"there's only one consumer item that's more self-expressive, more mobile, and more on display than the car in your driveway - the clothes on your back. Which is why green apparel - the logical extension of the hybrid movement - is on the rise."

Read the full article, it is really a good one. wired.com
Shop for Stewart + Brown

We have been working like crazy over at thegreenloop.com on our new site and are really excited about getting our spring line up and available for shopping. Blog posts will be few this week however we will be sure to let you know as soon as we launch. Below is a list of some of new lines we will be carrying this spring.

Anna Cohen
Blue Canoe
Carol Young
Ciel
Clothing of the American Mind
coolnotcruel
Deity Aton
Del Forte
EcoGanik
Edun
English Retreads
Grace & Cello
Green Label Organics
Helen & Rigle
Hempy's
Herban Cowboy
Inara
John Masters Organics
Kathy's Family
Kelly B.
Littlearth
Loomstate
Loyale
MiEssence
Natural High Lifestyle
Organic Guy
Perfect Organics
SalvationSacks
Splaff
Stewart+Brown
Teresa Ford Wilhelmi
TerrEssentials
Vy & Elle
Wildlife Works

fiftyRX3 is a blog project perusing the crossroads of style and sustainability. The site will partner with eco retailers to offer "Green Light Specials", sustainably stylish products that will be discounted for it's readers. Everyday is Earth Day on fiftyRX3, where specials will be offered continually throughout the year.

Give me the press release.

Take me to the products.

Good on azcentral for publishing an article exploding with quotes and upcoming events in Eco-fashion. A few highlights from the article:

Edun, the new label launched by U2 frontman Bono and his wife, Ali Hewson uses organic materials made in family-run, fair-labor factories in South America and Africa. (Edun will be available when the new Greenloop launches this spring)

Anti-leather activist Stella McCartney recently introduced her first accessories collection, due in stores this June

Danny Seo, host of the satellite-radio show Simply Green with Danny Seo is quoted as saying, “Beauty has tipped. Cars have tipped. Food has tipped. Fashion is one of the last categories to tip”

Elle magazine is going green for its May issue, which will be printed on recycled paper and guest edited by Laurie David, wife of Curb Your Enthusiasm's Larry David and a trustee of the Natural Resources Defense Council. Sponsored by Aveda, the issue will be devoted to the environment.

In May Wal-Mart will be stocking shelves with organic cotton baby clothes.

Good stuff read the full article at azcentral.com

"A recyclable, biodegradable wedding dress made of hemp with a bodice that doubles as a wall hanging might not be at the top of every bride's wishlist..." Better on the wall then in the closet. Read the full article at Vogue.com

When was the last time you saw parts of an 18-wheeler truck sashay down the runway at a fashion show? Well, you're about to if Heather English of Boulder Colorado, owner-designer of English Retreads has her way.

Heather has been making a reality of "On the Road Again" since 2001 by designing and producing stunning handbags, book bags, totes, backpacks and belts from discarded truck and tractor inner tubes rescued from landfills. The original tubes probably have over 60,000 miles on them before Heather adds her classic designs and gives them a whole new life.

Shop English Retreads at Greenloop

Two articles today both touting “Green as the New Black" and a gang of Celebes getting on board. The tone of the International Herald Tribune article really resonated; we are sick of this throw away culture, design products that last, build with sustainable materials and people will pay for them.

From the International Herald Tribune article by Suzy Menkes
"This is about good design, not products that shout 'eco' - and lots of designers don't want to create a green gang," says Earley, explaining her "long involvement" from fabric student in the 1990s at Central Saint Martins school, when she became aware that "everything I produced had a limited life span,"…

Take the time this morning to read the article it is a good one.

Eco-friendly: Why green is the new black

Green chic: At last top celebrities wake up to plight of the planet

With their focus on bags and sustainable materials Sarah Woo and Lenore Ma bring eco-fashion to the Ivy League.

We love the idea of fashion design as a major extracurricular activity. Read the full article at yaledailynews.com or visit their site at http://www.yale.edu/ycouture/. Sarah and Lenore if you are listening we would love to see your bags.

Shop our collection of sustainable bags and accessories at thegreenloop.com

While we do love our site as it currently stands, and we thank our customers and supporters for loving it too, we felt the time was right to take it to the next level. On that note, just in time for Earth Day 2006, Greenloop will be launching its new site, complete with a whole new collection of merchandise for spring and several new, exciting brands to choose from too.

In addition to an expanded selection of mens (yes, you heard right, more mens
items ) and womens clothing, the new site will feature more information on fit, sizing and styling features; offer multiple views of each item; multiple color views of each item (where more than one color is available;a new customer rewards program; increased shipping options; and enhanced international shipping capabilities.

The new website will also have a webpage dedicated to each line we carry, so you can
learn more about them, their ethics, their inspiration, their materials, and
more.

Gotta have it now? Go ahead and check out what we have available on the site right now, and ifyou don't see what you are looking for, or you know of an specific item you want,email us and we will do our very best to take care of you. We do have the spring line-up in stock at our shop in West Linn, OR, so if you are in the neighborhood, drop in!

So please, keep checking in with us at www.thegreenloop.com - we are not permanently stuck in fall/winter mode, just improving upon ourselves to serve you, and the green fashion movement, BETTER. We are shooting for a mid April launch. If you would like to be among the first to be in the know about the launch of the new site, you can sign up to receive notification by email here.

Critics are claiming since less than 1 per cent of the world's cotton production is organic; this will never be anything but a niche area.

At a cost of 17 teaspoons of chemicals per non-organic T-shirt 1 per cent is a great place to start.

Shop organic T-shirts or read the full article How you can make a difference by Lucy Siegle at the observer.

Wearing Your Values, Eco-Fashions are on Today’s Runways by Joel Gershon of emagazine.com highlights FutureFashion an event sponsored by New York-based Earth Pledge during New York’s famed Fashion Week last February. In attendance were some of the fashion industries hottest names; Diane von Furstenberg, Halston and Oscar de la Renta all featured outfits made from eco-friendly fabrics and materials in a marriage of upscale elegance and sustainability.

Gershon had this to say about the industry. “Launched to provide an alternative to chemically treated clothing, the eco-fashion business has been slow to catch on, and was for years linked to potato sacks and oddly styled t-shirts. These days, fine natural fabrics made from organic cotton, wool and linen, tencel (made from wood pulp), hemp, bamboo, Ingeo (made from corn) and silk are used to create sharp, stylish outfits. After much experimentation with these materials over the past 15 years, even such household names as Patagonia, Nike and Timberland have embraced the concept.”

Read the full article | shop Greenloop for Eco-fasion.

'What if I could create a brand that would have an impact on fashion, as well as improving the living conditions of people worse off than me?' Peter Ingwersen, on eco-fashion and his new company Noir.

"The look and philosophy behind 21st-century eco-fashion - which last year was worth £43 million in the UK - is far removed from combats, grubby T-shirts and friendship bracelets. Leading labels such as People Tree (which this month goes into Topshop) report a staggering 70-per-cent rise in sales. Other names include Ciel (shop) (worn by Sienna Miller and Cate Blanchett) and Edun, which was set up by Bono's wife, Ali Hewson (Cameron Diaz loves its jeans). Ciel's designer, Sarah Ratty, is typical of this new generation. "Our clothes are for cosmopolitan, busy, fashionable people who care about the planet, but don't want to sacrifice style," she says.

Read the full story at telegraph.co.uk

Anna Blossom Cohen (shop) worked as a designer in the fashion and textile industry in Florence, Italy for Max Mara, Patrizia Pepe, Guess and Binicocchi. She returned to the US in 2004.

In 2004 she was one of fifteen designers selected worldwide to participate in a fashion design competiton and showcase in Florence Italy; awards were given by Ferragammo, Pucci, and Pitti Imagine. Anna has now returned to the US in Portland, Oregon, a center for sustainability, to create this "Italian street couture" line of sustainable fashion apparel.

Anna Cohen, on the forefront of moving both fashion design and the global fashion industry toward more sustainable practices that support environmental and social justice through creating cutting edge fashion apparel using globally responsible business practices. Shop Anna Cohen at Greenloop

Before you hit the town tonight take a moment to make sure your shopping list includes the latest in Organic Booze. Cruise on over to CocktailOrganico and green up your St. Patrick ’s Day festivities.

Lü Magazine pronounced Lü, is a green fashion magazine in the making. It means green in Chinese.

"What China does in the next few years will decide the fate of the earth. The vast majority of clothes worn in the West are now made in Asia. In turn Asian culture is influencing Western culture through Feng Shui, movies, videos. It's time for an international global fashion publication to reflect and set these trends."

What do you think? Is Lü Magazine "the green fashion publication for the future of the species"?

How to wash your Loomstate jeans form the article, Only fashion could make me bathe with jeans on by LEAH McLAREN of the theglobeandmail.com.

…and when I tried them on at home I was pleased to note that they fit. The only glitch was the washing instructions. I found them printed on an unbleached paper card tied to one of the belt loops by a piece of twine. "We think it's best to wash these with a little shampoo while wearing them in the shower or bathtub. You'll notice the indigo will bleed so don't spend all day in there. While they are wet, bend your knees to stretch them out, but don't strain yourself. When done, simply hang to dry in the sun."

Pardon?

The next day, I phoned up the Loomstate offices in New York and spoke to Scott Hahn, one of the company's founding partners.

"Dude," I said, "what's with the washing instructions?"

"You don't want them to dry with the wrong wrinkles," he explained. "You want them to dry in your leg form. Avoiding detergent and dryers tightens the fibres, so you get a closed fibre, with an intensely personalized sculptural fading instead of the uniformed fading and a bloomed yarn, which creates a hairy, fuzzy aesthetic. That's something serious denim people want to avoid."

Loomstate (shop), I learned, uses only organic, pesticide-free cotton to make what they describe as "responsible clothes" for people who are "committed to treading lightly on the earth." On its website (http://www.loomstate.org), you can watch an interview with an organic dairy farmer talking about how much his cows like eating the organic cottonseed byproduct that is produced in the making of Loomstate jeans. What this has to do with washing your jeans while wearing them in the shower is anybody's guess, but it seemed credible enough to convince me that the washing instructions are no joke: Loomstate is a post-ironic brand.

You can read the full article at www.theglobeandmail.com

Founded by Rebecca Luke and Sean Schmidt SSF is an international, member-supported nonprofit organization created to provide information, resources and innovative programs that promote sustainable living and sustainable design.

From fashion, food and film to interior design, travel, music and more, SSF has designs on making sustainability the next big thing, as well as a timeless trend by using the power of popular culture to influence consumer choices.

This month in SSF's online magazine.
>Interview: Daryl Hannah
>The military goes green
>Nike goes organic
>Biodiesel hits the big time
>Indy cars use corn to race

When John Masters started styling hair just out of high school in 1975, the health risks posed by inhaling and handling harsh salon chemicals were barely a passing concern. After embracing organic foods, he began investigating the dangers of chemicals such as ammonia and sulfates, staples in most hair dyes and highlighting treatments.

Using nontoxic bases, Masters developed his own line of hair-care blends (shop) from essential oils, plant extracts, and health-food staples.

"For my first wholesale order at Barneys New York, I filled every bottle by hand with a funnel," he recalls. By 1994, he had launched his salon just off the SoHo grid, and today his line includes skin-care products and doggie wash.

Though he no longer mixes by hand, Masters spends months developing his products with chemists and herbalists. He also imports most of his ammonia-free, clay-based hair dyes from Italy because they aren't distributed in the United States.

Text adapted from www.johnmasters.com

Vivavi offers contemporary, sustainable furniture and home furnishings for the environment-minded modern lifestyle. Founded by Josh Dorfman, creator and host of the The Lazy Environmentalist, in 2003 Vivavi offers product collections by forward-thinking designers who consider green design a prerequisite for Good Design.

According to Josh the idea is simple: live modern + tread lightly. The possibilities for doing so astound and inspire.

Vivavi is a member of 1% For The Planet, an alliance of socially and environmentally responsible businesses that donate 1% of all sales to non-profit, non-governmental environmental organizations. Their furnishings are fantastic, you can shop online or visit Vivavi in their Brooklyn Design Gallery.

Eco-conscious fashion has gone from hippie to hip. As the list of sustainable fabrics grows -- materials from soybeans, wood pulp and even bamboo -- so does the popularity of eco-embracing designers.

"People want more than a label. They want a back story so they can feel good wearing the outfit," says clothing designer Linda Loudermilk, whose clients have included Meryl Streep and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Read the full article at usaweekend.com

This California based Sandal Company started by Cliff Drill and Craig Wallace with a tire, a bike tube, and a shoe knife is making a difference. Their vision is to make comfortable, long lasting, fairly priced sandals from recycled materials.

Splaff Flopps (shop) are field tested by surfers who virtually live in their flip flops and often own no other footwear. The Flopps come with either an exposed black recycled rubber footbed or with an additional layer of natural colored hemp. Both versions use hemp in the strap linings and are equally comfortable. The black recycled rubber footbed is waterproof, slip resistant, and odorless.

Good products don’t have to have bad consequences on our environment.