Ecouterre

If you thought that a $300,000 T-shirt was outrageous—even if it did help UNICEF air-freight critical lifesaving supplies—you’ll want to keep your pearls at a clutch-worthy distance for a £256,500 number ($405,000) that boasts no such benefaction. Dubbed “The Most Expensive T-Shirt in the World” by its manufacturer, Superlative Luxury—which, as far as we can tell does not have anything else on offer—the organic-cotton tee is a “one-of-a-kind luxury product” made using only renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.

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Where do exploded air bags go to die? If you ask Mariclaro, they don’t. The Toronto-based accessories label salvages truck tarps, leather upholstery, seat belts, bicycle inner tubes, boat sails, and yes, exploded air bags, to create a range of road-tested laptop sleeves, messenger bags, briefcases, and backpacks. Of the materials that comprise each piece, roughly 99 percent was landfill-bound, according to co-founders Sven Schlegel and Willa Murray, who intercept the materials within 300 miles of their workshop. (“1 percent is made of notions and our logo, still unavailable in recycled,” Schlegel says.)

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UNDERCOVER AGENTS
You know what they say: it’s what’s on the inside that counts. Just ask Daisy & Elizabeth, a line of sublimely indiscreet underpinnings made in Brooklyn from low-impact fabrics such as organic cotton, recycled polyester, recycled nylon, Tencel (a cellulosic fiber derived from wood pulp) and …

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It’s not quite the tofu you’d find bobbing in your miso soup, but Faerie’s Dance now offers underwear made from discarded soybean casings. Reclaimed during production of the white stuff, blended with organic cotton, and processed using a closed-loop system that minimizes waste, the material results in a fabric that can be dyed in several colors and fetchingly trimmed with lace. The …

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Over at Honestly WTF, designer Gretchen Jones shows us how to make a bold statement necklace with brass rings and neon nylon cord. (Honestly WTF)

Source4Style is launching “The Academy,” a series of 30-minute web-based seminars on sustainable design, starting with “The Apparel Industry’s Greenest Little Secrets” on February 9. (Source4Style)

A 19th century New Jersey schoolgirl’s embroidery sampler …

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In an unlikely reversal of a decades-long trend, American-made goods are growing in popularity in China, according to a report by Jing Daily, a blog about the Chinese luxury market. Although they don’t have the same draw as European products, heritage workwear labels like Red Wing, Woolrich, Billy Reid, and Gitman Brothers are making inroads among China’s swelling urban middle class and their considerable disposable incomes. In December, Allen Edmonds, one of two high-end shoemakers to maintain operations Stateside, announced plans to expand into China under a new licensing deal that could double the size of its Port Washington, WI, headquarters over the next 10 years. “China is growing so fast, and it’s such a sophisticated market already,” Paul Grangaard, president and CEO of Allen Edmonds, told Milwaukee Business Times in January. “’Made in America’ has a really strong reputation there.”

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In a video shot secretly by human-rights activists and obtained by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Uzek service, young children are seen toiling in Uzbekistan’s cotton fields. The Uzbek government forcibly sends upwards of 2 million children—some as young as 7—to work in the fields for 10 hours a day, for two to three months each year, according to the Responsible Sourcing Network, which rallied more than 60 of the world’s leading apparel brands and retailers in October to boycott cotton knowingly harvested using child laborers in the Central Asian nation.

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If former Real Housewives of New York City star Cindy Barhop didn’t think she was in enough hot water, the spa owner now compares her fox-fur bikini treatment to a cure for cancer, according to The Cut. The semi-permanent procedure, which involves affixing neon-colored fur or feathers to one’s ladyparts, are only designed to last three days—more if you avoid washing your nethers (sexy!). “It’s like buying an extra set of lingerie or a fun shirt a different pair of glasses,” Barshop, who runs Completely Bare on Madison Ave., says. “This is that fun thing that gives you a little pick-me-up.”

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ALL-WEATHER WARRIOR
Even the icy plains of Hoth wouldn’t pose a challenge for the Nupste Fur IV by The North Face. Tootsies remain dry in a water-repellent sheath of down-insulated, recycled-polyester ripstop, while ankles stay extra-snug in a faux-fur swaddle of 100 percent recycled PET.

Note: May contain goose down.

+ Nuptse Fur IV …

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Sweatshop isn’t your average online cow-clicker. As its name implies, the game places you on the floor of an offshore factory that cranks out merchandise for high-street retailers in the West. Your job as manager: to hire workers to assemble hats, shoes, bags, and shirts at various speeds according to their skill level (or lack thereof in the case of the child laborers you also employ), all while keeping your corporate masters happy by raking in the big profits.

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The carbon footprint of wool has been grossly overstated, according to a consortium of Australian woolgrowers, scientists, and carbon specialists known as the Wool Carbon Alliance. The group, which claims that recent advances in methodology have resulted in estimates up to 60 to 80 percent lower than previously indicated, wants to challenge existing notions about wool carbon using “current and relevant” science. “We are finding that the wool fiber production systems, based on renewable grass and natural vegetation, complement current demands to reduce carbon emissions,” announced Martin Oppenheimer, chairman of the alliance, on Tuesday. “Wool is part of the natural cycle of water and carbon that can impact climate in a positive way.”

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Before anyone asks, no, it’s not bulletproof. But that doesn’t mean that the glistening yellow cape—the world’s largest garment made entirely from spider silk—isn’t a massive feat of engineering to be marveled (it is and you should). Now on public display for the first time at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the textile gets its unearthly gleam from the undyed filaments of the golden orb spider, a species of arachnid commonly found in Madagascar. Girl power can be taken literally in this instance: Only the females produce the coveted silk.

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If there’s one person we’d trust unreservedly with our punim, it’s Lina Hanson, green makeup artist to the stars and Ecouterre’s resident beauty guru. It’s not a question of nepotism, either. Her clientele, which includes actresses Morena Baccarin and Ellen Page, speaks for itself. (Have you seen the glows on those complexions?) So you can bet your sweet …

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Livia Firth isn’t content merely playing the role of eye candy on her Oscar-winning actor husband’s arm. Sweeping into the 69th Golden Globe Awards in a black-and-white Armani gown made from recycled plastic bottles, the Eco-Age creative director also kicked off the 2012 season of her self-directed “Green Carpet Challenge”—her third, for folks keeping score at home. “Being Italian, I grew up with Giorgio Armani…figuratively speaking,” she wrote in a blog post on Thursday. “Indeed, during my youth there were only two names that symbolized Italian elegance in fashion: Armani and Valentino. To open the [awards season] with a stunning bespoke eco-gown by Giorgio Armani—well, that is unreal.”

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The Alexander McQueen bridal gown that Duchess Catherine wore on her wedding day has been nominated for a Design of the Year Award. (Telegraph)

After years of negotiations, Nike is finally paying factory workers in Indonesia more than $1 million in backdated overtime. (The Cut)

Vena …

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Franca Sozzani, editor-in-chief of Italian Vogue wants to paint the red carpet a more verdant hue. Writing on her blog on Wednesday, Sozzani praised countrywoman Livia Firth, wife of Oscar-winning actor Colin Firth and the creative director of Eco-Age in London, for feting sustainable fashion on the Hollywood awards circuit. (Firth will be kicking off the third installment of her “Green Carpet Challenge” in a bespoke—and eco-friendly—Giorgio Armani gown at the Golden Globes in Los Angeles on Sunday.) “The respect and care for the environment, sustainability, and fair trade nowadays are features that cannot be separated from the fashion world,” Sozzani says. “Or at least, from those who wish to preserve also the ethic, and not just aesthetic, side of fashion.”

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Give your fingertips a cruelty-free makeover with a set of easy-to-apply “nail skins” by Nail Couture L.A, designed exclusively for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Featuring the group’s signature bunny motif in a whimsical black-and-gray houndstooth pattern, the limited-edition wraps eschew toxic chemicals like …

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Typography geeks, wordsmiths, and lovers of the alphabet will fall for the charms of Gwen Delicious, a Canadian accessories label that fashions necklaces from vintage printing-press type. Burnished with scuffs and other imperfections that make each piece unique, the repurposed brass blocks are strung from a gunmetal chain and secured with …

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Why walk when you can roll? For short-range commuters, technophile thrill-seekers, and the just plain lazy, Acton Inc. has invented a motorized skate that turns any sneaker into your own miniature Segway. Debuting on Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, “Spnkix” (pronounced “spin kicks”) is a reinforced nylon frame that straps onto your shoe, imbuing it with the ability to sally forth at up to 10 miles per hour—just a tick slower than its 2-foot-tall counterpart—without streaming a cloud of noxious emissions in its wake.

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Pennies are good for more than squashing on train tracks. Dutch designer Michiel Cornelissen likens them to “little industrial gems”—the perfect components for statement jewelry, in fact. His do-it-yourself coin necklace is a three-dimensionally printed bauble with slots for holding 111 5-cent Euro coins, which are made of copper like American pennies were pre-1982. “Copper …

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For indentured workers and human-rights advocates across the globe, January 1 was a happy new year, indeed. That’s when a groundbreaking anti-slavery retail and manufacturing law went into effect in California. Although several states already prohibit forced labor and trafficking, the new California Transparency in Supply Chains Act is the first legislation to address the supply chain on an international scale. Its gist: Any Golden State company worth at least $100 million in sales—that includes businesses like Gap and Apple—must disclose on a “conspicuous and easily understood link” on its website if it’s taking measures to eradicate slavery and human trafficking in its supply chain. For businesses that don’t have websites, the disclosures must be provided in writing within 30 days of receiving a written request.

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What gives Paula Abdul that elusive “X factor” on the red carpet? Turns out, it has something to do with the way she mixes vintage pieces with modern trends. “I love vintage clothes: the prints, the shapes,” the reality-show judge tells Ecouterre, right after this author snagged one of Abdul’s dresses from The Real Real, an online consignment store. “They’re eternally classic, they always fit into the current style, no matter what the style is. I can always mix a vintage piece with something that’s in today and it works beautifully.”

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Extreme temperatures call for extreme measures, but you don’t need to pull a Nanook of the North to jam with Old Man Winter. We’re hooking up one lucky U.S. reader with the “Alicia” peacoat from Vaute Couture, a Brooklyn-by-way-of-Chicago label that constructs its 100 percent cruelty-free toppers from recycled and recyclable fabrics, right here in New York City. To keep your ears extra-toasty (not to mention looking freakin’ adorable), we’re throwing in a pair of Vaute Couture’s critter-friendly earmuffs, available in myriad fun colors (navy, magenta, citrus, petal pink) and insulated with fibers derived from post-consumer recycled plastic bottles. Enter now 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. LEAVE A COMMENT and tell us what your green New Year’s resolution is. Although it doesn’t hurt to get fancy, we’ll be picking a winner at random.

Note: This contest is only open only to residents of the United States.

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