H&M

I've been wondering whether H & M is green or not, so I did a little research this morning. Read all about it here.

my t-shirt bags

Oh the joy of being home with nothing to do. Today my friend and I made reusable shopping bags out of old t-shirts! It was quick and easy, and we didn't have to incorporate any new materials. And they are going to be so useful.

home is where the green is

Finals are finally over. Wahoo! Since this blog originally started as a project for a class, it may seem to shift and take new form now that it is truly able to become my own. With that said, let's get back to green business.

Today was my first day back in my home town of Worcester, MA - a historically industrial city that is, today, somewhat rundown (even though it still has its charming parts), and doesn't seem to have too much green about it except for the fact that it happens to be situated in the heart of the great green state of Massachusetts. Still, I spent the day with my sister and my friends romping around the city visiting some old and discovering some new green hot spots along the way.

Even though I put a green theme to every place I went today, what I first realized was how difficulty it is to be true blue green when I am away from my college campus. I can no longer walk everywhere, and although there is some public transit around these parts, it's easy to give into the convenience of driving. Fortunately, I stayed pretty much in the same area all day so we didn't drive too far.

First stop was a lunch date with my sister at the new Asian/vegetarian eatery, Buddha Hut, which opened a few months ago about 2 miles from home for me. (If I didn't have to drive my sister to work right after lunch, I totally would have walked there!) I did wonder however, as I munched on my our veggie lo mein and faux chicken - is eating out or eating in is more sustainable? According to this blogger on Not Eating Out in New York, eating in is much more sustainable than dining out. But I figure, if I'm going to have a special day with my sister and eating out is going to be a part of it, supporting a family-owned, vegetarian restaurant was the way to go. Never mind the fact that the food was delicious (don't worry - those smoothie cups were recyclable).

The next 2 stops were Classic Toy Shop, a local toy store, and Unique Boutique, a vintage/consignment shop just to look around.

Final destination was Tush, a new boutique downtown - and I think one of the only high end clothing stores in the entire city. I had never been and I honestly wasn't planning on going to this designer shop for a while - given the fact that I'm a broke college student and striving to be sustainable shopper. But overall, the experience was a green-heart-warming surprise.

(stay tuned for pictures)

We walked in, and the first shirt that caught my eye was one that read "Little Miss Green." No where on the tag could I find whether the top was made from recycled or organic cotton, but the tag itself was made from 100% recycled paper. At this point I was thinking, OK, probably not going to find anything green here, but then I turned around and spotted some bags on display that looked like they were made from magazines and newspaper. Turns out that they were! The designer, Jen Sherr, a local, uses decoupage techniques to create funky bracelets and decorate shoes and handbags. She also makes really cool bangles. Talk about sustainable style.

Along with Sherr's designs, the store owner told me that all of the jewelry sold in Tush is from local designers. And I was most impressed by an effort by the store to collect old designer jeans that customers no longer wanted. They were offering a rebate for bringing in your reject jeans, and planning to hold a thrift party to re-sell the jeans. The next step is to donate any left over jeans to a local charity come the holidays. It turns out that you don't have to be an ecoboutique to have hints of green.

my "pop" earrings

this is me procrastinating ...

More sustainable style

I think this guy is hilarious.

try GREEN on for size

One of the first expressions of the “green” movement in popular culture that struck me was the eco-fashion movement. At Fashion Week in New York in January, a show called FutureFashion displayed the environmentally friendly styles – usually made from organic materials and natural dyes - from famous designers including Versace and Calvin Klein. Eco-boutiques have been popping up across the country - the first one I ever saw was Envi on Newbury St. in Boston. If there is any way to merge sustainability and consumerism, this must be it… right? Not necessarily.

As I’ve said before, the best way to be an environmentally conscious consumer is to buy nothing at all (which is great for broke college students), but as a nonmaterial girl living in a material world, I know that people just don’t give you the kind of attention necessary to make real change if you walk in the door with HIPPIE written all over you.

So, since we have to shop (or so we think) of course it’s better to buy “eco-friendly” fashions than not, but I see some flaws in “green” style fad. First of all, just as we need to sort out greenwashing corporations in all of our consumption, it’s important to distinguish between clothes that are actually sustainable, and those that are abusing the green trend to make sales. Graphic Ts featuring recycling symbols, trees, and crying globes are all the rage – but buying lots of trendy t-shirts, even if they’re made from organic materials and natural dyes, is not the best way to sport a sustainable style. Second of all, I find it to be unrealistic and unfair that eco-friendly clothing tends to be high-end and high-cost, so it’s hard for those who are truly living minimally (ahem, broke college students) to shop at eco boutiques.

Fortunately for those who are on a budget, there are ways to look green and great without breaking the bank. Jill Danyelle, who experimented with sustainable style through her project in fashion and sustainability called fiftyRx3, applied the environmental concept of the 3 Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) concept for waste management in greening her wardrobe.

Jill explains the application of the 3 Rs in fashion as:

Reduce = using environmentally friendly fabrics and dyes and production

Reuse = wearing clothes from the past (instead of buying new ones)

Recycle = making clothes out of something else

Here's my take:

REDUCE.

If you’ve really got to go out and buy something new, I think that it’s important to ‘reduce’ in more than one way. Of course by buying clothing with a reduced environmental impact, but also by buying less. There are multiple benefits to this:
1) You’re lowering your environmental impact because you are lowering the demand for the production of new clothes, which uses energy in manufacture and transport.
2) You’re saving money! (This is pretty exciting to me). This means that if you are buying less low-cost but maybe less environmentally friendly or socially responsible, you have more money to buy more from more expensive, socially and environmentally conscious shops – and if this gives you the opportunity to support a local business it’s even better.

REUSE.

Keep it simple. Different looks come in and out of style, but if you are already reducing your shopping habits , you are more likely to be buying simpler clothes (less flashy / trendy prints) which means that they are less likely to become fashion no-nos anytime too soon. Also, seemingly plainer clothes tend to match with more outfits, so you can wear them more often and in lots of different ways - American Apparel, (pictured) though a tad bit expensive, is great for simple clothes - and productions is sweatshop-free and made in the USA - I almost always wear solid colors but I like to get a few accessories that I can pair with a variety of outfits so that I can mix and match and get really creative.


Go vintage or hand-me-down. Different looks come in and out of style, and this means that if it was hip once, it's probably going to be hip again. Buying fashionable clothes second-hand is a great way to look chic with a small environmental footprint - and I'm not talking about shopping at Salvation army or Goodwill. There are lots of cool second-hand boutiques where you can find chic clothes for cheap. My personal favorites are Second Time Around and The Closet in Boston, and Ragtime in Chapel Hill, NC.

RECYCLE.


Recycling old clothes into new can be time consuming, but what better a way to artistically express yourself through fashion? My personal favorite example of this is underwear made from recycled t-shirts, but this bag made from recycled t-shirts is another pretty awesome example.





AND NOW, I make my first ever video appearance on my blog to weigh in with some examples of my very own sustainable style! Please forgive the pathetic editing... I'm new at this.

For more, check out this article by E magazine.