Trend-setting, clothes-conscious women throughout the world are going green. Now that lots of major figures in the world of fashion design are going along, being green is not equal to being dowdy anymore. Reusable clothes are really in nowadays, from workout wear to work outfits.
Perhaps you are thinking about the definition of “eco-friendly” as it relates to garments. In this context one is talking about garments crafted from natural and fair-trade textiles such as soy, organic cotton and bamboo. An advantage of the organic cotton is that one doesn’t utilize bug killers in growing it. Regular cotton requires more bug killers than any other item we grow. One third of a pound of chemical substances go into the manufacturing of a simple polo shirt. The term fair-trade is applied to the situation in which workers are paid reasonable salaries for working on the garments that please us so.
Ecologically positive clothes generally offer a greater degree of comfort. Organic textiles are gentle and feel good against the skin, not like those scratchy synthetics. More and more, trend-setting designers like Ryan Christensen of Portland are coming up with items that are harmless to our planet. Mr. Christensen is the man behind Sameunderneath which makes use of ecologically friendly textiles to create a variety of different items which are not damaging to the environment. Among the current styles are trim clothes fashioned from bamboo.
Nau, which was founded by Eric Reynolds in 2005, is working to bring luxury to more environmentally-friendly customers. Nau is run by a group of 35 industry professionals, including Nike, Patagonia, The North Face and Adidas. The group has made more luxurious outdoor clothing, including underwear, base layers, fleece insulation, soft and hard shell pants and jackets. What is impressive about Nau is where the fabrics used are obtained from. To help the environment, Nau uses fabrics from recycled materials such as soda bottles, organic cotton and biopolymer fabrics. PLA, one such biopolymer fabric, is made from corn and very versatile.
There is still a long way to go. There are not as many choices for those working with natural and recycles fabrics and materials as there are for those that choose non-sustainable materials. Still, there has been a lot of recent progress and there are still many ideas that will be tested.
Consumers of products are becoming more choosy about where are the products they buy are coming from, which reflects on the designers. Soon becoming eco-conscious and style-conscious will go hand and hand.
