Interview with Anna Griffin, publisher of Coco Eco magazine.
(Launching October 18th.)

You’re a popular commentator on the LA greenscene. You’ve filmed videos for Ecorazzi. We met on MySpace where you host some really terrific interviews with Hollywood celebrities and green business leaders. In a few days you’re launching your own new green fashion magazine online… Coco Eco…  It’s a labor of love, isn’t? How did the name come about? Coco Chanel? Who is involved?

Coco Eco Magazine is much more than a love.  It’s a privilege.  I am so fortunate to have the opportunity to do this, and be surrounded by very talented and visionary individuals who’ve made this a reality. 

The name came accidentally.  We were building under another name until we ran into trademarking issues, and to be honest, I don’t remember when I thought of Coco Eco.  It just came to me, and when I thought about it, it stuck.  Everyone loved it, and that was that.  And of course it doesn’t hurt paying accidental hommage to the world’s greatest fashion icon! 

As to my team, I have the best and brightest people in the eco-scene working with me.  They really are mavericks!  My Beauty Director is Emma Pezzack, CEO of Futurenatural.com, our Photo Director is Courtney Dailey who is one of the hottest new photographers in LA, and our Senior Stylist is Robin Garvick who is THE eco-celeb fashion stylist in town.  We also have Contributors like the legendary Barbara Kramer of Designers & Agents, Stefanie La Rue, breast cancer survivor and Founder of SLAM.

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This isn’t going to be easy for me, because I know little or nothing about fashion, let alone sustainable fashion down under, so bare with me… You’ll have to do most of the typing. I know Australia for a few things, it used to be a prison planet… it gave birth to Mad Max and a whole new fetish fashion set… there’s weird tales of magic in the vastness… all of this must inspire a new green fashion magazine to reconnect with the elements… am I far from the mark?

Ha! Well funnily enough the screenwriter of Mad Max has said that the script was based on “the thesis that people would do almost anything to keep vehicles moving and the assumption that nations would not consider the huge costs of providing infrastructure for alternative energy until it was too late”. Sounds eerily spot on! I wish I could say it wasn’t the case here in Australia, but I think living in the city is the same anywhere – we have all lost touch with our surroundings and the magic of the land. I grew up in New Zealand so probably had more of a connection with nature while growing up, but it tends to get lost in the everyday living of city life. Then I had a baby… having a young child tends to make you look at things differently, you want everything to be clean, green and chemical-free. So I started looking into organics and other aspects of fashion and the environmental and social cost. The more I researched, the more I realised I couldn’t turn a blind eye anymore, so I dove in head first, and Peppermint was born! 

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In 2005, Jenny Hwa and loyale clothing received the OSSA Award from the Sustainable Style Foundation and the Youth Award from the Collage Foundation. loyale contributes 3% of annual profits to Green Corps, a non-profit which has to date trained over 400 young people as our next generation of environmental leaders. Jenny has garnered quite a lot of great press over the years, most recently in Plenty magazine. Victoria E once quoted Jenny as a fan of Francoise Hardy. loyale clothing is carried by 45 retailers around the country. On the eve of another fashion week in New York, Jenny and I talk green shop for a little bit.

We keep looking for ways to make the anti-nuclear movement as cool as green is now. Maybe a line of anti-nuke yoga clothes? (says I half jokingly…) You pioneered organic cotton in yoga wear… Probably planted seeds for the Green Yoga Association. How is it that sustainable fashion has become a political statement, in the way we spend our dollar? Are we witnessing a re-organization of human culture around green ideals, one that may possibly alter the global world economy? Is the result of our green buying decisions being felt by cotton producing nations? Is the eco-fashion movement making a difference?
 
The eco-fashion movement is making a significant difference because it is creating a dialogue.  This dialogue begins to get people thinking and then acting.  People want to make a positive impact in their lifetime, but feel overwhelmed or don’t know where to begin.  With green clothing, for example, people know they need to buy clothing and get dressed in the morning, suddenly they hear about all this buzz about organic cotton t-shirts and say hmmmm…why do I care or need this?  Then perhaps do a bit of internet research and see that conventional cotton farming is using 25% of the world’s insecticides and that 14 million people a year in the USA alone are drinking pesticide contaminated water - that is the epiphany moment, when they realize why it is important to support organic cotton farming and then they tell their friends about it.  This is how green fashion is going to make a difference - each person taking a small step that creates a chain reaction.  This is my motivation behind loyale…It is not just about clothing, but the message and setting off a positive chain reaction.

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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?

Having been an environmentalist most of my life, brought up in the halls of fashion as the chouchou d’ELLE in the 50’s and 60’s, it never really dawned on me the importance of beauty products and cosmetics had in the grand scheme of things. Then I read that a hair dresser in the UK by the name of Maurice Ward had mixed a few things from his salon together and miraculously came up with a substance more resistant to heat that the NASA space shuttle tiles. He named it Starlite after Bakelite, the first plastic, its jewelery still prized today.

In recent years, the work of architect Bill McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart at MBDC, implementing their cradle-to-cradle product development philosophy, led to the creation of green chemistry departments at Universities all over the world, most notably at Yale, now working on safer formulas for the beauty industry. Interesting how again, architecture and fashion cross path to share missions.

Emma Pezzack’s Futurenatural came online last year and quickly established itself as one of the most successful all natural and organic supply house for enlightened consumers as well as professional make-up artists wishing to green their kits. Emma joined forces with Anna Griffin, Courtney Dailey and Stacy Malkan at GreenMUA to lead the way in Hollywood.

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Victoria Everman is a model, environmentalist and journalist living in San Francisco. She is a contributing blogger for In The Loop, a founding member of GreenMUA and the U.S. Spokesperson for Twice Shy Clothing.

You lived in Darien, Connecticut. Is that where you grew up? How did you come about your green mission?
 
Actually, I never lived in Darien, but I did live on Avon, Middletown, Enfield and Stamford. I didn’t grow up in Connecticut - I was born in Indiana and have moved around a lot. Living green was something that I always grew up with, but not in the traditional sense. My family was green because it was more affordable to reuse or make our own things (including food and clothing) than buying new. Some school years began with shopping at the Salvation Army. While those days are behind me, that do-it-yourself mentality has still stuck with me.
 
You’re part of this new breed of model who blends her career with environmental activism. It’s no longer an after thought, you integrate the two. How does that work?
 
Being a green or eco-model was just a natural part of my career progress. I’ve been modeling since I was 6 and being able to work with sustainable companies and organizations is a fantastic opportunity. Being a green model isn’t just about wearing organic cotton clothing and being mindful of how much you travel - there are many more elements, such as make-up, hair products, locations … etc. There is no rule anywhere that says you can’t be beautiful and sustainable - if national parks can do it, why can’t models?

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Hi Starre, you’re Eco-Chick, one of the most widely read, prolific and respected green fashion bloggers on the web. Yet, you’ve been writing about hard core environmental issues for many years… you have a BS in Geology, a minor in Biology from Syracuse and an MFA in nonfiction writing from Columbia. What made you pick sustainable fashion, of all things, as your preferred avenue to chronicle green change?

I am a total science nerd and I love being outdoors, learning about rocks, plants, insects and ecology. I taught environmental science to kids and worked as an environmental scientist when I first got my undergraduate degree. But I feed on change, and I’ve always loved writing, and creative endeavors seem to be endlessly challenging and they keep my restless mind entertained. I come from a family of artists and scientists, and I’ve always wanted to combine the two (and am fascinated by those few souls who also look at the world this way). So how could I bring together science, design, visual art and show my love for this amazing planet?

Fashion seems ideal to me since it has the science (fabric and fibers, production and dyeing of textiles, growing plants sustainably–or not) combined with design and artistry. I have a very strong aesthetic sense even though I was never a visual artist (my father and stepmother are illustrators and painters though). I was raised by my grandmother who taught me to sew and fostered an appreciation for clothes and design and as a child. I wouldn’t really go shopping for clothes- we would go to the fabric store and I would pick out - even when i was just 5 and 6- fabrics and dress patterns and she would make them with me. When I wasn’t making clothes and quilts with her, I was off in the woods, covered in mud, exploring the wetlands that my house was built on.

My grandmother also designed our home herself, and it was built in 1967 so it was super-modern, but at the same time totally integrated into the environment it was sited on; she was inspired by Russell Wright (no relation to Frank Lloyd Wright) who produced the iconic American Modern dishware line and also built an incredible house in the town I grew up in called Manitoga. Every room in the house has an indoor and outdoor component (even the bathrooms!) and a tree trunk is a main support in the center of the house. Rock floors, and seasonally-changing cabinets were design elements. The house I grew up in had similar features and was built on a rock ledge, so we were totally integrated into our surrounding landscape. We kept huge organic gardens and ate local meat and eggs from our neighbors. All of these influences and dichotomies- a modern house on a dirt road, art and design coupled with fresh food and the real physical labor of gardening, freedom to create and respect for the local ecosystem….It was an incredible place to form an aesthetic!

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Courtney Dailey is based in LA where she does double duty as a fashion photographer and a professional make-up artist. We met on Model Mayhem, or Myspace, can’t remember… I pride myself having become the green conscience of Model Mayhem, tracking new talent to see who the next green stars are going to be. Courtney and I shared a singularity of vision. She joined GreenMUA, a project we started to assist professional make-up artists to green-up their kits. I asked her to be my first interview victim on the Greenloop.

Lips Nvey Lip Lustre Armor Rose, Eyes Alima Cosmetics-Azure Model Amie

Hi Courtney, where are you from originally, what brought you to LA? Couldn’t have been clean air!

Ha, Yes, it was most definitely not the air quality! I was born and raised in Detroit. I made the “big move” in November ‘07. In recent years, Detroit’s economy had been in a serious and vicious decline. Despite my love for the Motor City, I needed to find an outlet for my creativity, where I could still survive as an artist. I thought about New York, but my prerogative is, if one is going to pick up their lives; pack their cats and rabbit for a road trip, the destination should be somewhere warm.

Is it true what the mayor says, Los Angeles is fast becoming the capital of green fashion? There’s such a buzz with Hollywood celebrities going green, how does it affect professionals in your industry? What changes does it bring?

There is a lot of Buzz about the green movement, and it’s refreshing. I think LA has long been ahead of the game. Coming from the Midwest where post consumer recycling isn’t a cost efficient option, Los Angeleno’s recycle everyday. (more…)