As a California native currently living in a concrete jungle, I often miss the wind ‘n surf culture I traded in for the cosmopolitan mindset of New York City. Northern-California based designer, Lina Rennell stirs up a bit of this nostalgia through her spring collection entitled “Big Sur Meets Helsinki” inspired by both Scandinavia and the California Coastline. Subtly sophisticated spring-summer wear for the coastal wilderness, Lina uses bright blue and neutrals in sea-inspired patterns to conjure up “ocean weathered objects and washed-up discoveries from the sea, driftwood, barnacles & visionary notions.” We especially love the Pocahontas-inspired vegan collection of faux-leather fringe moccasins, belts and bags. Finally vegans can have their style cake and eat it too!
Pacific water weave (left); shell ikat (center); gold tents (right) on organic cotton voile 
Gold tent print cami made of organic cotton jersey (left); Gold tent print tote made of organic hemp linen
Pacific water weave print on organic cotton voile (left); Black swimsuit made of organic cotton jersey with sunhat made of lycra & organic hemp linen (right)
How sustainable is faux leather? Isn’t it made of plastic?
also…the rug the mocs are displayed on is made of wool….sustainability is one issue, humane treatment of animals used for wool, feathers, milk, leather…. is another. I have been concerned about the plight of animals used for production of wool and milk in particular, as interest in milk paints, wool mattresses and rugs, etc increases.
Hi chase.carlton and pacbrowsh-
Thanks for your comments! I was able to get in touch with the designer and she confirmed that vegan leather is in fact made of plastic though she believes that a percentage is recycled. As for the rug, it is made of wool though she was not positive of its origin. We definitely have some food for thought here — my only hope is that makers of vegan leather will try to use all recycled plastic because I agree, it doesn’t make sense to be kind to animals if you aren’t going to be kind to the environment.
- Olivia
“it doesn’t make sense to be kind to animals if you aren’t going to be kind to the environment”….what a sad and foolish comment. you obviously have no compassion towards animals and that is just a sorry existence. the other thing your lacking is education. the use and abuse of animals for factory farming is the number one danger to
this planet. cattle grazing is rapidly wiping out precious rain forests. i wish you would get the facts straight before
making erroneous statements such as the one above.