Finding clothes and accessories that are environmentally friendly and sustainably sourced seems like a task, but it's actually one of the easiest ways to freshen up your wardrobe while making healthy improvements to your lifestyle. No one wants to wear a hemp sack for the sake of helping the environment; eco-fashion can enliven your style in trendy ways.
Here are a variety of eco-fashion forward brands, retailers and designers in honor of Earth day. Consider the consequences of wearing synthetic or harmfully acquired materials. Make sustainable, organic and recycled choices.
Local Finds
The Loving Piece
Nanci Hummer opened up her mind, boy, soul and Mother Earth enriching retail store in July 2015 in Downtown Easton. Her goal was to provide a tranquil shopping experience for customers to peruse spirit-inspiring and environmentally friendly products. The Loving Piece sells bags, salt lamps, incense, crystals, lotions and tapestries. Yet, Hummer's guests often appreciate the most her hand-picked inventory of eco-friendly items from reputably organic clothing brands: Soul Flower, Synergy Organic Clothing Line, Mona B handbags, Sunshine Joy, Blue Sky and Natural Life. Open up yourself to a surplus of sustainable styles.
7 N. 3rd St., Easton | thelovingpiece.com
Rodale's
Purchase organic and fair trade products from the same company that brings you popular fitness and health publications. Maria Rodale, CEO of Rodale Inc., set out to create Rodale's—an online merchandiser of sustainably sourced living essentials and toxin free beauty products—and today, many people utilize the store to find eco-conscious, yet stylish clothing. “Simply put,” Maria says, “shopping at Rodale's helps to make the world a better place.”
Mason J.A.R. Apparel
Jessica Russell, a Pennsylvania College of Art & Design graduate, began this Bethlehem home-based apparel business in 2011. With continued inspiration from her son Mason, she produces original artwork on organic kids' clothes. Her designs come about by combining lively colors and images involving wildlife and the natural environment. A gaze into her online inventory will reveal a variety of playful options for your kids, all which are certified by the international foundation for inspecting organic production methods, SKAL. Russell's creations are guaranteed to be soft, organic cotton without any worrisome chemicals.
Mainstream Brands Go Green
Banana Republic
One of Gap Inc.'s new Vice Presidents of Women's Design, Alessandra Brunialti, is striving to impose her eco-conscious attitude on Banana Republic's clothing lines. So far, she's been successful in encouraging the production of a variety of “green” looks, or her “eco-collections.” Although Gap Inc. makes no blatant eco-friendly promises, at least Banana Republic maintains that it will significantly reduce its environmental impact, while still offering customers fashionable, affordable apparel.
H&M
Since cotton is the fashion world's most widely used material, the transnational clothing brand—H&M—is currently making it a global objective to source its cotton from 100 percent sustainable sources by 2020. This entails ensuring that all clothing will be certified organic or recycled. It's an earth-friendly initiative that makes a lot of sense for H&M; the brand is known for jumping on static trends, and the “green” movement around the world has only augmented in the past few years.
Victoria's Secret
Despite its reputation for not being the most environmentally friendly company—with its mass mailing catalogs and use of synthetic fibers—Victoria's Secret recently made substantial leaps in the eco-friendly direction. Paperless catalogs have been largely implemented and most considerably, the company now offers undergarments made from organic cotton as well as new “clean” beauty products made from ingredients like mint and coffee beans. While the organic merchandise is still just a minor part of the total Victoria's Secret domain, it's an admirable step toward eco-friendly fashion.
Organic Designers Make Waves
Stella McCartney
Known by many as “the reigning queen of mainstream eco-fashion,” McCartney's vegan lifestyle and commitment to replacing typically synthetic or inhumane materials with organic, naturally sourced fibers has garnered her a progressive reputation in the fashion industry. More so, she's been applauded for not sacrificing style for sustainability.
Susan Woo
According to Woo, a modern woman's fashion means eco-friendly designs. Her chic clothing line is devoted to using entirely organic and environmentally friendly materials. The New York City designer even won an Ecco Domani award for sustainability in 2013. Expect fresh, edgy creations from her, all guaranteed to be sourced from companies that take extra steps to make certain that daily production remains environmentally conscious and energy-efficient.
SVILU
These collections are simple, elegant and reminiscent of a sophisticated tea party. Designers Britt Cosgrove and Marina Polo combined their efforts to address the essentials of a woman's style by providing environmentally and socially sensitive designs. Trendy trousers, turtlenecks and pocket dresses dominate their shop, and these unique products targeted for the “modern woman” are assured to be sourced from non-genetically modified plants and devoid of any association with synthetic agricultural methods.
Carrie Parry
Parry's designs are truly timeless, including classic pieces like boyfriend shirts and draped blouses, but are still versatile and stylish. This was her goal when she started her fashion line in 2011. Her aim was to utilize her talents in creating innovative textiles while staying committed to always being environmentally conscious. Thus, Carry Parry operates today, providing women with garments produced locally in the United Sates, sourced organically and offered at a decent price.
John Patrick
He perpetuates eco-fashion as one of the frontrunners. Patrick's 2004-launched fashion label, Organic, largely drives the eco-friendly clothing industry today the on edge of hipster and chic couture. All of his seasonal collections and limited releases encompass what he sees as the three “green and global” imperatives: Organic materials, fair labor, and ecological awareness—a beautiful sustainability.
Clean Jeans
Monkee Genes
From chinos to boot leg to super-skinny, this UK denim company offers tons of unisex jeans options. The eco-forward clothing company was awarded the Organic Soil Association Certification in 2008, and they continue to offer exclusively organic options, including the use of more uncommon fibers like bamboo. Check out these “Monkee” jeans options guaranteed to uphold the Global Organic Textile Standard.
AG
Looking for eco-conscious denim? Peruse AG's stock of stylish and sophisticated jeans. The company began as a true pioneer in the denim industry, started in 2000 by “jeans expert” Yul Ku. Now, AG offers a variety of clothing styles, but remains one of the top, premium denim brands. Every pair of jeans is sustainably sourced and makes an eco-friendly promise, from design to production to shipping.
Nudie Jeans
Since 2013, Nudie Jeans has been officially creating a denim line that's 100 percent organic. Every pair you buy is produced from organic cotton, and the company is also creating a series of recycled cotton denim jeans. Nudie Jeans' designs are guided by a mission to stick to the age-old traditions of denim—with persistent inspiration from ‘90s rock n' roll. Jeans are like a second skin; shape them to your lifestyle without harming the environment.
Hiut
To preserve and perpetuate the historical knowledge of jean manufacturing in the rustic town of Cardigan, U.K., Hiut denim was started in 2012. They vow to “do one thing well,” and that thing is denim. The company only creates two types of jeans, both eco-friendly and sustainably sourced: recycled, Japanese raw indigo selvedge jeans and Turkish organic cotton jeans. The jean makers, or “grand masters” are only able to produce about 100 hand-sewn pairs of Hiut's a week, so this brand puts intimate craftsmanship into their jeans on top of eco-conscious efforts.
