Feelgood Style

Photo Courtesy of Brandon Hickman

At the Global Green Pre-Oscar party last week, Suzy Amis Cameron’s eco Oscar gown was unveiled. It was lovely, but there was no mention of what made this gown more sustainable than most, other than it was colored “Na’vi blue”. This sort of vagueness is how people can easily be accused of greenwashing.  Even the interview with the designer did not include this pertinent information, only her discussing the challenge of creating an eco gown. Yes, it’s a little harder, but when price is not an issue it’s no harder than designing any other couture-quality gown.

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Having read a lot of recent coverage of the FTC’s August 2009 ruling about bamboo, I wonder what will become of brands whose staple fabric is “bamboo”? The problem is, most of these designers and the textile sales reps they buy from, were sold rayon fabric labeled as bamboo. Rayon is a semi-synthetic fiber based on wood pulp. Sure, some of that wood pulp could be bamboo, but try getting a Chinese textile mill to tell you what they’re actually putting into the mix, as opposed to what they know you want them to tell you is in there.

While Viscose Rayon (known simply as Rayon in the US) is a wonderfully breathable fiber with great texture, strength, and drape-ability, it does require a lot of nasty chemicals to turn that wood pulp, bamboo or otherwise, into soft textile products. In Delia Montgomery’s recent article on the subject, one of the comments mentions the impact of cotton, complaining that cotton has a more negative net impact than bamboo.

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Ecogear apparels are made from 100% recycled material. The company was founded early 2008 by Robert Hii, who is a 25-year fashion veteran with a passion to create clothing with only slight impacts on our planet.

Robert says it took more than a year to complete their ecowear collections as the most eco-friendly clothing in existence. His team went through lots of different materials and processes to conclude one without a cesspool of chemicals to produce and dispose. Besides the usual organic cotton and hemp, they investigated bamboo. Read the rest of this entry »

Daniella and Ricardo Calmet manage their company Ecotintes in Lima, Peru. They provide unique natural dye services to benefit environmentally conscious designers and businesses.

That includes dyes for finished garments and skeins of yarn. Additionally, silkscreen and shibori methods are offered. Shibori is a technique that blocks some areas of material to prevent it from being dyed. The materials they dye are alpaca, cotton, wool, and other organic fibers. Read the rest of this entry »

Killspencer designs and makes a small line of high-quality bags in Los Angeles. Finally, something sustainable for the gents! Although, I know plenty of women who could rock these with panache.

I found out about this line via design blog Neu Black, and fell in love. Not only are the bags much sexier than your typical Cordura laptop bag, they’re made right here in Los Angeles. I am a huge fan of anything that keeps artisanal manufacturing jobs in the US. And if that’s not enough, two of the four materials they offer are dead stock and one is repurposed. Even the new material, a black waxed cotton, is made in the US, which is almost unheard of.

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I’ve really enjoyed getting to know my new co-worker this past week. Sarah, a vegan and downright organic romantic, is on the hunt for super stylin’ vegan boots without the super expensive price tag. So, I’ve put on my internet hunting garb (the Popomomo Sleuthing Dress) and have come up with a nice range of vegan boot results- including two of my “not so inexpensive” favorites (a girl can dream, right?)

Sarah, this one’s for you… Read the rest of this entry »

Cork production methods continuously change, yet harvesting practices remain. Such a fine example of merging cultural respect with new technologies is Corx. This is a company in Sonoma, California with production in Portugal. There they make a new material, cork fabric. The fabric is organic and renewable, with characteristics similar to leather. Read the rest of this entry »

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) concluded this year that bamboo mills actually producing rayon or vicose were guilty of false advertising. The FTC action followed the Canadian Competition Bureau (CCB) in that the true rayon description be enforced. Read the rest of this entry »

For the past two years, founder Monica Ralli of UrthBags in California, developed strategies to inspire people. Her goal was to create a stronger sense of eco-consciousness on our overly-disposable planet.

Monica also planned how to stimulate the job market. She intended to provide work that would benefit local craftsmen and women’s organizations worldwide. Simultaneously, waste would be reduced significantly.

The handbag materials are milk cartons, juice boxes, telephone books, and newspapers. The craftspeople are artisans from across the globe. Designers are both staffed and sourced. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week, I had my wallet stolen for the second time in two months. This most recent wallet was a really cute one from Vy & Elle (at left), but now it’s gone, and I’ve decided that it’s just too depressing to purchase the same one again. Instead, I’m viewing this as an opportunity to do a comprehensive search for another fabulous eco-friendlier wallet; pretending, if you will, that this is just part of my job, rather than a huge hassle on top of all of the other hassles that come with having one’s wallet stolen.

After spending hours narrowing down my choices to 6 very cute, very functional options, I thought I would turn the decision part over to you. Below, in alphabetical order, are the finalists. If you find them all thoroughly underwhelming, please post any recommendations and I will certainly take a look! Who knows - by my calculations, I’m due for another pickpocketing event in early January, so I’ll need some good ideas for the next one, too. Read the rest of this entry »