Legalization of Industrial Hemp in America Is a No-Brainer, Says New Patagonia Film

growing_warriors_legalize_hemp_women_of_green

Outdoor clothing company Patagonia has released a new short film to advocate for the legalization of industrial hemp in the U.S. The multipurpose plant, which has been used for centuries to make rope, textiles, foods, personal care products and more, became a controversial substance in 1937 due to the “Marihuana Tax Act,” which basically lumped hemp with marijuana and made it illegal to grow even though the former has no psychoactive properties. However, there are plenty of reasons why industrial hemp should be legalized, from its substantial health benefits to its potential to lower the environmental impacts of textile production.

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A Green Business Recycles the ‘Un-Recyclable’

TerraCycle Recycling Business Women of Green

“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” as the saying goes. For TerraCycle founder Tom Szaky, it was more than a saying—it was also his business plan. Founded in 2003, TerraCycle takes your garbage—everything and anything you could throw away or recycle—and transforms it into consumer products like cutting boards, reusable grocery bags, and even yard fencing.

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Eco-Fashion Predictions for 2016

Shannon Whitehead

These women of the fashion world share their predictions of where the Eco-Fashion industry is headed in 2016. AMY HALL (DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS, EILEEN FISHER) As an industry “insider,” I see three game-changing fashion trends taking deeper root in 2016. Fiber recycling: This is the year when we will find out which recycled-fiber developer will be the first to offer viable fabric suitable for mass-market apparel. So many are reaching for the golden ring. And it couldn’t come soon enough, what with deforestation and water scarcity threatening the future of virgin fibers as we know them. Living wage: After more than a century of stagnant wages for our garment-industry workers, there are murmurings of change on the horizon, such as the London living wage movement, the U.S. minimum wage campaigns, non-governmental organization activism, and brand acknowledgement of the severe impact that purchasing practices have on supply-chain compliance. Garment workers shouldn’t pop the champagne yet, but higher wages are in the air. Fast fashion: Nothing we do will really matter until we can loosen the consumers’ grip on “fast fashion” and get her to think of apparel as an investment. We repair our cars, our iPhones, and our furniture. Why […]

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Can You Do the Minimalist Fashion Challenge?

Project 333: Minimalist Fashion Challenge

Dress With Less! Starting October 1st: The Minimalist Fashion Challenge. If you are tired of finding nothing to wear in your jam packed closet, try this 90 day challenge. Invite a friend to join you, and see what happens when you dress with 33 items for 3 months. You’ll be very surprised with the results. Check out the rules here. Welcome to Project 333. This page will tell you everything you need to know to get started. After living with only 33 items every 3 months for more than 3 years, I can say that with confidence. Do you want more evidence that living with less is easier than you think? Ask these people! The Basics When: Every three months (It’s never too late to start so join in anytime!) What: 33 items including clothing, accessories, jewelry, outerwear and shoes. What not: these items are not counted as part of the 33 items – wedding ring or another sentimental piece of jewelry that you never take off, underwear, sleep wear, in-home lounge wear,  and workout clothing (you can only wear your workout clothing to workout) How: Choose your 33 items, box up the remainder of your fashion statement, seal it with […]

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Naja’s ‘Radically Different Underwear’ Offers Women Underwear For Hope

Cataline Girald, Naja and Underwear For Hope Founder

“When you educate a woman, everything changes.” With her platinum credentials as a former New York lawyer, Stanford School of Business MBA (class of 2006) and successful entrepreneur Catalina Girald doesn’t seem like a 21st century revolutionary. But her latest and second e-commerce company Naja finds the Colombian-born, San Francisco-based Girald championing women in ways that are ground-breaking and impactful, not to mention inspiring. Launched in December 2013, Naja manufactures and sells beautiful, distinctive lingerie — in their own parlance, “radically different lingerie” —  at comparatively reasonable rates. Its average bra price, for instance is $45 U.S., while lacy briefs are $14. A product pitch on the site under the heading “Meticulously Crafted. Fairly Priced” explains things thusly. “Naja products are characterized by unexpected attention to detail — the kind of detailing found only in luxury brands. From our memory foam cups, to our interior bra prints, to our ultrasonic sealed bra straps — we take pride in our artistry. But we don’t believe you should have to pay $80+ for a high quality bra.” The thrills don’t stop there. Naja (pronounced “nigh-ya”) lingerie is modeled on its site by women who look like women modeling lingerie for potential female […]

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NRDC’s Linda Greer is Cleaning Up China’s Toxic Fashion Industry

Ecouterre interviews Linda Greer, Director of the Natural Resources Defense Council Linda Greer ranks among the fashion industry’s leading “toxic avengers.” As director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s five-year-old “Clean by Design” initiative, Greer is on the front line of a sector burdened by high energy and water use and endemic, often catastrophic, pollution. Her Sisyphean task? To leverage the purchasing power of multinational brands and retailers to chip away at the environmental impacts of their manufacturing abroad, beginning with the biggest offender: China. As NRDC prepares to, in its own words, “aggressively expand” the program’s reach, Ecouterre caught up with Greer to learn about her “win-win” strategy, what the early days of Clean by Design were like, and how we can differentiate the “true-gooders” from the “green-washers” in a post–corporate-social-responsibility world. E: How did Clean by Design get its start? LG: In 2008, the president of NRDC asked me to develop a project that would help to reduce the heavy industrial air and water pollution in China and serve as a model the country could use to accelerate its efforts. To do so, I first selected an industry with a heavy environmental footprint. Textiles distinguished itself as one […]

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Zero Waste: Fashion’s Ethical Future

To make fashion more sustainable, the industry’s underlying structure and supply lines need a major makeover. Yet, despite these obstacles, a few designers–alongside fashion muses like zero waste hero Lauren Singer–are taking zero waste fashion from fiction into the real world.

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Designer Curates Luxury Eco-fashion Boutique

Fiercely Green - Non-toxic Apparel

“Eco-fashion is slowly increasing its footprint and influence. As more people become aware of the harsh cost of current manufacturing practices, as well as, availability of more positive options, the switch toward greener processes will hopefully become inevitable. The smaller designers, such as those on FiercelyGreen are able to pivot their supply chain much faster than the big established brands, at the same time their influence is very limited by their size, which is why it is so important to give them visibility because of the green ripple effect they will help to perpetuate in the industry in the future.”

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