Soft organic cotton T-shirts. Bamboo-based business attire. Versatile vests spun from recycled soda bottles. Raw silk scarves. Linen shirts, slacks, and dresses. Shoes carved out of cork and padded with refurbished rubber. From top to toe, our wardrobes are getting earth friendlier; they’re becoming snazzier, too. I wouldn’t be surprised if Mother Nature herself was inspired to accessorize her fig leaf with a charming little handbag hewn from hemp.

She’s probably also starting to breathe a sigh of relief. The apparel industry has never been a friend of the earth, given its often toxic impact on our natural resources. Every dollar we spend on clothing and accessories to ‘green’ our wardrobe helps protect our air, water, wildlife, and wilderness. Of that, Mother Nature would approve.

Shopping for ‘green’ a la mode, does not require the sacrifice of personal style or personal finances. I never travel without my trendy sienna-colored hemp sweater because it fits me perfectly, doesn’t wrinkle, and is easy to launder in a sink; I just wash it in a little hand soap and water, wring it out, and let it line dry. And guess what? It only cost $40. My organic t-shirts wear just as well as ones made from industrial cotton but are a lot softer. Plus, I get a kick out of the tongue-in-cheek messages on the shirts, like this one from Green Label Organics that takes Hummers to task.

The industry of sustainable clothing is expanding, providing you with a variety of trendy and affordable options. So choose ‘green’ this summer and dress your part.

American Apparel. Made in the United States and sweatshop free, American Apparel is notorious for providing customers with inexpensive basics like T-shirts, sweatshirts, light-weight sweaters, leggings, skirts, pants, shorts, bathing suits, and intimates. Their Organic Collection offers styles made from 100% USDA Certified Organic and pesticide-free cotton. The company also uses a low-impact dyeing process to eliminate chemical waste while recycling over a million  pounds of fabric per year.

Jonano. Supplies modish designer fashions for women and babies made from certified organic cotton, bamboo, and hemp fabrics. Their clothing is manufactured using Fair Trade Labor practices, and they use natural dyes with a low environmental impact. Added bonus? Jonano also uses recycled packaging and shipping materials. (Bloom Double Sash Shirtdress made from Organic Bamboo in Citron Yellow pictured right).

Rawganique Clothing. This company offers a wide selection of women’s and men’s clothing made from hemp and organic cotton. Rawganique also carries a large collection of accessories ranging anywhere from organic jewelry, handbags and footwear to organic sheets and towels. This company provides it all, and all at a reasonable price.

Fashion & Earth. Here’s another fair trade, sustainable and style conscious company. Fashion & Earth produces organic and eco-friendly clothing made from bamboo, organic cotton, hemp and soy. Their site is easy to browse, providing a large selection of chic tops, bottoms, skirts and dresses, jackets, intimates, and accessories. They also offer additional links to shop complete outfits, search green fashion guides, and read-up on why eco-friendly clothing matters. Get 10% off your first purchase.

Aventura Clothing. Manufactures beautiful and comfortable women’s clothing made from organic cotton, bamboo, hemp, and recycled polyester. Aventura’s clothing line includes halter tops, tank tops, blouses, jackets, bottoms (dresses, pants, shorts, skorts, capris), beachwear, bathing suits, and accessories. (Laken Bamboo Blend Dress pictured right).

Anvil Knitwear. Recently ranked the 6th largest organic program in the world by the Organic Exchange, Anvil supplies over 70 styles of men, women and children’s clothing and accessories in 80 different colors, including 17 eco-friendly styles in fibers such as organic cotton, recycled cotton, transitional cotton (or cotton in conversion) and recycled polyester from PET bottles. Don’t miss their TrackmyT.com website, which shows how a t-shirt gets made – and why sustainable manufacturing makes a difference.

The Greenloop. This eco-fashion shopping resource focuses primarily on sustainable apparel and accessories for women and men. Greenloop provides an abundant list of brands that employ a variety of responsible practices such as using eco-friendly, sustainable materials, and/or maximizing recycling and waste reduction. In addition to these practices, all companies listed on the Greenloop site engage in fair trade and sweat-shop free production. It’s an excellent site that will help you find most of the best brands, styles, and ‘green’ clothing available.

Of course, before you buy new, think about shopping at vintage or thrift shops. And don’t throw old clothes away! Make room for new eco-friendly fashionable finds by recycling your old-have-not-worn-in-two-years threads. To learn more, click here.

Also, be sure to check out Top Ten Ways to Green Your Wardrobe for other environmentally-friendly fashion ideas.

The post ‘Green’ is the New Black: Eco-Friendly Fashion Finds for Summer appeared first on Big Green Purse.

With the changing of the seasons comes the changing of the clothes, the cleaning out of closets, and the charging of the credit cards. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics 2004-2005 Consumer Expenditure Survey, women spend an average of $1,069 on clothing for themselves every year. Add another $823 to that if you shop for your husband, and several hundreds more for every kid you’re outfitting. With anywhere from $3,000 a year or more in purse power, choosing clothing that makes a difference could go a long way toward greening apparel manufacturers and the clothing industry. We can also put the three R’s to work-reduce, reuse, recycle-to improve our wardrobe’s eco-impact.

Reduce-Buy Fewer, But Higher-Quality, Clothes

Slow down. Buy fewer clothes that will last longer. The way the fashion industry works, what goes around comes back around. Beat the industry at its own game by building on your wardrobe, not trashing it.

Invest in good clothes. Buy brands that will last, even if you don’t plan to wear them every single season. You’ll save time and money-as well as resources-by not having to replace as many items every year.

Create a budget. Know how much money you can or want to spend, and track your expenditures the way you do other household items. You’ll limit the impulse buying that leads to over-consumption by becoming a master of the phrase, “It’s not in my budget.”

Reuse-Buy Gently Worn Clothes, Vintage Garments…or Swap

Buying used clothing offers another green alternative to new duds-and may ultimately conserve the most resources. Where to go?

Your neighborhood. An estimated twenty thousand resale shops offer fashion values and let you sell the clothes you never want to wear again for money you can take away or spend on other items in their stores.

Minneapolis-based Plato’s Closet offers the latest styles in name brands and discount prices. The company has opened some two hundred franchises since 1999 and planned to open thirty-five additional stores in 2007.

Crossroads Trading Co. is where shoppers can buy top-quality recycled and new fashions as well as   receive cash or trade credit for items they sell to the store.

Buffalo Exchange has thirty national stores whose offerings feature designer wear, vintage, jeans, leather, great basics, and one-of-a-kind items.

You can also swap clothes with friends and family members who are as tired of their outfits as you are of yours. Host a swap party. Set as the price of admission three or four articles of clean clothing and organize the rest however you wish!

Recycle Your Clothes

Clothes and shoes take up more space than any other nondurable goods in the solid waste stream, because, says the EPA, only 16 percent of discarded clothes and shoes are recycled. Despite the best efforts of charities and thrift stores, millions of tons of clothing are wasted every year.

However, dozens of charities like Purple Heart, the Salvation Army, and Goodwill will gladly take your clothes and get them to people in need. Here are some other options:

Dress for Success. This international not-for-profit organization promotes the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire along with job counseling. Since 1997, Dress for Success has served almost 300,000 women around the world. You can donate suits, blouses, pants, shoes, jewelry, briefcases, black tote bags, and other appropriate business apparel.

Soles 4 Souls. Providing free footwear to people in need around the world, this nonprofit organization started after the Asian tsunami in December 2004, continued in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and today distributes shoes worldwide. It also partners with Dress for Success to provide career footwear.

One World Running. This Colorado-based nonprofit organization ships donated running shoes, soccer gear, and baseball equipment to athletes in Central American, Haiti, and sub-Saharan Africa.

Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe. The program grinds up and recycles discarded shoe material to build playground mats, basketball courts, and running tracks. Visit the website to find a drop-off spot near you.

Project Rejeaneration. Del Forte Denim lets you recycle your jeans. When you no longer want them, send them back (in the bag they came in) and they’ll be recast as a new piece of clothing. As a reward for recycling, you get 10 percent off your next Del Forte purchase (or you can donate your 10 percent to the company’s Sustainable Cotton Project).

The post Use Your Closet Clout to Positively Impact the Environment, Society and Yourself appeared first on Big Green Purse.

The company integrates certified organic cotton or wool in all its products and manufactures according to fair trade principles. They sell a terrific collection of socks, scarves, tights, loungewear, legwarmers, tees, baby clothes, new sock monkeys and fashionable tops.

Conscious of energy consumed by transporting products across the globe, Maggie’s has developed supply chains as close to home as possible. The company uses a minimum amount of packaging to save energy during transportation and to reduce waste.

Thumbs up, Maggie!

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