A Boticca necklace giveaway for two lucky winners.

How long do you think it’d take to establish the following: an online boutique offering in excess of 6,000 items from over 240 designers in more than 40 countries on 6 continents, and a total of $2.5 million in investments from the likes of Links of London and the founder of Saba? Whatever your wildest guess, we’re betting it’s not 12 months.

Even though Boticca was only founded in October 2010, its rise has been meteoric – partly due to some very high-profile customers including Eva Longoria, Cameron Diaz, Pixie Lott and Victoria Beckham, but also because it’s a brilliant idea, brilliantly executed. It’s free for an independent designer to set up shop on the site (although there’s a selection process, equating to invite-only, to ensure the quality remains high) – and Boticca takes just 25% of any sales revenue, with the remaining three quarters of the sale price going directly to the designer. Compared with the 60%+ deductions of going through a luxury retailer, it’s an attractive business model.

The Happy Mood Adjustable Necklace (top image) is created by Caipora, a collective of designers working through Boticca – and it’s crafted from vegetable ivory, a material we’ve been fans of for years.

We were lucky enough to catch up with Caipora’s founder Zel Albuquerque, to find out why she’s chosen ethical jewelry-making as a way of life and as a platform for change…

1. Give us a little insight into what it takes to run an ethical jewelry business.

I think that you need to have the ability to combine a love of fashion with a passionate belief in being environmentally responsible.

2. How do you source your materials?

The natural materials are sourced through riverside communities’ native knowledge as well as through eco-friendly merchants. Golden grass and seeds are collected during periods of harvest and off-cut materials from other industries are recycled. Most of these recycled materials are regulated by bodies such as the Forest Stewardship Council.

3. What sustainable practices do you follow?

We follow a bunch of sustainable practices such as:
- Recognizing the importance of recycling all materials
- Contribute to the sustainability of endangered areas
- Protecting the environment as our designers ensure to use only easily replaceable natural materials
- Improving the social condition of those who are involved in the creation of the jewelery
- and finally, guaranteeing impeccable quality and finish in every one of our designs

4. What provided the inspiration for a line that embraces sustainability principles?

The ideal of adding more beauty and meaning into people’s life.

5. How do you think design has the potential to influence how people think about sustainability and the environment?

Through meaning and its positive attitude. Some choices in design can represent accomplishments, such as – respect, beauty, happiness, health, wealth and meaning. Some choices in design can preserve valuable principals, embrace restrictions and strive towards a better relationship between the environment and ourselves. I believe beautiful and ethical designs can make people feel proud about their purchases and naturally provide something extra, unique and representative. It reinforces the aesthetic and what it brings to the wearer.

To celebrate the spirit of Boticca, we’re offering a Caipora necklace giveaway!

We’re giving away two of them to two very lucky readers – and one of them could very well be you. How do you make yourself eligible? By subscribing to our very own Boticca newsletter or Boticca’s (if you haven’t already), by following these links:

•  Boticca: enter your e-mail address at the top of their homepage…

• …and EcoSalon: click “Subscribe”, handily lit up in red on the right, here!

Subscribe by December 20 and you’ll be entered!

EcoSalon’s newsletter is a great way to catch up with the week’s news, plus there are always gorgeous giveaways.

Work consumed you.

You had three doctor’s appointments in a row.

Your family put you on probation for being on the computer too much.

There were many reasons why you didn’t catch some of EcoSalon’s inspiring weekly stories, but we’re here to help you manage your precious time and to be more efficient.

If you subscribe to our weekly newsletter (that would pop into your mailbox every Thursday), you’d have news condensed to the stories most bookmarked, shared or talked about by others and most fun of all, you could win something sustainably chic from VivaTerra!

Maybe the stories will be so compelling, helpful or even (gasp) sinful, that you won’t be able to stop reading, tweeting or reposting on your Facebook page. Things like: “These writers and editors at EcoSalon are so on trend!” or “Want to be in the know? Go To EcoSalon and start your reading engines,” or the one I’d like to see most, “That Amy DuFault is soooo brilliant.”

It’s happened, believe us.

Once you have subscribed and are reading us regularly, we’ll have sucked you into our version of the susty life, where it’s never a pure green meadow and if it is, we’re probably going to call people out.

In that case, you should be there for it.

Toggery designer Kate D’Arcy created her classic, easy-to-wear jersey styles to easily transition from casual to dressy and from season to season. We love everything about the line – from the styles to the fact that they domestically manufacture right in Pennsylvania where D’Arcy lives.

D’Arcy says the brand’s classic ribbed race tank (The Cruz) made from 100 percent organic supima cotton goes with just about anything: “I seriously wear this tank four out of seven days a week,” she says.

The softness and styling of the tank makes it an easily addictive wardrobe staple with its one seam detailing up the back and length that works like the picture above with leggings and a slouchy cardigan or layered underneath just about anything.

Toggery’s site reads: “Women can nurture themselves in the finest fabrics nature has to offer in the fashionable line of women’s contemporary knit styles including fashion tees, basic tees, dresses and leggings. There is a good feeling knowing that no compromise was made via humanity or the environment for a quality signature style.”

Who doesn’t need a new tank top that was made with a conscience?

Leave a comment below to try your hand at winning this really good one to implement a piece of Toggery’s signature style to your own wardrobe.

(Legalese: contest rules and FTC compliance.)

There’s nothing like a soft fall wrap or scarf to ease you into the season.

Crisp and cool, these luxurious Pashbu’s are wide enough to be flipped over your shoulder as a fringed shawl, yet lightweight enough to be draped around your neck as a scarf (plus, the fringe just adds a little texture to an otherwise blah outfit).

Eco-catalog pioneer VivaTerra handpicks the products for their catalogs which are dedicated to living in harmony with nature now and for future generations. The company has also sourced these soft wardrobe staples in accordance with their desire to provide “the finest goods that uniquely fuse exceptional quality and design with eco sensitivities.”

VivaTerra was kind enough to offer two pashbus for this week’s giveaway for you and a friend (or you selfish human being, two for you). Think of this giveaway as a friendship enhancer, a gift you can give to your best bud in honor of all the walks you will take together toting coffee and plotting how to make your relationship better. Or, a way to keep warm as you swear off her drama and run away laughing and free.

Leave a comment below to win. Good luck!

(Legalese: contest rules and FTC compliance.)

According to the Holstee website, “Holstee designs and curates with a conscience.”

Once you go to the site and peruse their collection of interesting as well as fashionable goods from the likes of Alchemy Goods, Garbage of Eden and of course Holstee’s own line of products, you can see that many of their conscious offerings also give back to worthwhile organizations, hence that conscience.

Founded during the recession in 2009, brothers, Mike and Dave left their full-time jobs to pursue their passion for a sustainable lifestyle through innovative design. Over the course of the first year of business the team “designed and produced half a dozen new products including The Recycled Wallet, made of newspapers and plastic bags collected off the streets of India, The People Pendant, made of recycled acrylic scraps from a Chicago-area sign maker and their Upcycled line of t-shirts which highlight the lasting value of apparel.”

The brothers are doing some really great work as you can see on their Ecology page, by using 10 percent of all their sales to fund micro loans, recycling all their packaging in creative ways and by partnering with Carbonfund.org to offset shipping.

This week, the Holstee brothers are offering their grey Holstee Recycled Wallet that came about as a solution to solve their own wallet needs. Each is one-of-a-kind and may include anything from colored ads, cartoons, headline news or classifieds ads.

You like? Well then leave a comment below to win. Of course, if you don’t feel like waiting, you can always go here and buy it outright.

Good luck!

(Legalese: contest rules and FTC compliance.)

I think I’m going to move to Norway.

Not since I backpacked Europe alone and met lots of handsome towheaded Norwegians who insisted on braiding my hair have I felt this desire.

I blame all this on Blondes Make Better T-Shirts, to their easy going sense of humor in the face of some pretty terrible global issues like clean water and global warming and making light of it on a simple t-shirt (not to mention I’d just love a trip to Norway).

The line is actually co-designed by two women, one based in Norway, the other in New York (both blondes of course) who cut their t-shirts from a fabric made of 50 percent recycled bottles mixed with organic cotton and a Promodal made from 40 percent Beech Tree, 60 percent Eucalyptus.

To add to their sustainable messages and fabric, the gals are proud to use water based inks on their t-shirts, which are silk screened in L.A. and 100 percent sweat-shop free.

You might be asking yourself at this point, “Um Amy, where are all these environmentally friendly and funny t-shirts you write of? The one you’re showing is cute but has lipstick on the collar?”

Well, dear readers who love these giveaways, if you go over to Olivine, one of the cutest boutiques you’ll find online, you’ll see a whole array of t-shirts from the blondes with messages that include “Help Global Warming. Donate a Swimming Noodle to a Polar Bear,” “Save the Blondes. Too Many Animals Are Dying Out,” and “Save the fjords, give the blondes a place to hang out.”

The above tee is from their “Oops” Collection and features a pair of non-toxic red-lipsticked kissers that by mistake went unnoticed as the wearer pulled on her tee.

Interested in trying to win it? Then leave a creative comment below with a slogan you would put on one of their t-shirts. Here’s mine: “Two blondes walk into a bar. Save the blondes.”

For more blonde fun, watch their video:

(Legalese: contest rules and FTC compliance.)

I love perusing VivaTerra’s site because I always find something I adore for my home. Take for instance these Glazed Kosui Mugs, or these Air Plant Terrariums and what about this pretty darn amazing Rhapsody Necklace by one of my favorite accessory designers, Chan Luu?

Eco-catalog pioneer VivaTerra handpicks the products for their catalogs which are dedicated to living in harmony with nature now and for future generations. The company has also sourced this show stopper in accordance with their desire to provide “the finest goods that uniquely fuse exceptional quality and design with eco sensitivities.”

VivaTerra writes on their site of the above necklace: “Like a skilled musician, designer Chan Luu dazzles without showing off. Her understated necklace plays the metallic glimmer of five intricately geometric chains against the vibrant tones of multicolored beads. An exquisite original creation emerges to make its own inimitable statement without weight or bulk.”

Fusing something a little tribal, a little statement and a healthy dose of color to pick up any bland outfit, this necklace could be yours if you get lucky – so leave a comment below explaining how you would wear it and you’re in the running.

Good luck!

(Legalese: contest rules and FTC compliance.)

There’s nothing quite like a hot pair of vegan shoes.

I mean, look at the image above of Cri de Coeur’s Luster Pumps and you know that some shoes aren’t made for walking, they’re for making others want or sweat when they see you enter the room.

Founded in 2007 by Gina Ferraraccio, who’d been interning at Anna Sui and Bergdorf Goodman, as well as for a private label lingerie line, Ferracaccio gained valuable real-world fashion and business experience before launching her Cri de Coeur vegan shoe line in 2008.

In 2009, (now co-designer) Julie Dicterow began working for the label and after only a few months, both women had simultaneous epiphanies that they were a force to be reckoned with in terms of sustainable shoe design and forward fashion.

We agree.

As smart entrepreneurs, the two also realized that some women, aching for a pair of their stylish kickers couldn’t afford them so they created a sister line called Hearts Of Darkness to accommodate a smaller shoe budget. The line includes all the same stylish looks you’ll see with Cri de Coeur proper (heels, flats and boots), but with lower price points.

The vegan shoe shoppers thank you.

For those of you that pray to the shoe gods, the time has come to pray harder as we’re offering the Luster Pump for this week’s giveaway. If you win you can get it in the plum (featured above) or black.

Just leave a comment below about how you’d feel if you won these, and you’re in the running (or walking) for a sweet pair of heels.

(Legalese: contest rules and FTC compliance.)

Oh yes she did send us this picture for her giveaway!

We love Gretchen in all her Project Runway glory and were more than happy to have her reach out to us for this week’s giveaway.

Many of you may not know but Gretchen is currently the only sustainable designer on Project Runway and not only supports local manufacturing and sustainable fabrics for her line Mothlove, but is also using end run fabrics on the show whenever possible. Having limited time when contestants are set to buy fabric at Mood during the show, you may understand the challenges she faces staying as consistent as she wants to be.

Her Pearl Crescent blouse is made from low impact, hand dyed, locally sourced silk and is versatile enough to wear with pencil skirts and heels or torn jeans and sneakers.

Says Gretchen of the blouse: “It’s worthy of a love affair – dress up or down, layer in any season…you’ll be lucky if it ever makes it on a hanger in your closet! Meant to be loved, it’s surely my favorite piece.”

Think it could be one of yours? Well, leave a comment below to try and if you just want to cut to the chase and buy one out right, you can go here, too.

(Legalese: contest rules and FTC compliance.)

Like many other young artists and designers (and ironically even Alice in Wonderland), Sarah Barney had to leave the nest before realizing that a place is just a place. It’s all what you make of it.

Growing up on Cape Cod, Sarah’s early career in jewelry started while working in a local bead store after school where she envisioned more than just what the local ladies were buying to string up.

“I’ve always been inspired by found pieces and reworking each element to create something new whether it was in the bead store or throughout my career in jewelry and fashion. There is something very special about searching for each little piece, each with a history of it’s own, and making it into a whole new design. It’s like taking little bits of history and someone else’s memories and recreating it fresh, ready for new memories and sentiments,” says Barney.

In the fall of 1999, Sarah decided to step it up and moved to Brooklyn, New York to study sculpture at the Pratt Institute of Art where she created a tight network of artists and designers who all worked together to build each other up with criticisms and support.

In 2005, she worked as the production manager of the ultra feminine Ginette NY and then joined the Men’s Division at David Yurman as a product engineer.

After 10 years in New York City Sarah moved back to the Cape and is now launching her own line which is greatly influenced by the seascapes of her youth, the gritty industrialism of Brooklyn, and the glamor of New York City.

“I came home for a whole lot of different reasons. The main one being I wanted to spend more time with my son. The thoughts of starting my own designs had been planted a long time before but I had always pushed them back. There were a lot of practical reasons why leaving the city made sense for me and I came to realize that my need to create was getting much stronger. I was terrified to leave the city because Fort Greene had become home for me, but I knew I was ready then to take the jump,” she says.

The first collection of Sarah Barney’s jewelry debuted this past Spring 2010 and now it’s debuting in its first giveaway on EcoSalon.

We love her Alice necklace in all its vintage charm and gold dipped glory. Unscrew the vial with a tag next to it that says “Drink Me,” and you can shrink down into your own fantasy world the likes of which Lewis Carroll would totally approve.

Do you like? Want to try winning? Then leave a comment below.

(Legalese: Contest rules and FTC compliance.)