Organic Designer · Eco-Chick

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Eco Chic Weekly – November 17, 2008

Eco-Chick gets Eairth-y with some Fabulous Phillipino Eco-Fashion

Fashion, evolved interviews Sara Suemae, the founder and designer of the eco-fabulous line SPUN.

Green Cotton says congrats to the D.C. Green Festivals for a terrific eco-fashion show and impressive recycling for 30,000+

The GreenGirls.tv tells us why knockoffs and fakes are a crime of fashion.

The Alternative Consumer has the scoop on natural wrist warmers: tre chic and handmade, a yummy accessory for fall, winter and spring.

Green Grechen shares chic handbags for vegans–100% Vegan Handbags (that you’d actually carry)!

What Are You Tired Of? Tell the World and Make It Change! Victoria Everman has an interview with I’m Tired Of co-founder Dan Hoffman.

eco designer, eco style, ecofashion, green designer, green style, organic designer, organic fashion, organic style, sustainable designer, sustainable fashion, sustainable style

Choose Sustainable. Choose Style. Choose SPUN.

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by Amanda Quraishi · 11/12/08

If you haven’t heard of SPUN yet, don’t worry. You will. The lovely and talented founder of the company, Sara Seumae is riding a wave of popularity as her sustainable, chic designs continue to gain a reputation among fashionistas. I had the opportunity to “meet” Sara online and asked her if she’d let me interview her for Fashion, Evolved:

The Q: Do you design all the clothing at SPUN?

Sara Seumae: YES! But I will have to say that the emails from our customers and my mom and sister’s “two-cents” should be also be included.

The Q: Where do you get your inspiration?

Sara Seumae: My inspiration was and still is my two little girls. Like any mother, I want them to live the healthiest life possible. This includes what they eat as well as their environment. I also believe wholeheartedly that we need to leave this planet in better shape than we found it. I can’t dare look at my girls in the eyes if I feel that I have let them down. It’s not their fault that the world is the way it is. But I can do my very best to try and change it any way that I can. By choosing to wear organic cotton, you will not only help the environment but also the farmers who grow your cotton. Just like us, they have families that love them and I don’t want to be blamed for their failing health due to their exposure to pesticides either.

The Q: What kind of woman is a SPUN customer?

Sara Seumae: Our pieces are meant to be worn by every woman. We choose colors that will work with all different types of hair and eye colors as well as different complexions. We have also recently introduced Extra Large sizing to further broaden our customer reach. All of our pieces are longer than normal, allowing those of us who have had children, as well as those who wish to have a little more coverage the ease to do so. This also allows you to layer our pieces with some of your other favorites. We also make the bust on our pieces a little more fitted, as we feel that this is more flattering. Every piece is made in California, fair wage and sweat-shop free, using an environmentally friendly low-impact fiber reactive dye process. So you can rest assured that your clothes aren’t made under cruel conditions. The typical SPUN lady believes in the importance of not only wearing affordable clothing but cares about the condition of the people who have worked to bring the piece to you. From the farmer who works the cotton fields to the sewer who puts it all together, our customer cares about all of them. She also wants quality as well as classic pieces that aren’t the throw away pieces that you find elsewhere. Our pieces won’t fall apart after a few washes and are meant to be around no matter what the next season’s style brings us.

The Q: Why is sustainability an important issue for you, personally?

Sara Seumae: Living in Washington State, you can’t help but think about the environment. The rain helps keep everything green and that’s how we like it! Personally, my husband and I were always concerned about environmental causes. We started eating organic and using cloth diapers when our first daughter was born. It wasn’t until the birth of our second daughter, that we really started realizing all the other ways we could be better citizens. That’s when I realized my own desire for taking it a step further into green clothing. It was really easy for kids stuff and my husband just needed t-shirts. But for me, I couldn’t afford spending a lot just for clothes. We contribute one percent of our annual sales to environmental organizations through our membership with 1% For the Planet. We also try to reduce our footprint by doing such things as taking care of our own local deliveries rather than using other shipping methods. We also use recycled or reused cardboard boxes for shipping, biodegradable garment bags made from corn, and our hangtags are also made from 100% recycled paper. We believe that every little thing you can do helps.

ecofashion, Fashion, green designer, green style, organic clothing, organic designer, organic fashion, organic style, Sara Suemae, SPUN, sustainable clothing, sustainable fashion, sustainable style

Eco Chic Weekly!

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by Amanda Quraishi · 10/11/08

Announcing…the new Blog Association that is heralding the Fashion Revolution!
I am so pleased to introduce you to the new blog group Eco Chic Weekly. We are a small but rapidly growing group of writers that focus on future of fashion: Sustainability!

The members of Eco Chic Weekly are all dedicated to bringing you viable options to the mass-produced, over worked clothing and beauty that is designed first and foremost for the bottom line.

Eco Fashion is both a industry revolution and a cultural revolution. It is a movement that promotes a higher quality of living for everyone on earth.

Please visit each week for a digest of the best of the best of Eco Fashion Blogging, and spend a few moments commenting on these excellent posts — we love to hear from our readers!

Green Cotton introduces her blog and tells us about her mission of bringing organic and sustainable clothing to the mainstream!

Green Girls Global reports on water wasted in producing denim–and offers some great alternatives!

GreenGirls.tv has a video wrap up of everything on the blog for the past week.

Fashion, Evolved recaps the Project Runway Season 5 Finale (part 1). (Poor Jerrel!)

Eco Chick gives us the scoop on a brand new line of organic body care targeted at teens.

Victoria-E showcases the new line of handbags from Ecoist, a company that uses recycled wrappers; and she includes a special discount for her readers!

Eco Beauty, eco designer, eco style, ecofashion, ethical fashion, ethical style, green clothing, green designer, green style, organic beauty, organic clothing, organic cotton, organic designer, organic fashion, organic style, sustainable clothing, sustainable designer, sustainable fashion, sustainable style, sustinable beauty

Brook There

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by Amanda Quraishi · 10/02/08

When I first started writing about sustainable fashion, I scoured Etsy.com because I found that a lot of small, independent sustainable designers were using it as a retail outlet. That’s when I first discovered Brook There. I was immediately drawn to the use of color and the artistic lines of the clothing–a far cry from a lot of the earth toned knit simplicity I saw in other ‘green’ designers. Finally, last month I was able to contact designer Brook DeLorme for a phone interview to find out more about her line.

According to her website, her company name “was inspired by the idea that ‘there’ often represents a place we’d rather be, and that fashion is the vehicle that can transport you from fantasy to reality, or from here to there. The roots of the line are based in my early work during college creating one-of-a-kind clothing from ‘found’ fabrics with a very deconstructed, raw, but ultra-feminine style.”

During the past few months, Brook has been developing her company’s main site in order to sell directly to online shoppers. She also works with boutiques that carry her clothing and still keeps her Etsy store open as additional outlets for sales. She’s also just added a line of organic underwear that is both eco-friendly AND sexy.

Originally, Brook started out designing and selling clothing using exclusively recycled materials. I asked her what prompted her to go green as a designer and she told me that “It wasn’t a matter of choosing to go green. Sustainability is simply integrated in to my personal life in all areas. To use these fabrics just makes sense. I use the concept of eco-fashion in my marketing, but I don’t think of it as something out of the ordinary. It is just the way I live my life and that translates to my design work.” After a few years, she chose to switch from recycled materials to organic fabrics, which tend to be easier to come by and to maintain continuity.

In addition to using sustainable fabrics, Brook also uses U.S. based manufacturing. She hand makes her own samples and sources her bulk orders to a small local, family-owned factory.

So what kind of woman wears Brook There? According to Brook, “A lot of female designers design for themselves. Clothing I wear has to be comfortable but look neat and chic and practical. My clientele tends to be urban and in creative professions. They can (and do) wear unusual clothing. They are educated, well-read and care about organics and sustainable products.”

She went on, “I call my design aesthetic ‘thoughtful clothing’. I really take care that pieces are interesting both inside and out so that the wearer has an experience that the viewer might now. I design from an abstract place–a concept or emotional state–not from literal experience and this is how the pieces and each collection gets their name.”

From a small startup design company on Etsy, Brook There is a real success story–a totem for struggling young designers who are attempting to create their own lines without million-dollar marketing budgets. Visit her site and see what makes Brook There a true fashion destination.