If you cast a gimlet eye at made-in-China merch, you might need to append a few more places to your blacklist. In a random sampling of department stores and boutiques in the southeastern province of Zhejiang, Chinese inspectors discovered that a staggering 60 percent of clothes made outside of China suffered from poor colorfastness or high levels of acid or formaldehyde—including products from high-end fashion houses.
London Fashion Week may have been aflutter with Ada Zanditon’s bat-inspired eco fashion, but it was Paris that laid claim to Rianne de Witte’s “sophisticated moths.” Both mystical and minimalist in nature, the Dutch eco-fashion legend’s Autumn/Winter 2010 collection is a perfect example of how contemporary fashion might transcend the material realm, with classic elements that have timeless appeal.
It’s a polluter’s world—we all just live in it. But imagine being able to sidestep encounters with common urban pollutants like benzene, carbon monoxide, ammonia, and nitrogen oxide—all of which are found in cigarette smoke—and getting out of Dodge while the getting’s good. That’s the philosophy behind the “Detectair,” a cowl-neck vest studded with LEDs that simulate the way you breathe based on the toxicity of your environment, along with tiny vibrators that alert you when you’ve wandered into an unhealthy airspace.
Study NY by Tara St. James‘ Fall/Winter 2010 collection has a hidden split personality. If it isn’t enough that most pieces can be worn two or three different ways, each look was also shot in two contrasting styles: A more conventional lookbook format by photographer Eric Reeves and a series of moody black-and-white images by Graeme Mitchell.
Although we first brought you news about the top-secret collaboration between eco-fashion powerhouse Loyale and jeweler-to-the-stars Gemma Redux back in September, we were pinkie-sworn to secrecy about the actual designs. (Drat!) There’s no need to whisper anymore, however, with the official launch of the two glittery necklaces—designed and named for eco-celebs Natalie Portman and Emily Deschanel—which are as fabulous as their Tinseltown namesakes.
Ahoy and avast! TOMS Shoes is shivering our timbers with its nautically notioned Spring 2010 collection, which includes a couple of animal-free styles that will give vegans happy feet. Decked with abstract sailing-inspired patterns, the Seaport and Tangier Classics feature uppers made from hemp and recycled plastic bottles, latex arch supports, and recycled EVA outsoles. Plus, like all of TOMS shoes, each pair you buy will pay it forward with a pair of new shoes to a child in need.
Jeff Garner, founder and designer of Prophetik
Men’s fashion typically takes a back seat to women’s due to the consumer demand of women’s ready-to-wear. The men’s retail business makes up 20 percent of the market, with eco-fashion constituting only 7 percent (5 percent of which is women’s.) This gives the justification of why companies tend not to focus on eco-menswear. Plus, there is a shortage of menswear designers out there in general.
Julia Roebuck is a British designer who creates eye-catching London street-chic pieces by recycling used or discarded garments from various sources. Roebuck’s got her mind set on more than just a design label; she’s marching her way to the top of the fashion food chain to figure out how to make the industry less wasteful.
What better footwear to go with the DIY IKEA raincoat we featured last week than these upcycled rain boots? (They even come in the same shade of ultramarine—sartorial kismet!) Conceived by Waste for Life by Louie Rigano, a senior at the Rhode Island School of Design, the sturdy and surprisingly chic galoshes are fabricated from plastic bags collected by cartoneros, or impoverished Argentineans who make their living collecting trash in Buenos Aires.
Photo by Andy Holzman/Lapresse
At the ripe old age of 10, Cecilia Cassini might be the youngest fashion designer in America…and perhaps the world. Many of her pieces are even made with repurposed fabrics plundered from the closets of her mother and older sister. Let’s just hope she asked them first. (TreeHugger)
Made-By is celebrating its fifth anniversary with a line of limited-edition line of tees from EDUN. (Marie Claire)
The runways were awash in fur this season. But are designers being duped by clever marketing ploys, including the dubious-sounding “Fur is Green” campaign? (New York Times and The Discerning Brute)
A new fashion boutique in California doesn’t want shoppers—just swappers. (Mother Nature News)
Burn Notice actress Gabrielle Anwar admits that she’s a “vintage fashion freak” and hates chemicals on her face. But what do Wombles have to do with her new low-impact lifestyle? (EcoStiletto)
Who needs to keep their cubicle stocked with analog paraphernalia now that we’ve all moved to paperless offices? Well, if you’re Margarita Mileva, obsolete office supplies make the perfect components for vibrant jewelry, such as twisty necklaces made from multicolored rubber bands, chokers pieced together from wire binding, and pendants fashioned from circular paper clips.
Eager to spring-green your closet for 2010 but kinda short of the other kind of green? We’re teaming up with one of our favorite sustainable lines and the world’s oldest and largest organic fashion company, Hessnatur, to give away our biggest prize yet: a $2,010 shopping spree from their website so you can start the year right in sustainable style. Take your pick of the eco-friendly label’s versatile cardigans, flowy dresses, lighweight trenchcoats, and chic separates. Enter now for your chance to win!
TO ENTER THIS FABULOUS GIVEAWAY
1. SIGN UP FOR THE ECOUTERRE NEWSLETTER (This is important because we’ll be announcing our winner there.)
2. VISIT THE HESSNATUR WEBSITE and LEAVE A COMMENT below telling us which Hessnatur piece is your absolute fave and why. We’ll pick the response we like the best, so be as detailed and creative as possible!
If Lady Gaga has a passion for trashion, she’s managed to keep it on the down-low…until now, that is. The flamboyant chanteuse has “leaked” stills from her mucho anticipated “Telephone” video, which premieres Thursday and features the pipes of musical BFF Beyoncé. Tucked into her famous platinum-blonde locks: empty soda cans and the dismembered remains of a rotary …
Warm weather is soclose we can almost taste it! If you’ve been searching for the perfect Marilyn Monroe-sque ensemble (circa Some Like It Hot) for the imminent heat wave, we’d like to introduce you to Titania Inglis’s foxy little eco-jumper. Its sweetheart lines and organic fabrics, tailored to a T in New York City’s Garment District, have us longing for the sun. But it’s hardly the only piece in Inglis’s arsenal that’s frolic-friendly.
Photo by Wallpaper
A political statement about climate change was the last thing on Karl Lagerfeld’s mind when he trotted Chanel’s Fall/Winter 2010 collection in front of a giant, 265-ton glacier in Paris on Tuesday. (He counts the Ice Hotel in Sweden, not drowning polar bears, as his inspiration.) But can an iceberg be just an iceberg in these post-COP15 times? “Have you felt any warming this winter?” Lagerfeld asked reporters after the show. “Maybe that’s all nonsense, who knows.” Et tu, Karl?
G’day mate, is that a banana you’ve got down undah or are you just happy to see us? Cor blimey, maybe we should save our quips for the boys from Oz, specifically blokes who have traded their tightie-whities for AussieBum’s new range of eco-friendly briefs and boxers. (It just so happens that they’re made from that most well-endowed of tropical fruits.) Can we get a crikey?
For Montreal-based designer Valerie Lamontagne, the spark of creativity can come from the most unlikely of sources. In the case of her climate-reactive dresses, Lamontagne found inspiration in “Peau d’Âne,” a French fairy tale that begins with a king’s vow to remarry only when he finds a woman who equals his late queen’s beauty and virtue. Pressed to find a new wife, he concludes that his daughter alone qualifies. (Quel scandale!) The princess delays the wedding by demanding impossible prenuptial gifts, including three dresses made from moonbeams, sunlight, and the sky. Lamontagne recreates these fantastic gowns but with a high-tech twist: Each dress reacts—in real time—to changing weather conditions.
