To celebrate Earth Day 2008, the most recognized and trumpeted Earth Day in history, In The Loop would like to encourage you to turn your computers off, stand up, and walk outside. Walk until you feel like you’re inside nature, however long that takes you. Fly free people. We are not machines. We are born of this place, from a womb, not an assembly line. Get out there and love this place. Nature is your home too.

“There is no beauty in the finest cloth if it makes hunger and unhappiness.” Gandhi

In honor of Earth Day 2008, Greenloop begged the question of eco fashion: Are we making a difference? This series continues with this response from Wendy Tremayne, creator of Swap-O-Rama-Rama(who we featured in an earlier article on In The Loop dedicated to greening your closet). Swap-o-rama-rama is a traveling clothing swap and do-it-yourself workshop in which various communities explore creative reuse through by turning their old used clothing into fabulous new creations. Wendy is of course a champion of DIY culture and these are excerpts from the insightful thoughts she wanted to share for Earth Day 2008…

...Less than a hundred years ago things were quite different. What people owned is what they created or what someone they knew created for them. Imbued with the stories of our lives our material goods embodied our creativity and spoke of our community. Before the industrial revolution objects were not likely be tossed to the trash like the heaps of plastic that line our streets and overload landfills today. These objects were made of sacred stuff, the energy and intention of people. You could say that one difference between 100 years ago and today is that 100 years ago we were all makers, that is we made the objects that filled the landscape of our material existence. In less than 100 years we’ve lost sight of the discovery that the making of things is not an activity to be avoided in order to attain leisure, but rather a playful and leisurely endeavor unto itself. Naturally when we are makers we are part of communities of people connected through the history of ideas and even the natural world from which all of our materials arise. No maker can exist on their own.

Knowledge, teaching and the sharing and collectivizing of ideas are inherent in the creative process. The maker learns that every craft and skill tells a story that involves the evolution of an idea that leads to this moment in time. Time collapses and we sit face to face with our brothers and sisters of the past. If we look back far enough we see our materials as they come from the planet in the form of raw material. From here a maker can see that we can never really take credit for the creation of anything as we are never independent of this history or the earth - the ultimate and only real maker… (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.

Frank Angiuli is the owner of Natural High Lifestyle, a “California Lifestyle” boutique. Natural High supplies ethical clothing, accessories, and yoga gear to the beachtown of Santa Monica, CA. They also have their own eco clothing line which they provide wholesale to quality shops like Fred Segal. Here’s what Frank had to say in response to our article earlier this week, which was a question for both ethical style creators and consumers, Eco Fashion: Are We Making A Difference?

“No question that the industry has changed its focus pretty significantly over the past few years when it comes to promoting green. This alone is a positive thing, requiring individuals and companies alike to take stock of what they are doing well, and what they can do better in regard to serving our environment for long term well being. That said, we are starting to see the scope of this issue, and how intertwined elements of this vast economy are, from alternative fuel impacting feed stocks, to farming practices and water use abuses to inefficient manufacturing processes and disposable fashion shipped around the world.

The days of bringing awareness to the environmental movement at the expense of ones own individual impact needs to wind down. We, as consumers must check in with our own lifestyles and take account of the impact we have across the board. Finding ways to make our lives simpler and more efficient, while inspiring others to do the same. Live local, act global, be the change you wish to see in the world, if not us, who, if not now, when. These are the mantras of 2008 as they were in the moment they were first spoken. We need action on all levels, government, corporate, and consumer, every time the opportunity to improve presents itself.

I highly recommend this movie for its attempt to effect the social view of consumption at its core… The Story Of Stuff.”

Thanks for that perspective Frank. Definitely check out the intro to The Story of Stuff above. Anyone else? Please comment below or send us your response to this question, along with some photos for us to post.

I just wanted to take a moment to check in with you. Yes, you, the readers of this blog who represent a good slice of the eco fashion heads in the United States. I imagine you not only read In The Loop, you are in the loop on greener garment trends. Some manufacturers like Natural High Lifestyle and Patagonia, as well as customers of hemp designs and vintage clothing stores, have been leading the eco fashion pack for at least a decade or more. Most of the sustainable fashion designers and junkies in the U.S. just realized very recently what a huge impact the clothing industry has on the world at large. From the destruction of ecosystems through cotton pesticides to the abuse of children in foreign sweatshops, what we buy, sell, design, or manufacture has a massive ripple effect on society and nature. It turns out that shopping does matter after all. So as Earth Day 2008 approaches, we must pause to ponder the question…Are we making a difference? Do you notice major changes in the availability of ethically-made garments and fabrics in your neck of the woods? Do you see any improvements in the communities and ecosystems most effected by the apparel industry?

This is the beginning of a conversation with the fashion industry-those who buy, make, and sell clothing-to suss out if all this hoopla of green fashion shows, eco haute couture designs, benefits, speeches, books, blogs, podcasts, and changes in consumer habits have made a damn bit of difference. Please leave a comment below and let us know what you see happening (or not happening) with eco fashion in your area…and your closet. Or, if you’re feeling super spunky, send us your perspective with a few photos and we’ll post it here on In The Loop.

Seriously, leave a comment, don’t be afraid. It’ll take two minutes and we’ll love you for it. The Comments section is just below this photo, right down…there↓. Thanks.

Cosmetics Professionals Are Starting to Go Green
By Starre Vartan for The Daily Green

Though it may feel like makeup is a necessity when you wake up exhausted, hungover, or both, in reality our little pots and tubes of color are extravagances. And like four-dollar coffees, frosted-to-death cupcakes and doggie sweaters, these little indulgences are what makes life fun.

But at what cost do our good times come, to both our health and that of the planet (which is really one and the same)? I’m not the only one who thinks that life’s little luxuries should come with zero impact; if it’s not necessary then the first rule should be “do no harm.”

Good thing the beauty industry is catching on. Following in the wake of sustainable fashion, less-toxic makeup is now available everywhere from the drugstore (Physician’s Formula’s new Organic Wear line) to makeup megastore Sephora.) But for a serious selection of the most toxin-free cosmetics, check out online retailers Kaia House and Futurenatural.

We know that consumer pressure can encourage companies to consider the impact of their products, but the makeup industry also works with professional makeup artists (pro-muas) who can have influence on both the companies’ products they use and the clients they work with. Greenmua has a great listing of companies, articles and links for pro makeup artists who are interested in making their industry more sustainable.

I spoke with the Australia-bred Emma Pezzack, the owner and founder of Futurenatural, about Earth-friendly makeup for regular women and the new move by makeup artists to bring these products into the pro makeup arena. Read the interview with Emma…

To learn more about what’s in your makeup bag, check out the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.

This week, US jeans labels the National Jean Company and Earnest Sewn will host a fashion to kick off a five day charity initiative which will result in old denim clothes being recycled into cotton insulation.

The fashion show will take place at Slate Lounge in New York where entry to the show will require the donation of an old pair of jeans. Consumers will also be able to donate denim clothes at the National Jean Company’s New York stores from 8 – 13 April.

Donated jeans will go to the ‘Cotton. From green to blue’ project run by Cotton Inc., which is an environmentally aware initiative where denim is recycled into ‘UltraTouch’ natural cotton fibre insulation and is donated for rebuilding houses in the hurricane-affected Gulf Coast region.
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The A to Z of Eco Fashion: All you ever need to know about clothes. I guess we can just call it a wrap now. No one need write on eco-fashion ever again since everything you need to know about clothes is all right here. Well…maybe not. I can still think of a thing or two to say. But honestly, it is very well done, covering topics from banned substances to the concept of a ‘triple bottom line’, and everything in between, not to mention before and after. They might need to sing the ABC song a time or two again as they have “R” in there both before “S” and after “T”, they left out the Fair Trade header, but the discussion is there; K is M.I.A as far as I can tell, and the “X” is for eXport. Nonetheless, I am far from perfect in my editorial endeavors, so let’s not get bogged down in the grammatical, or in this case, alphabetical, details…. just read it. Here’s the A to Z:

A year in Eco Fashion, Banned substances, Conscious consumerism, Design pioneers, Environmentally friendly, Fair trade, Garment workers, Hemp, Inexpensive, Junior buyer, (No K) Lead times, Multi-stakeholder ethical trading initiatives, Natural dyes, Organic cotton, Polyester, Questions for brands and retailers, Reduce, reuse, recycle, Schools, Triple bottom line, Reducing negatives, Upcycling, Vegetable tanned leather, Wash less, wash green, Export processing zones, Yumbo, Columbia, and Zermenegildo Zegna.