Someone said “Let’s have a fashion show,” just like Mickey Rooney in Strike Up the Band! Next thing you know, the whole town of Ridgefield, Connecticut, breaking rank with the Stepford Wives, is rising to the occasion. The Green ROCK Inn offered their quaint little suburban get away, but the fire marshall got wind of all the people who were coming, so the venue moved to Nature’s Temptations, the town’s brand new health food store, which couldn’t have been a better idea.

Starre Vartan of Eco-Chick was signing her book at Go Practically Green, also brand new. She assembled a wide selection of sustainable fashion designer clothing. Shine, the local Aveda salon, asked a few friends to strut down the runway… among the Sicilian olive oil and the 7-grain cereal boxes. Brian Clark Howard spun the sounds.

Continue reading Food & Fashion, What A Combination!

So you’re back on campus and in need of some essential school supplies-new shoes, a bag, a hot party ensemble? You’re sure that once you obtain these key study tools, your semester will go swimmingly. Well, Greenloop definitely has the ideal pieces to make you a better student (or at least just look like one.)

The Abalone Top by EcoSkin is perfect for a stud-filled study group, an afterschool cocktail hour, or blowing off academic traumas at the local nightclub. Made of eco fibers bamboo and tencel, the Abalone Top is sleek, sexy and sustainable. This hot little number from EcoSkin deserves to be matched with some very affordable organic cotton jeans from Good Society. Good Society denim is designed in Japan and made in India, which is one of the biggest hubs in the world for organic cotton. The two pieces together are sheer genius.

If clothes make the man, then shoes make the woman (happy). Rushing through the quad each day will call for kicks that are both cute and comfortable. These adorable strappy Toepaz flats by green design gurus Simple Shoes are made of hemp, recycled tires, and bamboo. Dress ‘em up, dress ‘em down, these vegan zapatos are gonna make your studymates green with envy. Oh darn.

Clearly your new mountain of scholarly tomes is going to require a bag strong enough to handle the weight and cool enough to erase the overloaded-with-books dork factor. What could be more perfect than the Vy & Elle “Bookman”? This utilitarian messenger bag gets points for both convenience and cool. It features pockets-within-pockets to help organize all your school supplies, and each Bookman sports one-of-a-kind graphics. Vy & Elle produces their entire line from recycled PVC billboards, upcycling material headed for the landfill and transforming it into wearable art. Pretty smart. In the case of sustainable design, fashion may indeed inspire academic greatness…Or it could just make you feel more enthusiastic about actually attending class.

I was just enjoying my weekly newsletter installment from the superstars over at White Apricot. Editor Carrie Pollare expressed a thought I’ve been having for the past twelve months or so, she said, “I don’t know about you, but the phrase ‘Green is the New Black’ is getting a little old for me. Sure, I love the sentiment, that eco friendly clothes are becoming as important as black is to all of our wardrobes, but it’s becoming a bit cliché.”

I myself don’t normally spend editorial time ranting about things, but I’m going to take the liberty to second that emotion with the following:

Fashion is about two things: trends of the moment and timeless classics. A trend of the moment must indeed be current, edgy, fresh. A timeless classic is an 80’s hit by Prince, a Gaudi building, or a Chanel handbag-it is so well constructed and so genius, that one never tires of it. The phrase “Green Is The New Black” falls under neither category. It was actually quite bold in 2006 when Graydon Carter of Vanity Fair bravely devoted an entire issue of their magazine to environmental topics and titled his Letter From The Editor “Green is the New Black.” That was 28 long months ago. Since then, we’ve seen numerous articles, books, t-shirts, fashion shows, and tote bags galore trumpeting this duel of hues. “Green Is The New Black” is tired, played out, and stale like Christmas ornaments dangling in the hot July sun. My fashion phenomes, spread the word. Green is fresh, it is vibrant, it is versatile-it is the new classic. Black is black and beautiful and itself. Please free these colors from their identity crisis. Ecologically responsible practices are not a trend, they are a necessity of our times. Green Is The New Sane. Period.

Sprig.com recently named the Vegan Queen City Bag featured on Greenloop as one of their 10 Best Handbags For Fall. These high-end vegan totes are made in the USA from non-toxic, recyclable materials. According to Sprig, the City Bag rocks because:

“A chic bespoke handbag is not just a place to dump your wallet and keys (although we do it anyway), it’s often a statement piece. This two-tone double-strap sophisticated bag evokes visions of country homes and white-glove service.”

We are glad to hear these Vegan Queen bags are grabbing some kudos in addition to their hefty pricetags. For every glamour kitten out there who simply refuses to choose fashion over humanity, Vegan Queen offers you a luxurious way to have your cake and eat it too. Delicious.

While everybody was busy debating Palin or Obama, I went to a fashion show, but not any fashion show, one hosted by Angela Lindvall, who has dedicated her life to sustainable design issues, and now stars with Adrian Grenier on the flip side of his Entourage, in a wonderful new TV show called AlterEco. All her cast mates from Planet Green made the trek from LA to support her. The event was held under the life size blue whale hanging inside the American Museum of Natural History’s Millstein Hall of Ocean Life.

On September 4th, at the height of New York Fashion Week, Angela’s agency IMG helped sponsor this benefit for the Sierra Club to launch Be EcoChic, a convergence of many different people, companies and organizations who share the same environmental concerns about the fashion industry, and who are all working together to instill practical sustainability solutions in both their personal lives and their profession.

You couldn’t have hoped for a better turnout or a hipper crowd. Lauren Hutton, who recently launched her own makeup line, is a hero of mine. Always an adventurer and an explorer, I suspect her picking giant live flying bugs from the air and sucking their insides out, around the light of a camp fire while spending time with an African tribe, was an inspiration for Survivor! Few years ago she got herself into a terrible motocycle accident. It was wonderful to see her goofing around at rehearsal, back on the runway wearing a beautifully green and romantic steampunk long coat from Maggie Norris, who four months ago invited Riverkeeper lawyer Philip Musegaas to walk her runway.

Continue reading Be EcoChic: Angela’s Coming Out Party

Illustrious eco diva Victoria Everman recently interviewed our longtime friends, Adam and Nico at Peligrosa. These two designers launched Peligrosa back in 2004; they sought to collaborate on a sustainable clothing line that would outlive trends through producing absolutely classic designs. Victoria Everman picks the couple’s brains about their past lives in Japan, sustainable fabric, and the dangerous feminine.

Behind the Seams with Adam Sidell and Nico Morrison of Peligrosa
By Victoria E.

Made to stand the test of time, the sustainable stylish offerings of Peligrosa are a force to be reckoned with. Started by husband-and-wife team Adam Sidell and Nico Morrison, Peligrosa makes tops, bottoms, t-shirts, dresses and more for both men and women in sustainable fabrics. Based in Los Angeles, Peligrosa also donates a portion of their profits to non-profit youth programs and have recently moved 80% of their production back to the United States to reduce their carbon footprint as a brand.

Both you and your wife Nico worked in the entertainment industry and Japanese fashion world before teaming up to do an eco-line together. How did you go from you first casual meeting in 2004 to starting a sustainable brand?

Nico Morrison: I’d been working in Japan over ten years and made great contacts along the way. One of my favorite memories is traveling outside of Nagoya to a farmland owned by Mr. Fujita, a tiny middle-aged man and his wife who operated a handloom in a barn. He would crank out a new textile every day, and I was fortunate to spend many days with him, drinking tea and brainstorming over unusual plants and how to weave them into fabric.

When I started Mille Nico in 2001, I was determined to make all the textiles in Japan under the same artisan method, no matter the cost. Our incorporation of Peligrosa was an extension of my experience in Japan and our mutual love of the handicraft approach. Using organic & sustainable materials made sense, since we’ve always favored natural materials over synthetic manmade fibers and wanted to diminish the toxicity levels of our own apparel production.

Adam Sidell: After meeting, Nico and I designed the last Mille Nico collection (everything was linen and silk). We fell in love and decided to start a new label that would represent our combined aesthetics and mutual concerns for the environment. We were doing a lot of private label manufacturing for other companies, and by their insistence for cost sensitivity, visited hundreds of factories and fabric mills in Asia and were fed up with substandard factory conditions, pollution, and waste in the manufacturing process. We made a conscious decision to reject the status quo, and focus on sustainable, and organic manufacturing.

Where does the company’s name, Peligrosa, originate from? Does it have a special meaning?

Adam: The Spanish translation of peligrosa is “dangerous” (feminine). There’s a very sexy connotation to the word, as well as some underlying sub text. Our Peligrosa woman is provocative - she’s intelligent, strong willed, tempts with her femininity and mind. This is someone who consciously chooses clothing that appeals to her convictions as well as her curves.

It’s dangerous to go against the grain, and follow your dreams. It’s dangerous to take risks, and follow your heart. As a clothing company, it was dangerous making the decision to be an eco friendly, sustainable clothing collection. We had many friends in the apparel business who thought we were crazy, and destined to fail.

Making goods from organic cotton, organic wool, cashmere and recycled cotton, do you have a particular sustainable fiber that is your favorite to design with? Are there any fibers that you hope to work with in the future?

Nico: I love texture, intricate quilting, and deep, rich colors. Organic cotton absorbs our colors brilliantly, and our recycled cottons have great speckled, slub finishes. We love the versatility and sustainability of organic cotton, but it’s tough to pick a favorite material. I love everything we work with. Currently, we’re developing some very innovative textiles in sustainable materials – just wait! Every season, we come out with a completely new textile – part of what I absolutely love in design.

On Peligrosa’s website, a certain emphasis is put on children and their importance for our planet and our culture. To support these statements, Peligrosa donates a percentage of its profits to the Boys & Girls Club of America - why this particular organization? Have you seen any interesting developments within the organization thanks to your donations?

Adam: It’s thrilling to see so many of our peers contributing net proceeds to environmental causes. It’s really important, and it’s great to see business people getting involved. We felt environmental causes were getting the majority of donations from apparel companies which caused us to rethink our position.

Education is our focus, it’s important to nurture young people so they’ll know from an early age the importance of taking care of our environment. By supporting youth programs, we hope future generations will have the thoughtfulness, education, and training to reverse the damage done to the planet they inevitably will inherit.

Read more of Victoria E.’s interview with Peligrosa at Victoria-E.com…

I was reading Bitch magazine (yes guys read Bitch too, if only to spy on how the other half lives… they did put together a really great green issue last year) when this eye catching ad inside their front cover made me curious… would they carry things in tune with the Greenloop? So I dropped them a note. This is what they wrote back:

We’ve actually been adding eco-friendly and organic brands left and right these days, and have a whole section devoted to them. You can find our eco friendly selections here.

My personal favorites are the E.G. Smith Pinstripe Crew for “Men” (Though I think they look great on women as well!). They can be found here.

I think we are planning on adding other Eco friendly, organic, hemp, and recycled socks in the near future, so check us out and keep and eye out for any news on our sock blog: www.sockdreams.com/weblog

Danny
Sock Dreams

Sock Dreams has a retail store in Portland, OR on 725 SE Powell Blvd.

Fashion and poverty seem like an unlikely pair to be matched up against one another, unless of course it’s between your personal desire for a couture piece and the emptiness of your bank account. Truth is these days, the two just keep running into each other, but on a much larger scale; and this time fashion is alleviating poverty instead of encouraging it. On September 26th, the ethical fashion organization Fashion Fights Poverty (FFP) will be hosting their 4th annual eco-fashion benefit at The St. Regis hotel in Washington, DC.

Each year, Fashion Fights Poverty combines established brands like American Apparel and Donna Karan with premiere eco fashion lines like Edun and Loomstate, alongside emerging talent, to present clothing that is sophisticated and truly sustainable. For the 2008 “America” theme, FFP has chosen to honor not only fashion design, but also American ingenuity. “In this historic election year where the focus is change and innovation, we believe, to be an American is to conceive and build innovative solutions to our common problems,” says Michael Dumlao, Co-Founder and Creative Director of FFP.

Fashion Fights Poverty brings attention to eco designers and organizations who use fashion, artisanship, and creativity to build long-term economic opportunity in poverty stricken communities. This year’s runway will feature designs from eco and ethical lines by Kayce Armstrong, Mae, Annatarian, Adele Wechsler and local DC menswear designer Eric Finn.