LES Now Renamed Lower Eco Side
I have been foraying around the LES (lower east side) of Manhattan of late, and have I found a bevy of eco fabulousness!
First up, Kaight, which I thought I found first, but Treehugger’s Celine was there just a couple days before me. And then I saw that Jill over at 50RX3 made them store of the month! Just shows you can’t keep a great green store like this a secret for long. Kaight (83 Orchard St.) carries some gorgeous togs by Linda Loudermilk, stewart+brown, Panda Snack and Undesigned. Even the store is eco-friendly, owner Kate McGregor told me, with a bamboo floor (and the counter made from the excess pieces) recycled shopping bags, low-VOC paint and hemp curtains on the dressing rooms.
Just down Orchard Street at #149 is Hairy Mary’s, where I bought a beautiful reworked vintage dress. This colorful boutique specializes in great-quality vintage dresses, shoes and coats, as well as the flattering reconstructed dresses they are known for. Sharon Broit owns the joint, and her fun modern paintings cover the walls.
Not too far away I ran into Organic Avenue (101 Stanton St.), half health-food store, half organic clothing boutique. They carry delicious fresh juices (I am slowly sipping away at the fresh Coconut Mylk in a reusable glass bottle), raw treats like a coconut lemon cookie that I am keeping myself from devouring, and some of my favorite casual clothing brands like Hempest, MoreTrees and Ecoganik.
At 177 Ludlow Street is Earth Matters, an old-school health food store and community space, where you can find super-fresh organic produce and staff knowlegable about supplements and green juices.
Lastly, but not leastly, another new eco-boutique, Ekhovaruset, opened last friday. Our own Eco Chick Jenn wrote about their sister store in Stockholm a few months ago, and it came full circle when I met the owner Johanna at the opening party for the new NYC store. She remembered the post on her store and remembered the site! There was some beautiful organic cotton and handmade clothing there, and I met the designer, Mika Machida, who designed, draped and sewed the amazing elephant shirt above on the right.
Starre Vartan
Starre Vartan is founder and editor-in-chief of Eco-Chick.com and the author of the Eco-Chick Guide to Life. She's also a freelance science and environment writer who has published in National Geographic, CNN, Scientific American, Mental Floss, Pacific Standard, the NRDC, and many more. She lives on an island in Puget Sound with her partner and black cat. She was a geologist in her first career, and still picks up rocks wherever she goes.
