Just in time for cooling temperatures, Hemp Hoodlamb offers a collection of men’s and women’s eco chic winter clothing and accessories. The collection includes coats, knitwear, hats, and ear muffs which are all made from bamboo and hemp fiber, including the (faux) fur! The Amsterdam-based clothing company is a strong believer in the wonders of hemp, a rapidly renewable plant that can be made into extremely strong fiber. Which means that hemp is an ideal alternative for making eco friendly gear for harsh winters.
Fashion forward bike aficionados can now make an eco statement with the new Spare Tire Bike Tube Belt designed by Surya Graf. The stylish Spare Tire Belt is constructed out of reclaimed bicycle inner tubes, allowing bikers to sport their passion on their sleeve (or at least around their waist).
Surya Graf is a Brisbane-based product designer who cleverly strives to mesh functionality and environmental sustainability in his designs. An avid cyclist himself, he was in search of a smart recycling solution to all of the tube garbage from old inner tubes. He began to collect used mountain bike tubes from local cycle shops who were glad to have them off their hands and out of the trash, and the Spare Tire Belt belt was born.
Chicago’s Fashion Focus Week is currently underway, and considering the amazing student talent in Chicago these days, it is not surprising to discover that fresh green shoots of sustainable style are increasingly visible on the streets and sidewalks of the windy city. This year’s fashion week line up will feature the first ever Museum of Sustainable Style (MoSS) exhibit, curated by Pivot Boutique, Chicago’s own eco fashion, go-to-source for green glam style. With a fabulous line up of movers and shakers on the local and international design scene, MoSS promises to be a great new resource for greening fashion weeks and trans-seasonal collections everywhere.
Nothing says eco luxury like a sumptuous ‘faux fur’ blanket made of 100% organic cotton to swaddle yourself or your loved ones in. Eco chic layering has taken on new, cozy dimensions with this luxurious Pomeroy throw from Loyale’s Fall 2008 Collection. Perfect for late night snuggling, reading books under, or simply stretching out on after a really yummy home-cooked meal - it’s exciting news that Loyale has ventured into stylish home designs for chic green living. Even better, the Pomeroy is ideal for families with newborns and toddlers who are indulging in ‘tummy time’ or their first crawling forays. Great for gift giving or simply investing in as an eco friendly alternative to the fluffy stuff that simply doesn’t make the green grade.
It’s not every day that a fashion show leaves you hungry for more, particularly when it comes to organic ingredients of the most delectable kind. This how I felt after the exquisite Eko-Laborative exhibition during NY Fashion Week. The designs were so rich and provocative, I was convinced that I had chanced upon a whole new cornucopia of eco-chic style. Staged as a fashion-forward collaboration between Ekovaruhuset’s ‘House of Organic’ and the new design collective, Eko-Lab, Eko-Laborative was a fine example of slow design effectively putting the brakes on fashion week madness. As a curated demonstration of sustainable style that blends organic and fair-made with true textile artistry, the designers behind this timely exhibit really had something wholesome cooking in their lab of eco-friendly fashion.
For all you amateur and professional photographers out there, Lowepro now has a series of camera bags made from 95% recycled materials. The durable fabric is made from 100% recycled Cyclepet®, while the hardware is made from reground plastic, which is recycled from industrial trimmings salvaged from factory floors. The Terraclime bags are available in 4 different sizes and can accommodate small cameras, GPS units, all the way up to a DLSR with an extra lens. You can choose from 3 hip colors as well - black, plum and grass.
New York Fashion Week has come and gone, and devout fashionistas have since migrated onto London for the next wave of Spring/Summer 2009 showings. We still have more details to follow up from events here in NYC, but we wanted to sneak in a quick report on the much-talked about British Fashion Council’s Estethica exhibition at London Fashion Week. Created to showcase eco fashion that meets fair trade and the most rigorous sustainable design standards, Esthetica has become a go-to guide for the latest ideas and innovations on the green style circuit. Now in its fifth season, we were excited to see some new names added to the line-up as well as some old favorites that continue to build momentum on these shores and across the big pond.
Istanbul is definitely one of my favorite places on the planet. For one, it is where I spent my honeymoon, and I have fond memories of the potpourri of sites, sounds, and delicious smells that envelope you like a cloak, custom-tailored for the Bosphorus. So naturally, I was really excited (and nostalgic) when designers Sena Çevik and Seray Cengiz of BOA Studio contacted me about sharing their eco-conscious organic cotton(’pamuk’) collection, hand-crafted in this rather magical city. Not only was I instantly smitten with the creative fusion behind their label, but also inspired by how the seeds of green fashion were being nurtured by these two talented and adventurous Central Saint Martins and Bilgi University design grads. BOA studio is a clever celebration of global style with an outlook that is hands-down future-forward and resourceful in spirit.
It’s not every day that you get to watch your garden grow while wearing some fashion-forward digit bling. The Growing Jewelry collection by hip Icelandic product designer Hafsteinn Juliusson is ideal for green thumbs who not only care about the environment but also want to spread some eco-love by sporting tuffets of moss as jewelry. We have been waiting for an upgrade on the Chia Pet for years now, and with Juliusson’s sleek handcrafted collection there is finally an alternative to micro gardening for the design set.
Ever come across one of those ideas that is so brilliant and crazy - it makes you wonder why no one has done it before? Artist and interactive designer, JooYoun Paek takes the cake on that front with her recently revealed Self-Sustainable Chair, a wearable piece of furniture which is a dress where the butt inflates into a chair through pumps in the shoes. Paek hopes the provocative art piece will “transform the humdrum experiences produced by routine walking commutes into an amusing interactive performance.” Featured at this weekend’s Conflux Festival, her quirky and intriguing project suggests that rest and walk can be balanced by re-thinking the function of what we wear.
Combining something new with something old, Canadian design house Preloved specializes in turning vintage dress wear into modern recycled fashions. Our Green Room neighbors at Designers & Agents LA last June have recycled more clothing than ever this past year, salvaging 60,000 wool sweaters, 12,000 t-shirts, 5,000 dress shirts and 6,000 trench coats in 2008 alone! Preloved CEO, designer, and founder Julia Grieve successfully marries fashion with ethics for a brand born and manufactured exclusively in Canada. We heart Preloved’s eco-aesthetic and agenda, and we think you will, too.
It’s not always easy to stand fast again the tide – particularly during NY Fashion Week, but ORGANIC’s designer, John Patrick, was able to do just that and then some with his ‘American Gothic’ show last Tuesday here in NYC. Presented at the Desmond Tutu Center in Chelsea, the ORGANIC collection for Spring/Summer 2009 was not only an homage to the iconic painting by Grant Wood, but a reverse-the-consumption-trend art happening with models that stood fast and stood still. The entire collection was presented in diorama-like setting with fresh-faced, freckled youth exuding both the “hope” and the promise of good clean organics. If anyone can identify the best threads of American character and style these days, it’s John Patrick ORGANIC with his creative spin on homespun detail and increasingly better definition of sustainable style.
What’s cuter than a baby in stylish pseudo grownup clothes? How about a baby in eco chic grown up clothes, such as an organic cotton onesie with a vintage tie applique? Etsy designer and crafty mum Pumpkin Girl creates these ridiculously cute ‘little man’ outfits from salvaged vintage ties and organic cotton onesies. Her ‘Tiesies’ will be sure to make your little dude the most sustainably stylish baby in the room.
It’s not unusual for folks to flock to the American Museum of Natural History here in New York for planetarium stargazing or dinosaur spotting, but it is only once in a blue moon that eco fashionistas and scientists might congregate under the museum’s model of a big blue whale in the Millstein Hall of Oceans. Such was the case last Thursday night for the NY Fashion Week opener, Be Eco Chic. Hosted by model Angela Lindvall of Discovery Planet’s Alter Eco, the night’s lineup pushed the edge of eco chic style with the smart presentation of sustainable fabrics on the runway, and lifestyle products and designs in the event’s Aveeno‘Project Greenhouse’ VIP lounge. ‘Being’ eco chic is obviously a path of personal choices, but it is impressive that fashion week is finally becoming a bit more about how rather than who when it comes to the process behind the label.
Project Runway is my favorite reality show on TV, and here’s why: While most reality shows pit desperately unremarkable people against each other in questionable ’skills’ such as bug-eating, trading spouses, or competing for the love of Brett Michaels, Project Runway is a show that is actually about talent. The designers who come on the show have real skills, and every season there are a few who are exceptionally talented and visionary. This current season of Project Runway, all of my bets are on eco-minded fashion designer Leanne Marshall, who is turning heads with her creatively structured, eco-chic couture.
We love seeing durable materials repurposed into sustainable solutions, which is precisely what UK-based Worn Again has accomplished with their new line of travel-worthy wares. Each aviation-inspired piece is composed of material reclaimed from vintage Virgin Atlantic airplanes, and they are handcrafted by small-scale workshops in portugal.
One cannot let NY Fashion Week get fully underway without digging deep to reveal the best sources for sustainable style in NYC’s fashion enclaves. Sure eco-chic dressing is now as hip as Battery Park’s Solaire residential complex or the next episode of Alter Eco, but Inhabitat really has lasting admiration for those talented designers who have been working to promote eco fashion for more than a passing season. If classic, smart green fashion is truly your thing, then Bahar Shahpar is a designer you need to know about and wear. We reported on her Fall 2008 Collection during the House of Organic runway show last spring, but we could not help but to take another look at why Bahar is the total IT girl these days with her eco-savvy take on bold sustainable style and cool chic solutions.
If the arrival of September and the hoopla of NY Fashion Week already has you pining for the lazier days of summer and sun-dappled afternoons spent in wide-open fields, look no further as sweet summer fashion can now stay with you throughout the entire year. Loup Charmant is the perfect way to dress in sustainable style regardless of season or geographic locale. The latest PURE Collection by Loup Charmant allows you sit back and soak up the goodness of eco-spun fabrics so that every day can be a luxurious vacation and love affair with nature’s sweetest moments.
Today marks the official start of NY Fashion Week, and as this new season gets underway it’s exciting to know that we will soon get front row glimpses of the Spring 2009 collections. Sustainable style continues to build global momentum, and Inhabitat will be on-site at the shows as several of our favorite eco-fashion houses and design collectives unveil their latest endeavors in the greening of haute-couture and eco-chic dressing. With John Patrick ORGANIC nominated for this year’s VOGUE CFDA award and Ekovaruhuset getting fabulous press on the pages of major global fashion publications, we will be sitting pretty with both the local and international set as the fashion parade gets rolling.
Read on for details on next week’s stellar Eko-Laborative fashion exhibition featuring Ekovaruhuset’s organic, fair trade designs as well as the launch of the uber-creative EKO-LAB collective during the height of NY fashion week.
If ‘cycle chic’ is something that you have been trying to master - that is, looking totally fabulous on a bike while dressing functionally and with panache, look no further than those clever, design-savvy Londoners. We love the idea of melding sustainable style with green transportation, and Cycle Chic is a great online guide featuring ways to cycle safely while sporting some rather fashion-forward ideas. Any opportunity to wear tartan plaid with a biking helmet always gets me rolling, and I am happy to see that girls everywhere are being totally adventurous while sending the message that style needn’t be sacrificed when one opts to pedal to their next destination.
As summer ends and classes begin, students around the world are starting to gear up for the long haul ahead. A sturdy backpack or satchel is an essential, and although the most eco-friendly option is to simply reuse a existing bag, some of you are sure to be retiring your frayed and fading packs. Fortunately Inhabitat has you covered with some fresh eco fashions that will have you toting your school supplies in style. Read on for five of our favorites.
Transforming factory floor leftovers into cutting-edge sustainable fashions, Paula Vidal pieces together unwanted textile bits for her debut line, AbsolutoFieltro. A recent textile design graduate from the University of Valparaiso in Chile, Paula repurposes discarded wool, felt, and second-hand fabrics into a cozy collection of vests and capes, shoes and tote bags.
ECOLLECTION took sustainable fashion to the mainstream this week in Las Vegas, introducing an international audience of buyers to a variety of emerging eco-brands and products. Inhabitat scoured the floor to find the latest and greatest in sustainable style, so keep an eye out in Spring 09 for these cool new wears!
MAGIC’s sustainable lifestyle show ECOLLECTION debuted this week to an international crowd of fashion industry buyers. The expansive showcase featured a juried and progressive collection of eco-minded apparel and products, as well as seminars, fashion shows, a plush lux lounge, and a bookstore. The sheer volume of exhibitors illustrated how many new brands are turning an eye toward sustainable design. While the products varied in degree of true “green-ness,” the overall fashion prognosis is optimistic. By fall, it will be much easier to shop for a stylish and sustainable wardrobe. Check out the highlights from day one!
