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

Human Ingredients T-Shirt: Fascinating and Disturbing

This thought-provoking tee isn’t organic, but it is available on American Apparel stock shirts, so at least you can choose a fair-trade option. I think this is totally genius, and includes all the heavy metals that have worked their way into the bodies of every human being on the planet- like it or not. These heavy metals are known disease-causers and are pumped into the air and water by coal- and oil-burning power plants, garbage incineration, plastic-production plants and others- and are distributed planet-wide.

Online Resources for Ecofashion, Beauty and Green Goodness

Below find some of Eco Chick’s favorite blogs, resources, boutiques, and labels. We’ve written about most of these, so if you’d like to check out what we think about past or current collections, or what products we’ve reviewed from any of the following companies, put their name into our search box and check out what comes up!

Ecofashion Boutiques

The Greenloop (Portland, Oregon)
Kaight (NYC)
Kiwi (Brooklyn, NYC)
Nimli
BTC Elements
No Bias (Netherlands)
Pivot (Chicago)
Bird Textiles (Sydney, Australia)
Gorman (Sydney, Australia)
Eva Green (Melbourne, Australia)
Coco’s Shoppe
Envi (Boston)
Shift (Hyannis, Cape Cod (508) 775-2652)
Beklina
Jonano
Embodies (Larkspur, CA)
Juno & Jove

Ecofashion Labels

Stewart + Brown
Frei
Doie
EcoSkin
Emily Katz
John Patrick Organic
Bodkin
Feral Childe
Eairth
Armour Sans Anguish
Mr. Larkin
Alabama Chanin
Mociun
Lara Miller
Nixxi
Bibico (Fair Trade)
Ryann
The Battalion
Edun
NaturevsFuture

Bags, Luggage and Wallets

Ashley Watson (recycled leather)
Teich (vegan and non-vegan options)
Canopy Verde

Sustainable Shoes

Mink (vegan)
Cri de Coeur (vegan)
Cydwoq
Terra Plana
Olsenhaus (vegan)
Charmone
Beyond Skin (vegan)
Green Bees
Melissa Plastic Dreams (vegan)

Jewelry and Accessories

Polli
Kiersten Muenster
Monique Pean
Verde Rocks by Gwen Davis

Vintage & Upcycled Clothing

Hairy Mary’s
Handcut (Sydney, Australia)

Natural Beauty Online Stores

Beautorium
FutureNatural
Kaia House
Spirit Beauty Lounge

Natural Beauty Brands

Josie Maran Cosmetics (makeup and facial care)
Pangea Organics
John Masters (facial and hair care)
Nvey Eco (makeup)
Alima (makeup)
Jo Wood Organics (fragrance and skin products)
Rare Elements (hair care)
Saaf Pure Skin Care (skin products)

Miessence

Sexuality and Women’s Health

Pleasure Galaxie
Lunapads & Diva Cup
Babeland (some vegan condoms, organic lubes, etc.)

Great Green Girlfriends

Summer Rayne Oakes
Olivia Zaleski
May Lindstrom
Jill Danyelle

Green Fashion and Beauty Blogs

Ecouterre
Ecofabulous
Ecostiletto
Fig + Sage
Girlie Girl Army
Ecosalon
Ecofashion World

Health and Wellness Sites

Skinny Bitch

Our Favorite Green Blogs

The Daily Green
Huffington Post Green
Inhabitat
Mother Nature Network
Wedvert

Fave Non-Green (but Still Awesome!) Fashion Blogs

Cherry Blossom Girl
The Sartorialist
Fashion for Writers

Eco Chic Weekly 8/29/09

Eco Chic Weekly compiles the best of the best in green fashion and beauty blogging each week. Please feel free to copy and use this post on your blog with a link back to Fashion, Evolved.

• Learn how to make ethical fashion choices and upcycle your existing wardrobe this week on Green Girls Global.
• Check out the Eco Fashion World interview with Maroussia Rebecq, founder of the Andrea Crews Collective.
• Eco-Chick has rounded up some Eco Fashion News from around the web!
• The Eco Diva goes local with Etsy.com!
• Learn about Bangladesh Garment Factories Going Fair Trade at Ethical Style!
• Check out Curatorial’s Limited Edition Collection featured on Feelgood Style.
• Green Grechen discusses the impacts of milk silk.
• Want to see some of the best organic fashion on sale today? Green Lashes and Fashion has a round up!
• 8 Ways to Get the Closest Eco Shave for Men and Women–on Greenopia!
• Inhabitat is featuring the very drool-worthy Noon Solar Bags.
• Modern Hippie Mag has a question about hair oil in their Ask the Beauty Chick column.
• Are You a Green Beauty? Take the Quiz on Planet Green!
• Upcycled bags are better the second time around…so says The Alternative Consumer!
• Join in the Vintage Jewelry Obsession this Fall at The Green Girls.
• The Thrifty Chicks are Standing Naked in a Thrift Store.
• Treehugger dishes on the 7 Common Cosmetics Ingredients You Need to Avoid!
• Fashion, Evolved interviews Jaszy McAllister creator of ethical, beautiful Jaszy’s Jewelry.

Alabama Chanin's Super Sustainable Eco Fashion: "It's Time to Garden"

The model tableau in Alabama Chanin’s open, sunny show space

The Alabama Chanin show, titled “The Songbirds” last Friday was definitely a down-home version of a fashion-week event, and all of us in attendance couldn’t have been happier about it. It was relaxed, it was filled with music, it was, in these stressful times, a relief.

Following the anti-runway trend, the models at Alabama Chanin’s show donned different outfits, posed for photographers (I loved taking shots at my leisure and playing with the light), ate and drank and even mingled a bit. And why not? They are people too, and after all the stories of the catwalk coterie biting it in amped-up runway shows, I’ll bet these girls were happy to behave like (gorgeous) human beings rather than skinny-legged stompers.

Natalie Chanin, designer of Alabama Chanin

I also had time to speak with Natalie Chanin, the creative force behind her label of completely handmade clothes (there is NO machine-sewing in any of the pieces and in fact each one is made by hand in cottage-industry production made up of women working from their homes). She told me that she’s coming up on ten years of designing (first for Project Alabama and since 2006 for Alabama Chanin) and explains, “I’ve planted a lot of seeds, and now I’m letting them grow.”

A model with the folksy/country musicians who kept it light, mellow, and energized.

Besides branching out into home furnishings (a natural for her incredible overdyed, hand embroidered fabrics) Natalie is moving and expanding into accessories, including both hats and jewelry (The bijoux are unexpected combinations of metals, metals that incorporate fabric elements into their patterns, and actual fabrics). She has also been working with a small-batch indigo dyer (who dyes in a church in the Bronx) to create Alabama Denim, which was shown in several pieces.

The detail on each of these is just knock-your-socks-off amazing. Some pieces have been worked on by more than five women.

Natalie continued her garden metaphor, apt since cotton (the primary fabric used in her designs) and indigo, (used to dye them) both grow from the Earth. She explained her collection: “What we have right now is very round, and I need to be patient and it needs space to grow. This is the time to garden.”
And in case you were wondering, all the fabric used in the designs is 100% organic cotton and is “grown-to-sewn” in the southern USA.

Note the layered skirt on the left, which worked even on a slimmer design; this is an easy look to wear and versatile too (models sported cowboy boots or sky-high stilettos; all seemed to work with the designs).

The details on the designs are gorgeous and look handmade and hyper-organic, which I love in an age of white buttonless pods and glass everywhere.

A close-up of the pretty layering; a perfectly easy way to wear the pattern-on-pattern trend.

Love the 1920’s feel about this. Maybe a bit of recession-chic?

Check out the natural Indigo-dyed Alabama denim on the model at right.

The all-white collection inspired all sorts of cloud-and-snow fantasies in me- the texture of white embroidery on soft white cotton was just magical.

The new Alabama Chanin jewelry collection (here laid out for the models) was a study in texture and pattern – and color!

Button detail on one of the gorgeous long coats that are an Alabama Chanin signature.

Hats laid out for the models, with their handmade labels

Starre Vartan with an Alabama Chanin coat (I want one of these so much! Perfect with jeans and a tank, over a dress, with shorts and boots….eminently wearable!

Check out The Alabama Stitch Book: Projects and Stories Celebrating Hand-Sewing, Quilting and Embroidery for Contemporary Sustainable Style to learn some of the secrets behind Natalie Chanin’s designs (and use them as inspiration for you own!)

Get Warm & Cozy This Fall with a Cup of Organic, Fair Trade Tea

There’s nothing in the world that comforts and calms me quite like a good cup of tea. I’ve been a tea drinker since I had my first cup as a preteen, and I’ve got a huge basket in my pantry full of dozens of varieties. Every day, it’s like I’m opening a gift when I get to try out a new tea. Recently, I was given a few bags of Choice Organic Teas, and I gotta say, I’m in love. There’s a great variety to choose from, they’re organic and they’re fair trade.

My fave is the Rooibos Red Bush Tea + Vanilla, and I’ve also tried Original Chai, Green Moroccan Mint and Irish Breakfast – all fantastic (check out the full list of fair trade teas).

About Choice Tea’s decision to go fair trade:

In 2000, Choice Organic Teas became the first tea crafter to adopt Fair Trade Certified tea in the United States.

Choice Organic Teas partnered with TransFair USA to write the guidelines that established a Fair Trade Certification process for the tea industry, as the hierarchy of the tea estate owner/manager to the worker who plucks the tea differs greatly than from the coffee industry. TransFair USA previously established Fair Trade certification in the United States for the coffee industry in 1999.

Fair Trade certification addresses the injustices of conventional trade, which traditionally discriminates against the poorest workers in economically developing or third-world countries. Products from economically developed countries such as Japan and the United States cannot qualify for Fair Trade certification.

Choice Organic Teas have been certified organic by Quality Assurance International, the USDA, and the Organic Consumers Association.  The fair trade varieties are certified by TransFair USA.

Choice Organic’s tea varieties are available in 16-bag boxes, bulk bags and loose leaf. They’d make a great stocking stuffer for the upcoming holiday season!

Check out Starre’s post about her favorite teas for more tea-licious suggestions!

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