Eco-Chick · The modern girl's guide to living green & fabulous.

Fall Eco Fashion Beats the Chill In Style with Keds, Loomstate and Eileen Fisher Organics!

It’s official. Fall is off to a cool start! The best part about fall is the chance to start anew: new initiatives (turn off that a.c. and switch to eco-bulbs), new motivations (make lunch), and new clothes! You want to look street smart even when it is cold and this new apparel is both warm and eco-chic.

The limited-edition eco-conscious Loomstate poncho!

Since there’s been a chill in the air, there’s never been a better time to sport a cute overlayer. But with the season not quite winter the hustle and bustle of a thick wool coat overwhelms. Eco-Chick has a solution! In mid- October Loomstate, a men’s and women’s eco-conscious brand, presents their limited edition poncho in celebration of Barney’s CO-OP’s 25^th Anniversary.

Pair the chic poncho with organic denim and prepare to be enviable!

The poncho is made from organic cotton canvas and recycled blankets. It’s cute brown and blue colors make it an essential wardrobe piece to pair with the cutest of cotton organic skinny jeans, for they go the best with the sneaks, like these from Eileen Fisher. Not only are these jeans made from cotton grown without pesticides, they are dyed (jean dyes are notoriously polluting) under the Global Organic Textile Standard. And if you’re not into this style, Eileen Fisher offers a whole line of organic denim on their site and in stores.

Made from non-polluting organic cotton canvas, these sneaks are eco-chic.

Sneakers are a must – whether you’re running around, walking home from work, or taking a stroll in a local pumpkin patch. Whatever you’re up to, cute comfortable sneakers are essential! Keds are superclassic and come in various colors – but this month they’re eco-chic too! Introducing Keds Organic Champions, chic footwear made from one-hundred percent organic cotton, stitched eyelets, and tea-stained laces. The sneakers are 55$ and can be purchased at www.keds.com. 

Don’t back down for the fall chill. Beat it. Sport this super cute outfit and be an eco-chick.
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Behind the Scenes of the Project Green Search Model Competition Finals

Project Green Search, the first-ever green model competition, has a winner! Rachel Avalon hails from Los Angeles, California, and beat out over 130 other serious contenders for her new title as Green It Girl (read more about Rachel and her plans here). But before the winner was chosen, there were activities, photo shoots and some very good times.

The Ten Gorgeous (and Green to the Core!) Finalists Photo by Courtney Dailey.

Judging Project Green Search was lots of fun; I got a chance to go to most of the activities with the finalists and got to know them; what an impressive group of young women! From an Indy racecar driver to a natural nutritional counselor, to a college activist and an environmental educator, this was a talented and driven group of contenders. And as you can see, all of them were gorgeous too! The judging crew and I (see below) had our work cut out for us.

The judges! From left to right: Michael Zaliski, CEO of Omniquest Media, Anna Griffin, editor-in-chief of Coco Eco Magazine, Starre Vartan, author and publisher of Eco-Chick.com (I’m wearing an organic cotton dress by Doie), Remy Chevalier, Co-founder of Project Green Search, Deborah Lindquist, ecofashion designer, Josie Maran, former model and force behind Josie Maran Cosmetics, and Darren Moore, host of AlterEco and founder of Ecovations.

Day One: I got a chance to meet all the girls at a breakfast at our hotel, The Standard on Sunset Boulevard. Everyone was so excited to be there, and Taryn from EcoDivasTV started filming right away, and off we went!

Vanessa Meier even looks gorgeous in curlers! At Shades salon in LA. Image by Remy Chevalier for Lu Magazine.

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Raleigh Denim: Jeans Showcasing the Future of Style and Sustainability

Raleigh Denim Co-founders Victor and Sarah Lytvinenko Photo: Nick Pironio

All of a sudden, it seems quality and detail are the new buzzwords in the fashion world. After years of fast fashion ruling the runways and money-making trumping sanity for designers, negative environmental impacts, and questionable labor practices, the tide has begun to turn. Thanks to the work of some dedicated designers and industry advocates, the coming decade in the fashion world will show a return to true creativity that respects both human beings and design in the quest to clothe us.

Raleigh Denim’s women’s styles

Raleigh Denim is a proud part of this transition, creating quality, small-batch denim in true American style, which is about attention to detail, craft, and respect for history rather than adding to the thousands of throw-away clothes that end up in American landfills every year.

Raleigh Denim’s signature red stitching Photo: Starre Vartan

I was lucky enough to visit Raleigh Denim’s headquarters in Raleigh, NC not too long ago, and got a fantastic tour of the design and production facilities. Victor Lytvinenko and his wife and co-founder Sarah do all the designing and most of the sewing of each pair of jeans, using mostly-forgotten stitching techniques that make each pair they create both personal and interesting.

Victor in the pattern room; hanging are the paper patterns used to make Raleigh Denim’s jeans. Photo: Starre Vartan

Available at Barney’s, Barney’s Co-ops, and other select retailers, Raleigh Denim is made in small, numbered batches, which are signed by Victor and Sarah in reflection of the fact that they oversee the production of each pair themselves.

Jeans are individually signed by Victor and Sarah Photo: Starre Vartan

Victor told me that all of the resources that go into making the jeans are sourced from a 200-mile radius of the Raleigh Denim facility. Although they don’t use organic cotton, Victor explained that using local, conventional cotton seemed to make more sense to him than shipping organic cotton from Pakistan or India, where it is available. He said he was working with local cotton farmers, encouraging them to pursue organic farming techniques, and in our conversation it was clear that the environmental and social impact of the company at every level was considered. I told him it seemed more important to encourage and work with local farmers than to use the energy to fly cotton to his factory from half-way around the world, and that long-term working with locals was more likely to create lasting change.

Unique details include a x-ray skeleton imprint on the lining of the pockets; this is of the hip bone, which sits right where your hips would rest against the fabric. Photo: Starre Vartan

Despite their small-batch aesthetic (or maybe because of it) there were plenty of styles of jeans to check out; skinny-legged jeans in colors (and a cool grey that I fell in love with) old-school dark denim, and even a wash that I’d never seen before. Victor told me was collected by a local man with a passion for vintage denim who had passed along his find to Victor; there were only a few rolls of material to work with. They are also experimenting with various dye techniques themselves and are planning on going beyond jeans, expanding into a clothing line.

Original denim-sewing machines are in use at Raleigh Denim Photo: Nick Pironio

Victor is truly a denim aficionado, having studied sewing and stitching techniques from original American denim makers and utilizing vintage sewing machines in the creation of the jeans. He rolled up legs and pulled down waists to show me different types of stitches used on different styles of jeans, introduced me to Raleigh Denim’s collection of machines, and described the hand cutting and finishing that went into each pair.

Buttons and rivets are placed by hand Photo: Starre Vartan

But he and Sarah are also businesspeople too, and aren’t so mired in the history of denim and ensuring that their business is low-impact that they aren’t aware of the bottom line. “To be truly sustainable, you have to be sustainable financially too,” says Victor.

You can read more about Victor and Sarah, and Raleigh Denim, in this month’s issue of American Elle in the “Americana” feature. Thanks to Curtiss Martin for the introduction to these denim pioneers!

Sharkah Chakra WhiteHot Jeans: Win Them!

These are the gorgeous new bleach-free white jeans, which are whitened using the sun’s rays and nothing more.

I’ve written here about Sharkah Chakra jeans- the super-sustainable jeans that are not only organic cotton and Fairtrade certified, but hand-dyed with natural indigo and hand finished in Italy– even the pocket rivets are made from ethically sourced gold.

You can win a pair of these gorg denims- whoever has the best response to the following will receive a pair direct from Sharkah Chakra in their size. Make sure you fill out the email address field in the comments section so I can email you to let you know you’ve won, and find out your size. Good luck!

The Ever-So-Short Essay Question to Win a Pair of Sharkah Chakra Jeans:

“Sharkah Chakra believes in slow fashion – the production of high quality garments that will only get better with age and that will be a staple part of your wardrobe for years to come– garments that are made in harmony with people and the planet. In twenty words or less, what are your tips for creating more ethical fashion choices in your life?”

Contest on through July 31st.

UPDATE: You can find Sharkah Chakra jeans at Harvey Nick’s in the UK, and Fred Segal in Cali. If you order directly here, you can take 20% off your order with this code: sharkaheck01 (exclusively for Eco Chick readers!)

Back pocket details

Sharkah Chakra: Greenest Jeans EVER?

Thankfully, there are a quite a few organic denim companies out there, so those of us who jones for jeans have great choices. (We’ve covered some of them here and here.) But Sharkah Chakra takes it to a whole other level, hitting the denim triumvirate: fair trade, organic cotton AND non-toxic dying.

Sharkah Chakra (try saying that 10 times fast!!) is the first ever denim to be made entirely by hand, naturally. It uses Fairtrade organic cotton sourced from West Africa. This cotton is then dyed using pure natural indigo in a thousand year old environmentally friendly process where there is no harmful waste and it is all recycled. The yarn is then hand woven by artisans in small villages in southern India.

Each pair has subtle detail such as an eco friendly nine carat gold rivet (made from part recycled gold) that determines the authenticity of the jeans, organic pocketing, hand woven selvedge and a weavers signature.

The pair I got to check out is super-soft, with a deep blue denim wash, and beautifully finished seams and pockets. Gorg!