that come together in your graphics?
Chad: I think I derive influences from all types of artists. Influences may be from a film like “Into the Wild” or the sounds that Eddie Vedder makes. It may come from the whimsical techniques/paintings of Thomas Campell and Herbert Baglione from Brazil. The surrealistic works of Robert Williams. Dan Eldon is so inspiring, the journals he kept before his death as a young photojournalist motivate my love for photography. Just to name few inspiring individuals.

When it comes to men’s eco fashion, what labels if any do you feel are really bringing it?
From a contemporary design standpoint, I have to give props to Loomstate and Edun, both of which are designed by Rogan Gregory. However, in terms of having amazing vision and really showing the rest of us what is possible, the company that continues to inspire us is Patagonia. They were the first to play in this space, and they continue to set the standard in term of what it means to be an eco-friendly company.

How did you choose the “environmentalists, activists, and humanitarians whose visions inspire us to live with more awareness,” that are featured on the inside of your shirts?
…We consider anyone and everyone from famous musicians to grassroots activists….we look for people whose efforts speak to us. They range from musicians that fuel their tour buses using bio-diesel to journalists that are raising the issues by writing amazing pieces on the environment, to grassroots activists lobbying to protect our rainforests in Washington.

What’s next?
…In terms of the collection we would love to see Vuori grow into a full collection including wovens, fleece, and denim, but we are enjoying the ride so not in a huge rush. We’re letting things happen organically.

What other way would they?

An icon of the modern environmental movement, Simran Sethi, is hosting a web TV show for Sundance Channel called The Good Fight. The show brings attention to an important topic many times overlooked by the media, Environmental Justice. Who lives near the electric plants, factories, toxic waste facilities, and garbage dumps? Quite often, it’s low-income families, racial minorities, and residents of developing nations. Simran meets the leaders and participants of the environmental justice movement to explore ways to even the playing field for human habitat. “Climate change has no boundaries and we all have a shared stake,” commented Sethi. “The Good Fight is an attempt to illuminate areas people may not have considered in regards to environmentalism, such as water access, architecture and green-collared jobs. We’ve been made aware of saving the whales, saving the trees—we also need to be saving our communities.”

We realize this topic is not exactly in the eco fashion realm, but we figured eco fashion divas have to entertain themselves somehow when not shopping for the hottest looks in sustainable style, right? …Though Simran definitely rocks the green designers! Had to say it.