Eco-Chic Green Fashion

As you are considering ways to increase the environmentally friendliness of your clothing, think also about the closet that you are putting your clothes in.

Many of our homes were built in a time before the environment was a key factor in building and maintaining a home. Over time, we can improve the eco-friendliness of our homes as we rebuild or remodel them. To find out more about this, visit Eco-Chic Green Decor for resources and information.

"Matheson slyly steers us toward consumer goods and services that minimize our earth-stomping human footprint. She's brave enough to say 'buy less of everything,' and even the politically fraught 'buy nothing.' Matheson's genius is to make this seem not only doable, but fun."
- Elizabeth Royte, author of Garbage Land and Bottlemania


Green Chic: Saving the Earth in Style by: Christie Matheson--$10.36
Also available in the UK--Green Chic
Want to go green without giving up great style? Welcome to the world of Green Chic. Choosing to be green makes a real difference in the fight against global warming. But did you know that it's also hip, classic and stylish?

Offering up dozens of author-tested, earth-friendly ideas, writer Christie Matheson reveals that being chic and saving the planet aren't mutually exclusive.

Embrace the fabulousness of green living and you can:

- Look gorgeous
- Have a killer wardrobe
- Feel amazing
- Travel in style
- Create a home that's an oasis
- Host fun parties
- Eat incredible food and drink phenomenal wine
... All while feeling more connected to your friends, family and nature.

(And did we mention that green women don't get fat?)

Printed on recycled paper, with a portion of its proceeds going to a green cause, Green Chic is the perfect book for style-savvy readers with a green heart. Can living a chic green lifestyle TRULY make a difference to the planet? You bet your organic cotton sheets it can.

Buying into the Green Chic movement doesn't mean you need to buy more stuff.
Avoid products that purport to be green just for the marketing effect: "organic" processed foods; huge, gas-guzzling hybrid SUVs; clothes boasting that they're green just because they're made from "natural" cotton. Claiming to be green is trendy and companies out there are taking advantage. Don't believe all the hype.

10 GREEN CHIC-AND EASY-WAYS TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

- Ditch bottled water: refill a sassy thermos.
- Pop little purchases in your purse, not a shopping bag.
- Sip biodynamic wine.
- Choose cashmere, not acrylic.
- Let your hair air dry for a while before you blow dry: less frizz, less energy consumed.
- Unplug (and put away) unsightly cell phone chargers.
- Opt for quality over quantity in everything you buy.
- Cut down on clutter.
- Limit your consumption of anything packaged in plastic.
- Support local designers.

BUT REMEMBER:

Don't go out and replace everything you own, from your makeup to your wardrobe to your furniture, with (theoretically) ecofriendly products. Being ecofriendly means consuming less, not more. Get in the habit of thinking before you buy. The best time to purchase ecofriendly goods is when you need them. That's when you're in a position to make a choice and express yourself as a green consumer.

Being Green isn't a fad ... it's timelessly chic.

"Check out the entire collection of trend-setting bags made from materials such as velvet, tweed, leather, lace, wool, linen and canvas. Many of the featured bags cleverly incorporate recycled projects like denim, ribbon, postcards, maps and food packaging." -Crafts'n Things


Simply Irresistible Bags: 45 Designs for Going Out, Looking Chic, and Shopping Green (Marie Claire)--$18.96
Also available in the UK--Simply Irresistible Bags: 45 Designs for Going Out, Looking Chic, and Shopping Green (Marie Claire)

Packed with ideas that will turn craft enthusiasts into do-it-yourself designers, this new collection of handmade bags comes straight from the pages of the French magazine Marie Claire Idées. Never before published in the United States, the patterns offer a variety of traditional, vintage, and contemporary looks, all wonderfully stylish and inventive. Designs range from the practical-a string shopping bag, a laundry organizer, and an armchair caddy-to delicate evening bags bedecked with ribbons and sequins. The projects use a wide variety of materials and techniques, including appliqué, beading, crochet, embroidery, knitting, patchwork, and sewing, and even include ideas for kids' storage totes and tidy bags for the bathroom, kitchen, and garden. Clear, step-by-step instructions with photos are geared to both beginning and experienced crafters.

"Simply Irresistible Bags: 45 Designs for Going Out, Looking Chic, and Shopping Green is a how-to craft guide for creating fabulous bags for every season. Each project is illustrated with a full-color photograph, and different projects span a wide variety of crafting techniques - from sewing and knitting to crochet and embroidery. In addition to step-by-step instructions, detailed templates are provided along with guidelines for personalizing the decorations on one's bags. Simply Irresistible Bags is a great way to create jazzy carry-alls for eco-friendly shopping, or unforgettable handmade gifts. Highly recommended. "~Midwest Book Review

Not so long ago, a good day's shopping was represented by unbridled credit card abuse and armfuls of carrier bags, preferably glossy paper ones with smart rope handles.

Today, shopping for the sheer pleasure of it is no longer enough. We want more than something new and pretty to take home - we want to know we made the world a better place by buying it and that the bag we're carrying didn't damage the environment.

Consumers have become the new eco-warriors and the latest must-have accessory is a social conscience.

World Environment Day and the organisation has shoppers firmly in its sights with the launch of Wayne Hemingway's Bag For Life - a carbon-neutral, 100 per cent biodegradable tote that can be re-used.

"Last year, with a plain and not fashionable bag for life, our campaign saved 3.4 million plastic bags," says a World Environemnt Day spokesman. "Our bag for 2006 will be a genuine fashion accessory as well as carrying a message."

They're not wrong. Carrying a bag branded Fresh & Wild (as Meg Mathews frequently does) or The Organic Pharmacy now has as much kudos as one bearing an expensive designer logo.

Loading that stash of organic food and beauty products into the boot of your hybrid car puts you in good company. Scarlett Johansson, Gwyneth Paltrow and Julia Roberts all drive a Toyota Prius to show they take CO2 emissions seriously.

Nowadays, saying you're off on an eco-holiday scores more cool points than taking a carbon-belching flight to the Caribbean for a fortnight. And celebrities aren't just endorsing ethical products, they are fronting high-profile campaigns on issues that matter, whether it's saving the planet, stopping child labour or eradicating Third World debt and disease.

This generation of protesters may not be making placards and taking to the streets, but they're making big business sit up and take notice.

According to a recent survey by American Express, 33 per cent of us now regard ourselves as conscience consumers. Buying the right thing is the latest way to do the right thing. And it's fashionable to be seen doing it.

"Consumers are steadily becoming more environmentally and ethically aware and retailers know they have to respond," explains Kathy Child, senior retail analyst at Mintel. "Retailers know they could risk their reputations and their customer base if they are seen not to behave ethically."

It's no wonder the rag trade is feeling this pressure to go green. Women's clothes are now 40 per cent cheaper than they were a decade ago and we now buy twice as many. And as profit margins are squeezed ever tighter, campaigners are keen to point out that the price of cheap clothes is being paid by those at the bottom of the supply chain.

Tempting as it is to buy a new outfit for little more than the price of a cinema ticket, nagging doubts as to why High Street clothes are so cheap can make them feel less comfortable to slip into.

That bargain dress doesn't look quite so pretty once we start to wonder whether the cotton was picked by a child in Uzbekistan then stitched together by someone working enforced overtime for less than a living wage in a sweatshop Asia.

The clothing industry is also one of the worst offenders in terms of environmental damage.

According to the UN, enough cotton for one jeans requires 10,850 litres of water and an unhealthy dose of some of the world's most hazardous pesticides and carcinogenic chemicals.

Growing cotton accounts for 24 per cent of global insecticide use and is believed to account for one million cases of poisoning and as many as 20,000 deaths a year. And for what? In Britain alone, 500,000 tons of unwanted clothing end up in landfill sites each year.

Not surprisingly, as awareness increases, so does the demand for organic and fair trade fashion. And where once ethical clothing was deeply untrendy in terms of cut, fabric and style, some brands have now become respectable enough that even people who don't care about the environment, but do care about fashion - want to get their hands on them.

It doesn't hurt that stylish A-listers such as Jade Jagger, Gwyneth Paltrow and Naomi Campbell have all been seen wearing the latest ethical labels - Ciel and People Tree are favourites. Meanwhile Bono's wife Ali Hewson has launched Edun, the socially conscious designer clothing line now stocked by Selfridges, Harvey Nichols and Harrods. Helena Christensen is a fan and Cameron Diaz particularly loves the jeans.

And they are not alone. Selfridges has already run out of the silk Ambrosia blouse, while the chiffon Jewel jacket and Sylph skinny-fit hipster jeans in palest powder blue are also selling fast.

"People want clothes that they can feel good about, as well as feel good in," says Ali. "When I buy clothes for my children, I don't want them to have been made by other people's children. And I don't want to be wearing clothes that were made from someone else's despair.

"Edun is about respect for the environment, respect for the person who made the clothes and respect for the person who's going to buy the clothes and wear them. It's a simple idea."

Designer Katharine Hamnett is equally dedicated to making sharp, sophisticated clothing that doesn't wreck the environment and exploit farmers and factory workers in the process.

When running her multi-million designer label back in the Eighties, Hamnett saw the need for fair trade and wanted to go organic but had found it impossible to buy the quantity and quality she needed.

Taking responsibility for every link in the supply chain guarantees Hamnett's spring/summer collection for 2007 will be 100 per cent organic and approved by the Fairtrade Foundation.

"I buy the organic cotton directly from the farmer in West Africa, pay the spinner, pay the weaver, and get rid of the middlemen making unnecessary commissions. It costs me 30 per cent less that way, and I can still pay the worker more than in the traditional structure," explains Hamnett.

The High Street has been quick to recognise the trend, with Oasis stocking a new range of 100 per cent organic denim and jersey at 12 of its flagship stores. TopShop is giving pioneering ethical fashion labels People Tree and Made trial concessions and Marks & Spencer has introduced Fairtrade-certified cotton T-shirts and socks.

The beauty industry has also had a rethink. Not long ago, women had to choose between natural products that didn't do much and high-tech creams full of chemicals.

Thankfully, the latest technology is producing a new generation of highly effective natural products.

Market leaders include Taer (no hidden nasties and all the herbs are grown on an organic farm in a remote Icelandic valley) and Ren, whose "clean, paraben-free" products are as effective as any synthetic counterpart. Jade Jagger, Jemma Kidd and Kate Beckinsale all swear by the range.

Spas, too, are beginning to get in on the environmental act. Green and guilt-free pampering will soon be on offer when the Organic Pharmacy opens its Urban Day Spa in London's Kensington High Street in July. Treatments will include chemical-free facials, manicures, pedicures, massages, lymphatic drainage and waxing - all using Organic Pharmacy products loved by Gwyneth Paltrow and Madonna.

It might be hard to believe that simply by buying an ethical moisturiser you're helping to save the planet, but that's the whole message of World Environment Day. If we all do our bit we really can make a difference, and if we get a must-have item into the bargain, what's not to like?

100% Organic Cotton

To be considered 100 percent organic, cotton must be "certified by a third party (such as the USDA), following strict guidelines for growing the fiber, using no disallowed synthetic chemicals.

Bamboo

A textile made from the pulp of the fast growing bamboo plant that's soft, highly water absorbent, and anti-bacterial.

Fair Trade

Fair trade companies look at more than just the bottom line. They look at development as a whole and create more of a partnershi with suppliers, which makes for a fairer exchange system where workers get paid fair wages and work under good conditions.

Hemp

A strong fabric swen from the fibers of the fast growing cannabis plant (a variety that contains virtually no THC, the active ingredient in marijuana).

Recycled/Upcycled

Material that's been reprocessed at the end of its life into something new and useful.

Sustainable

Describes a product created by a process that can continue indefinately without causing environmental destruction or usurping resources.

No Earth minded fashionista's wardrobe is complete without a little "green" dress. One possibility is the Girls Night Out Dress, a simple, flattering black tube dress made from a blend of bamboo, organic cotton, and spandex by Convoy's Sustainable Collective. It can be found at Be The Change Elements.

ABOUT BTC ELEMENTS

Modern, eye-catching, uniquely crafted, BTC Elements combines smart style with sustainability. We hand-select each item in our boutique collection of fashion, gifts, and accessories with an eye to the environment and social justice. The result: Fresh, inspiring designs that are both earth friendly and ethically sourced.

Because we work closely with small designers and artists who share our passion, our online boutique carries many one-of-a-kind items you won't find anywhere else. Our goal is to delight you with our distinctive collection of mindful products while providing value and excellent service.

Be The Change Elements was founded in 2005 by Summer Bowen, a lifelong environmentalist who worked in the fashion industry while studying environmental education and social justice at UC Berkeley.

Through a collection of essays, Sustainable Fashion: Why Now? examines the issues of sustainability
that designers, product developers, and consumers confront as they go about
creating, wearing, and recycling clothing and fashion. It also considers what sustainability
means alongside fashion two seemingly contradictory concepts because fashion
is all about change, and sustainability is all about preservation. Through a lively range of
perspectives, the contributors discuss new ideas on how to produce fashion with a sense of
ethics, organic, or renewable resources, and socially responsible manufacturing techniques.
This book is divided into three sections, providing an interconnected and circular
way to explore the creation and practice of sustainable fashion through people, processes,
and the environment.
Cover: 100 percent Recycled, Contains 30 percent Post Consumer Waste (PCW) and Text:
Contains 30 percent Post Consumer Waste (PCW), Acid-free and qualifies as permanent
recycled paper.

Sustainable Fashion: Why Now?: A Conversation Exploring Issues, Practices, and Possibilities--$71.28
Also available in the UK--Sustainable Fashion: Why Now?: A Conversation Exploring Issues, Practices, and Possibilities

Blue jean insulation--a new building material made of industrial scraps from denim production--is gaining popularity. It's more environmentally friendly than traditional fiberglass insulation, which contains formaldehyde, a chemical belived to cause asthma and allergies.

Lighten your environmental footprint without sacrificing comfort or style in a a pair of Simple ecoSNEAKS, which are green from heel to toe.

Features of the line include hemp uppers, soles made from recycled car and bike tires, foot forms that use postconsumer paper pulp, organic cotton linings, and laces made from recycled plastic bottles.

How eco-friendly is your wardrobe? Join in the conversation here.

This organic grocery tote bag is available on Zazzle.

It only makes sense to respect Mother Nature when you purchase the gear you need to enjoy the great outdoors.

Patagonia, an eco-fashion pioneer, has introduced fleece made from postconsumer recycled soda bottles and , through its Common Threads Program, garments made from recycled polyester.

"We acknowledge that the wild world we love best is disappearing. That is why those of us who work here share a strong commitment to protecting undomesticated lands and waters. We believe in using business to inspire solutions to the environmental crisis."--Patagonia

You can drop your old Patagonia or other Polartec fleeces at any Patagonia store or mail them to the company for recycling in their Common Threads Recycling Program.

Eco Chic is an innovative line of colorful, trendy, and eco-wise accessories made from recycled plastic bags. The line includes handbags, totes, satchels, office accessories and more.

Recycled plastic bags are processed into an innovative new "fabric", which is colorful (no inks or dyes are added), durable, and weather-resistant.

Eco Chic Products provide sustainable employment to hundreds of underprivileged workers in New Delhi India, while offering a unique solution to the environmental problem of waste management.

"It's Not Easy Being Green"? We beg to differ, Kermit. Witness sustainable styles with a couture sensibility from Beau Soleil and Larsen Gray, organic cotton tees from Edun and C&C, and artsy totes from Leftover Bags that make plastic look positively passé. Going green in style? It's never been easier. Shop the new Eco Chic LookBook, at shopbop.

Host a Clothing Swap

What better excuse to get together with friends and family than to host a clothing swap and potluck party? Evite everyone you know to clean out their closets and bring a dish to share.

When the guests arrive, give them a ticket for each item that they bring. Then enjoy an afternoon of playing dress up. guests can use their tickets to bid on clothing items, which are raffled off. Donate the leftover clothing to a worthy organization.

Turn Old Clothes into New Favorites

Refashioning the clothes you already have is fun and easy; Crop pants that have torn cuffs, snip sleeves off old T-shirts and add new ones, turn ties and scarves into belts.

Wash in Cold Water

At least 65 percent of the energy used for a cotton garment is in the washing and drying cycle. To lighten the load your laundry puts on the planet, switch your washing machine to cold for most of your loads, and line dry whenever possible.

Numerous places call themselves "eco" or "green," yet standards differ enormously throughout the world. This guide features those very special places around the world that also go the extra mile to make sure your vacation is an ecologically responsible one. Tree houses in rainforests, white pods in snow fields, fair-trade tented camps, floating eco-lodges, organic mountain farms, eco-chic hotels--we've inspected and liked them all.

Buy Green Places to Stay: From Beach Huts to Eco-Chic Hotels, All Over the World by Alastair Sawday--$16.46
Also available in the UK--Green Places to Stay: Eco-lodges and Other Green Places to Stay (Alastair Sawday's Special Places to Stay)

Alastair has been publishing the Special Places to Stay guides since 1994. His travel publishing company was born of a successful tour company that took groups on off-the-beaten-track trips across Europe. An avid environmentalist (founding Avon Friends of the Earth and currently a trustee of the Soil Association), he is keen to encourage B&B and hotels owners' by celebrating their use of organic and local food. Alastair Sawday Publishing off-sets its carbon emissions and strives in other ways to be as green and as ethical as possible, for example by printing on recycled paper. Richard Hammond is a travel journalist and researcher who specialises in ecotourism and responsible travel. He writes a regular column on eco-friendly holidays in The Guardian and his work has appeared in several magazines, including BBC Wildlife, Food and Travel and Green Futures. He is also one of the judges of the highly respected Responsible Tourism Awards.