Hemp · Eco-Chick

Browsing all posts tagged with hemp

Nylon Struts Their Organic Stuff

For how cutting-edge this magazine is, they still haven’t found a new opening line to introduce organic fashions in their newsletter. Instead, they go with the age old adage of:

“Environmentally-friendly fashion isn’t limited to the Birkenstock clad activist look. If wearing hemp from head to toe isn’t your idea of eco-savvy, then these organic alternatives prove that it is, actually, quite easy being green.”

Gaaawwwd! Get a new line. Eco-chick should be counting how many times insular press use “hemp, “Birkenstock,” and “hippie” in the same sentence when discussing “green” fashion design. Its 2 out of 3 for Nylon Mag this time around…One more strike – and they would be O-U-T….(Ahhh, but we’ll take what we can get around here)….Regardless, they highlight LA’s Burning Torch, by designer Karen Craven, who melds organic fabrics with vintage to create some pretty fem pieces. The piece pictured above is quite cute: polka dots, lace trim and embroidered insets with an empire waist. She’s been splayed all over the press recently included one of the latest issues of Time Out NY Spring Fashion feature and WWD. Wait, wait, do you smell that?? Yeah, b*tch, that’s the smell of a d-e-s-i-g-n revolution!!!!

design, designer, Eco-Chick, fabric, fabrics, Fashion, hemp, magazine, News, Organic, organic fashion, spring, Tea, trike, vintage

The Hempest

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by Kimberly Jordan Allen · 04/14/06

Founded in 1995, The Hempest began as a small clothing boutique in Boston catering to enviros who wanted to wear organically harvested duds. Being on Newbury Street in Boston, surrounded by the big corporate retailers such as Armani, Gap, and Nike, provided Hempest with a challenge that also proved to be an advantage. This flagship basement store, that has a brightly hued garden growing at its entrance for half of the year, drew people with its ecclectic facade. For tourists who didn’t want to buy the same kitsch they could get anywhere, the store offered a refreshing alternative: clothing produced symbiotically with the earth. For locals who had been yearning for non-synthetics that were not put together in sweat shops in Asia, Hempest provided natural fabrics grown from beneficial plants that were ethically harvested and produced.

Over the past decade, The Hempest has spread from this successful store on Newbury Street to four other locations in Northampton (MA), Burlington (VT), Santa Barbara, and another in the Boston area as well as an online store. The original motivation for the store was to educate people on the benefits of growing and using hemp. As companies such as Of The Earth, moreTrees Clothing and Nibus began to make organic cotton and hemp clothing that people would actually want to wear, the store began to flourish.

I have searched high and low for the uber-hoodie and these guys have it. I recommend the Nibus Zip-Up pictured here (also available for men.) It is super soft, slightly structured, and sustainably crafted. What more could we ask from a hoodie? The hemp skirts and pants are also comfy, with that mid-weight linen feel.

Mitch Rosenfield, the founder of the store notes, “…we want people to relate to their purchases, to realize that they are helping to create the world they desire. If you buy plastic, there will be more plastic in the world. If you buy hemp, then people will grow it. Which future seems greener?”

clothing, cotton, Eco-Chick, ethical, fabric, fabrics, garden, hemp, local, Organic, organic cotton, Plants, plastic, produce, trees

London is well-fashioned in many ways

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by Summer Rayne Oakes · 02/18/06

The Crafts Council Gallery will be hosting a show that will house the U.K.’s small, albeit blossoming eco-fashion industry.

Well Fashioned examines the various ways in which fashion designers approach ‘green’ fashion, from materials and processes to concepts and techniques. Some outfits use organic or alternative fabrics like hemp, bamboo, wild silk and ingeo. Other exhibitors consider the ecological value of synthetic fabrics and biodegradable and recycled plastics.

Curator Rebecca Earley comments: ‘We hope that the exhibition will sow the seeds of change for a more ecological and ethical approach to fashion. Given that the majority of a garment’s impact on the environment occurs after the item has left the shop, an important part of the exhibition looks at the role of the consumer. How can a garment be bought, washed and disposed of as ecologically and ethically as possible?’

Some notables that will be there: Terra Plana, Kate Goldsworthy, and Ting.

More information can be found via: The Crafts Council