Ever curious to know just how green your wardrobe is?  Well, here’s a start.  Colour Connections Ltd has an online calculator which allows consumers to take a look at the environmental impact of their clothing purchase, care and disposal decisions.

The “Household Textile Environmental Impact Calculator” asks the user to answer a series or questions, using drop-down menus, to gather data on the purchase, disposal and care habits of the user. The user is asked to choose from a list of common clothing and household textile items, inputting how many of each item they buy and how they are disposed of in a twelve month period.  Finally, the users are asked how these items are washed, dried and ironed in a typical week. Push the magic button and Badda Bing, your score, or EDU’s (Environmental Damage Units)-a complex, mathematical environmental measure based on water and energy use, the use of non-renewable resources and the resulting pollution-is calculated. The overall EDU’s for each item of clothing depends on each individual consumer’s buying preferences, how they care for their garments and ultimately how they dispose of them.

The EDU scores range from the aptly named “Fashionably Obese, for those scoring 1500 EDU’s annually, to the less aptly named “Fashionably Unfashionable” (rest assured, its is in fact quite fashionable to have a minimal environmental impact), for those scoring 200 EDU’s or less. While educational, and sort of fun, the calculator is a little under inclusive, focusing on conventional textiles and their care and disposal without including more sustainable textile options.

For example, it compares cotton, wool, linen and silk items to polyester, nylon, and acrylic.  While linen, wool, silk and certain viscose fibers are often environmentally superior to synthetics, the calculator does offer organic cotton as opposed to conventional cotton, or organic wool as oppsed to conventional wool, as options, nor does it list other sustainable textiles such as hemp, soy, recycled fibers and the like.  Including these latter options would strengthen the tool’s advocacy appeal and educational value by allowing consumers to see how much impact they can have by making a few simple changes in their clothing purchases.

Despite the lack of sustainable fiber options (yes, there are a few in there, linen for one), the tool is a useful demonstration in how each of our choices can have a positive impact.  “You may be surprised at how much impact your personal or family clothing preferences have on the environment,” said Phil Patterson, managing director of Colour Connections. “Doing one fewer tumble drying cycle per week saves 170 EDU’s, which is enough to make the fabric for 50 pairs of underpants.”  That’s a lot of skivvies!

Source: Ecotextile News

In all the years I’ve spent searching out sustainable fashions, I still have a hard time finding organic socks for any sort of acceptable price. I usually end up defaulting to American Apparel socks because I know they’re made in the USA and the workers are paid well and treated right. (Though I do think they need to have more photos of hot half naked men in their stores so that the shots of half naked women won’t come off as totally sexist. Alas, I digress.) Back to socks, there are a few great options for the frugal organic sock enthusiast.

Maggie’s Organics has been the standard for ethically made socks since 1992. You can find athletic, crew, dress, and wool styles in sizes for men, women, kids, and even babies. If you’re looking for the perfect socks for a meditation retreat or the next Phish concert in your town, Maggie’s also has some tie-dye and “mantra” sock options. Groovy. For the more traditional style mavens, you can get a pack of three pairs of organic cotton crew socks for $19. That’s a deal. Even more of a deal, bordering on a steal, are Ecolution’s India Organic socks being sold for $4 a pair. You can find great quality 3-packs of socks online from Organic Threads for only $16.  Rawganique out of Canada has a wide variety of colorful hemp and flax socks and stockings starting at $10 a pair. With all these choices, you should have no trouble at all finding organic socks that rock.

A lot of eco-conscious fashion mavens complain that they just can’t make the switch to ethical fashion based simply on the fact that the garments are too damn expensive. Well, now that organic cotton is showing up everywhere from H & M to Target to Wal-Mart, and eco fashion stalwarts like Greenloop are hosting incredible sales, finding affordable styles isn’t a problem any more. In this addition of Green Your Closet 2008, we’ll give you some easy-to-find and financially realistic eco fashion options. Finally!

Vintage Value

There is absolutely nothing like finding a Marc Jacobs riding jacket for $40 or a Diane Von Furstenburg wrapdress circa 1977 for $100 that no one at your local consignment store seems to realize is worth a mint on eBay. The experience is truly exhilarating. What fashionista on a budget would not thrill at having the greatest names in fashion hanging in his or her closet?

Designer labels aside, there are tons of treasures waiting for you at your neighborhood thrift store, consignment shop, or Buffalo Exchange. Buying used clothing is the top way to put the eco into fashion and the bargain into shopping. Not only do vintage pieces push the style envelope, it’s also worth noting that if a piece has lasted thirty plus years without falling apart, it probably has a much longer lifespan than something from H&M. Ask around town for the best vintage spots and you may just stumble across bargain shopping goldmines that were right under your nose the whole time.

Eco Fashion Finds

Greenloop is not only the best eco fashion online store around (okay, I’m completely biased-it’s true), but owner Aysia Wright keep the Sale section of the online store poppin’ with incredible deals on eco-luxe lines like Anna Cohen, Stewart + Brown, Carol Young, and Loyale from 30-50% off.

White Apricot is completely devoted to providing coupons for eco fashion and beauty lines for 15-30% off. If you are a super bargain hunter, consider subscribing to the White Apricot email newsletter to receive special offers that are not available to regular viewers of the site. The people behind White Apricot are absolute gems, and are always looking to get you the best deal out there.

Mainstream Green

Levi Strauss and Co. has been manufacturing organic cotton jeans since the Fall of 2006. The Levi’s Eco line has grown to include 7 jean styles in multiple colors, a mini-skirt, and a denim jacket. The Women’s line ranges from $48-78, but right now the jacket is $49, the skirt is $39, and some of the jeans are as low as $29. The Levi’s Eco Men’s line carries two styles of jean, at full price, only $68. It’s wonderful to see the OG of the denim world create classics that preserve the pristine nature that those original cowboys, who made denim pants popular, got to see every day on the range.

Target is starting to show signs of interest in sustainability…just barely. Rogan For Target (Rogan Gregory is the eco fashion demigod behind Loomstate and Edun) was released last month and offers a wide variety of organic cotton pieces for $16.99-$49.99. Make sure to read the fine print on the descriptions though! Some of the garments are sadly still being made of petroleum-based polyester. Sad, Rogan, sad. Bad, Target, bad. Even eco fashionistas want justice! Be sure to call Target and tell them you do not want to be misled about eco fashion choices at (800) 440-0680..make sure to follow the prompts regarding merchandise on the online store. The call took me just under three minutes. If you do still want to enjoy the incredible organic cotton pieces from Rogan For Target, read the details and buy only the pieces made of 100% organic cotton.

If you’re willing to dig through a bit of clothing and controversy, there are many options out there for the bargain-hunting eco fashionista. Enjoy.

Let us know where you find your green style steals in the Comments section of this post!

Watch Tommy Shaw of Styx “purge” (that sounds very LA) his closet with Closet Control author Barbra Horowitz. Highlights include him painting on an orange jumpsuit from his touring days and getting repeated spankings by his very involved wife.

This is what you need to say to those sexy relics from the past, tucked way down deep in the back of your closet. By the way, we’re talking clothes here, people, not skeletons. (We’re just not that deep on In The Loop.) Ahem. In our continued coverage of tips for optimizing your wardrobe, celebrity stylist Barbra Horowitz shows you what to do with those gorgeous-yet-dated garments lying dorment in your closet. She also shares eye-opening info on what’s hiding in those plastic garment bags from the dry cleaners (again, not skeletons, folks.). Take a look.

Enter Greenloop’s ReShirt Cutting Contest to win a 30 minute virtual consultation with Barbra along with her recently published style bible, Closet Control.

Celebrity stylist Barbra Horowitz, co-sponsor of Greenloop’s 1st Annual ReShirt Cutting Contest and the author of style bible Closet Control, is in the business of teaching people how to dress themselves. Having learned the tricks of the trade from her fashionista mother, Barbra teaches people how to invest wisely in wardrobe and how to nurture those assets once they’ve been acquired.

One of her many lessons is how to transform garments from old & tired to fresh & fabulous by taking underused clothes you’re attached to- that family reunion t-shirt, cherished 80’s prom dress, or the oversized vintage couture piece- and cutting, dyeing, or tailoring them back to greatness. The woman is a closet alchemist.

In this video, Barbra shows you how to take a stained garment you’re on the verge of throwing away and dye it into something you’ll always want to keep. And it’s easy! Seriously, the whole video clip is so quick and painless, you might have to watch it again to make sure you didn’t miss anything. Check it out…

Calling all eco-fashionistas, aspiring sustainable designers and DIY gurus, here’s your time to shine! (And get free clothes.) Greenloop, together with Barbra Horowitz, present to you the 1st Annual ReShirt Cutting Contest. You know all those t-shirts in your closet that might not make it to next season? Is it too big, too wide, the neck is tight, or the style is all wrong…well, get out your scissors and get to snippin!’

Barbra Horowitz, author of Closet Control, is an LA-based style guru. In her book and attached DVD, Barbra shows you how to rework and revamp what you already own to get the wardrobe you really want. She also explains how investing in high end style and reselling it is beneficial for your wardrobe, the planet and your pocketbook.

Now it’s time to show Barbra Horowitz, the brains behind the original Tee Party, and Aysia, the woman behind the premier online eco-fashion retailer Greenloop, how you can rock a fresh t-shirt design armed with only a pair of scissors and your own personal design savvy. (more…)

WhoWhatWearDaily.com has put together this entertaining little video clip on what to wear…Eco-style. They pull from a couple of dedicated eco-designers like EcoSkin and Linda Loudermilk, but the majority of their picks come from mainstream, conventional designers offering a few eco-options mixed with conventional (read: non-green) items. Being completely submerged in the world of eco-apparel and accessories, to me, it seems just silly to pull anything but dedicated brands for a piece like this. That said, I have to realize that the average shopper may need to be eased in to the world of sustainable style, and this is not a bad way to do it….mix the familiar with the unfamiliar. Add to that the fact that eco-brands are not always easy to find (Hint: Shop ONLINE!) it makes their approach a little easier to understand. While I prefer to support designers that are green from the ground up, I do have to applaud at least token efforts to green up the operations of traditionally un-green collections. Now lets just hope those small steps inspire them to embrace sustainable design all the way around.