Feelgood Style

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Starting this weekend the UC Davis Design Museum opens a new eco-exhibit:
Designing with Conscience ::: A Sustainable Fashion Symposium ~

The Design Museum’s concurrent exhibition, Fashion Conscious, will display modern and wearable designs by established and up-and-coming green designers. This exploration will focus on the two most salient points prevalent in contemporary eco-fashion: the use of new materials that claim to be better for the environment and the reuse of existing materials. Read the rest of this entry »

Bamboo-Fabric Tees That Make Everybody Happy

When Kathryn Haydn-Hays read a story six years ago about forced child labor in foreign sweatshops, she realized that she didn’t know where her clothes really came from. “I really understood, for the first time, that nearly everything we purchase has a direct effect on people around the world, whether it’s an environmental or socio-economic impact,” says Haydn-Hays.

So she made it her life’s work to raise awareness and create more conscientious consumers. She started Affirm-Aware.org, a website which sells bamboo and organic cotton fabric tee-shirts, soy candles, organic reusable totes, and lovely unique jewelry — all created by 100% sweatshop-free labor.

But Kathyrn wanted to go a step further. She wanted to print affirmations on the tee-shirts so that the wearer would benefit from reading it every time he or she looked in the mirror, so she printed reverse images of the affirmations and called them “AffirmaTees.” (The “Duet” line has the affirmation both forwards and backwards, for those that want to spread the happy thoughts in both directions.) The site also features an “Affirmation Cafe” which has tips for meditation and positive thinking.

Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s note: Leather hasn’t come under quite the scrutiny of other animal products like fur, but our friends at Life Goggles ask a good question today: should an environmentalist wear the stuff? To answer the question, LG blogger Adam interviews Katleen Baum of georgette, a Belgian store that specializes in “animal friendly footwear.” This post was originally published on Thursday, May 8, 2008.

Katleen Baum and her twin sister Liesbet run georgette, an online and real world shop in Antwerp which specializes in animal friendly footwear. The website is a delight. Handily written in English, you navigate with a flea circus and clicking on a link can give you a nice surprise. Oh, and the shoes are great too. Katleen spoke to Life Goggles about reconciling veganism with wearing leather.

“Ever since we were kids, we were always fascinated with fashion and shoes. And also with animals. From the moment we realized that the animal we saw in the country, ended up on our dinner plates, we did not want to eat it anymore. So we became vegetarian and evolved to veganism. No biggie, right? But as time progresses, you start to question other things…

Every vegetarian or vegan, some day, will be confronted with the same dilemma: how to reconcile a strict vegetarian-vegan diet with wearing leather?

Read the rest of this entry »

While I wrote a preview of tonight’s episode of Big Ideas for a Small Planet this morning on sustainablog, Lucille’s right: it deserves a mention over here at Feelgood Style. So tune in (in about 45 minutes Central time) for the award-winning series’ focus on fashion tonight. Get a look at Del Forte Denim’s use of organic cotton, Nau’s sustainable methods of both creating and selling outerwear, and Revolution Cleaner’s greener alternative to traditional dry cleaning. And keep an eye on the extra coverage that appears during BIFASP, and the documentary that follows: word is that our own Jessa Brinkmeyer’s Pivot Boutique may be on tonight.

And while I’ve got you, throw your name in the hat for a green giftbag from the Sundance Channel. It’s easy to do: just subscribe to Green Options Media’s biweekly newsletter.

Impatient? Can’t wait 45 minutes? Here… take a sneak peak at tonight’s episode:

Read the rest of this entry »

Shown here is a feature from Crow Clothing a new online eco-boutique with a socially responsible mission. I find the Crow Clothing links very interesting. I see a commitment to environmental consciousness on the fabric page here, and movement toward social responsibility on the learning pages. There they explain:

“Crows make use of tools in their daily activities. They learn as they live- they adapt. Crows also come to the aid of unrelated crows in need or distress. Here are some resources to help you learn, adapt and help others in our world.”

Pictured here is American designer Rogan Gregory and one of his new organic designs for a partnership with Target that is set to create the next limited-edition collection for GO International, ® an innovative program designed to provide affordable fashion created by world-renowned designers.

Starting this week Barneys New York, will showcase an affordable Target collection from eco-conscious designer Rogan Gregory ~ Rogan for Target. The collection will be preview at Barneys New York in Manhattan from May 9 – May 11 and in Beverly Hills from May 16 – May 18. All cotton used in the collection is 100% certified organic.

Previously we highlighted a Loomstate event at Barneys. Rogan was actually once a designer for Loomstate, Edun, and his own CDFA/Vogue Fashion Fund award winning line. Read the rest of this entry »

While her uncle’s Presidential record on the environment has been a scandalous disaster, fashion model Lauren Bush has created a 100% organic cotton and sustainable burlap bag — and an accompanying humanitarian initiative — exclusively for Whole Foods, launching today.

For $29.99, you can purchase Lauren’s “Feed 100″ bag: a lightweight, white, cotton tote that collapses easily into its rectangular burlap zippered pouch. The bag is created in facilities which ensure fair treatment of workers, livable wages, paid overtimes, safe and clean working environments, benefits, and vacation time.

Best of all, each bag purchased provides 100 nutritious meals for hungry children in the U.N. World Food Program, a program which feeds 88 million people in 78 countries around the world. According to a press release from FEED Projects, hunger and malnutrition kill more people than AIDS, malaria, and TB combined. In fact, every five seconds a child dies because he or she is hungry.

Starting today, you can spend $29.99, get an environmentally-friendly bag, feed 100 school kids, and get all those free samples at Whole Foods, too? That’s what I call “feel good style.”

Nau is an outerwear company created by a team of individuals committed to the power of business as a force for change. Intrigued by the brand I recently intervied Andrew Wilkins the talented Brand Communications Specialist for the organization.

Your site is a provocative blend of visionary activism, story-telling, and creative organic outerwear designs. In addition on your about page I noticed how humble your organization is.

1. What are some cool ways your collective (staff, writers, designers, engineers, biz folk) communicates? Do you have any neat team building tips to share?

Rule #1: Team building = lots of trust falls. No, just kidding. I wouldn’t say we do anything particularly outrageous in this arena. We have a pretty typical ‘information age’ headquarters with an open floor plan—not even the CEO has his own office. Right now, the company is still quite small, so there is lots of opportunity for cross-communication between departments when we’re, say, waiting to use the microwave in the kitchen/overflow conference room. It’s a very entrepreneurial atmosphere. Anyone can feel comfortable bringing up an idea to any other person in the company.

2. Tell us more about the Collective. I see there is a place to submit a story and I’m tempted. I saw this educational film about H2O and the mini documentary “Sliding Liberia” was a truly moving story. Would you elaborate on this project and how to participate? Where you forecast this project going in the next five to ten years? Read the rest of this entry »

Discarded to Divine ~ Recycled Fashions. Renewed Lives. was born out of the caring heart of a St. Vincent de Paul Society employee. She was at a loss for what to do with piles of used donations that were unusable. The help desk director at the charity explained:

“The thought of how these discarded garments could be transformed into something renewed and useful. It reminded her of the hundreds of homeless and poor men and women who seek help from the St. Vincent de Paul Society every week, who are also overlooked by many, considered useless or unnecessary. At the St. Vincent de Paul Society, we strive to serve every individual who comes through our doors with dignity and respect, no matter where they stand in their life’s journey. We work with them one-on-one to help them in so many ways, so they can begin to transform their lives.”

This humbling work in action has transformed many volunteers for the Society. “People they may have perceived as scary or threatening are in fact neither. They are simply people in need of a safe place to sleep, a hot meal, clean clothes and someone who cares. They are people grateful for kindness and the simple things many of us take for granted every day.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Did you know joining a conservation revolution is as easy as purchasing a Wildlife Works product?

Wildlife Works’ has a visionary company mission to create brilliant sustainable solutions for wildlife conservation enabled by the power of the global purchaser, a term they coined Consumer Powered Conservation.

Why am I in awe of WW? Because their promise to every customer is to use the proceeds of the sales to save endangered and threatened wildlife around the globe. Their dream and guiding principle is to protect wilderness habitats, build schools, create jobs, and bring benefits for those people who share land and resources with wildlife!

In our first location in Kenya, Africa, we created the 80,000-acre Rukinga Wildlife Sanctuary, where elephants, cheetahs and 45 other large mammal species now roam freely. In addition, we built and operate our Eco-factory next to the sanctuary, where we employ members of the local community to create some of our products.

Wildlife Works gear is as good for the planet as they are for your soul: “You’re wearing the brand that says you won’t sit quietly by while the last wild things in the last wild places disappear forever.”