Designers aren’t alone when it comes to being held responsible for their claims of eco-design; so are the boutiques that carry them.

In fact, as greenwashing heats up and the public is able to be more informed, all participants of the manufacturing and selling process are being held accountable and nobody wants to look stupid.

Shows like D&A (Designers &Agents) and the NOW Showcase are making that quest for transparency a lot easier. For example, with green leaf icons at D&A serving as code for sustainable designer’s booths and with the NOW Showcase, an established venue offering various shades of green depending on the hue you so desire.

Still, nothing is perfect. In fact, at the last D&A show when approaching a designer toting a green leaf (for my own boutique), I was left to stand and have her waste 15 minutes of my precious time explaining to me why she had acquired her green leaf.

“So are your chains reclaimed?” I asked her.

“No, we give women fresh out of prison jobs to support their new life,” she answered.

“So nothing is recycled or reclaimed?,” I asked again horrified.

“Ahhh, no,” she said, now looking at me in bewilderment.

I had at least three other run-ins with designers marked with the green leaf that were, in my opinion, not even mint green.

While venues keep improving, we buyers keep pushing forward with our rigorous drills on designers, asking lots of questions and hopefully getting the right answers.

While in New York for Market Week, I bumped into Shana Yansen, owner and buyer of Jute and Jackfruit for a buyer’s love fest.

Here’s what she had to say about her adventures as a buyer.

The post Video Interview: Shana Yansen of Jute And Jackfruit appeared first on EcoSalon.

I spotted these Prairie Underground pants at D&A when at Market Week in New York City and fell in love.

It’s hard to see just how great they are, but because they are made from a hemp silk, they actually look really dressy. This model has hers pushed up a bit, but the capri length cargo/harem pant is great for any climate – pair with a t-shirt or tank in the summer months, or throw on some boots when the weather gets a bit cooler.

The bottom has a built-in band of organic cotton so they adjust to your calf size, a drawstring tie for adjusting the waist, and front easy-access pockets.

These are my favorite color: putty meets gold shimmer. Sure, it’s a touch of harem but not too much.

These just make me want to revel in comfort all the while looking extremely cool and full of sultan street style.

The post J’Adore Prairie Underground’s Savoy Hemp Silk Pants appeared first on EcoSalon.

As Fashion Editor of EcoSalon and owner of an eco-boutique I talk to a lot of designers. This was my first time going to Market Week in NYC as both and it was as thrilling as it was tiring.

Market Week, if you haven’t been, is where clothing designers worldwide show their seasonal collections in New York City. Buyers from stores large and small come here to buy what best represents their brand. It is a tough, tedious job and forges a deeper appreciation for the fashion industry beyond hitting the shops with a girlfriend to check out the newest duds.

D&A, Coterie, Train, NOW Showcase and two individual appointments in studios kept my boutique partner, Amanda, and I busy as devil’s advocates representing an eco-boutique. (I admit, it surprised me how many people raised their eyebrows when we said that.)

Since we knew we’d really have to grill the designers about their knowledge of their lines for our eco-minded purposes, we anticipated this process was going to be a hard pill to swallow for some.

We were right.

If the price is too low, somebody’s getting paid to make it with rice.

On at least three occasions when we asked eco-designers why their price was so low, they didn’t have a real answer except, “We just like to keep the prices low.”

One designer in particular, looming over me at 6’2″ in her super chunky platform heels, couldn’t offer me much in terms of information and fumbled with sheets of paper as I inquired. Her heavily made-up eyes and fierce Frankenstein eyebrows finally communicated the message loud and clear: get the hell out of her booth. (I’m not kidding about the eyebrows.)

But cheers to my two new favorite eco-designers, Ethos and Toggery, who seem to keep it all in balance, designing truly beautiful pieces as well as producing at amazing prices. I’ll be telling you their fantastic stories soon – can’t wait.

Some eco-designers think just tossing up a sign that says you’re a sustainable designer makes you part of the eco pack.

Note to designers: one organic piece out of many does not an eco brand make. Thank goodness my partner and I scrutinized each and every label to make sure we stood by our boutique mission, which is to sell 100% sustainable materials. 10% soy and 90% conventional cotton? Thanks, but no thanks.

A caveat, though. I actually believe a compromise like that is fine if you’re just starting out with eco manufacture, because it takes time to learn and test. But for experienced designers, claiming eco status when you’re really not is just greenwash. (I wish I had the cojones to name names.)

To that point: Evolving into a sustainable designer is not a bad thing!

In one vendor’s booth (many of you would recognize the label) they’d pushed all their eco-apparel into a corner that was being dripped on from a malfunction in the ceiling. When asked about the eco-friendly part of their line, they were timid to show us what they had. Sensing their embarrassment, we walked away.

Highlights?

– Meeting Howard Brown of Stewart & Brown and getting to hear about his and his partner’s (Karen Stewart) passion for their line. And the fact that they were actually there instead of letting reps do all the hard work!

– Meeting Doucette Duvall in their studio and their offer to search remnant fabrics for us to create the pieces in their line that are not yet eco because they “love going on a hunt.” (Hunt more, ladies, and make it all eco!)

– Meeting Kate D’Arcy of Toggery, who designs from the perspective that every woman deserves to wear sustainably designed clothes made in the U.S. (that means beautiful and fairly priced).

– Learning from the ever-exuberant Celeste Lilore of Restore Clothing just how the plastics used in her line are recycled and made into fibers with touch bowls and great literature.

– Meeting the one and only Starre Vartan, founder of Eco Chick, editor of Greenopia and author of The Eco-Chick Guide To Life. Thanks to all her great social media head shots, she was easily identified.

– Eating as much delicious ethnic food as possible.

– Sitting and spending time with eco-designers I love and support.

I write all this and wonder if it’s interesting to you, this behind-the-scenes detail. I hope it is. I want you to understand how much work goes into those shops you love. All those online eco-boutique shop owners were there in the throes of Market, picking out some really great things for you.

You see, it’s not just a shopping free-for-all. They’re personal shopping for you.

Image: The Train New York

The post To Market, to Market, to Market We Go appeared first on EcoSalon.

Anna Korte of AK Vintage, me and Gretchen Jones of Mothlove meeting face to face for the first time during NYC Market Week

I just got back from selling at D&A during New York City’s Market Week and am tired. Like, I can’t get out of bed, don’t want to talk to another designer or buyer dry-heaving in the toilet tired.

It wasn’t because I spent the past week enclosed in a 10×10 space presenting clothing lines to legions of stuffy buyers or entertaining press and new friends over cocktails, it was because sometimes eco-fashion sucks the ever-living life out of me.

So much is there to consider all the time but Market Week, oh man.

From the designer’s manufacturing, amazing new ideas and business plans desperately being shoved down my throat over dinner to the buyers wondering how the heck they can sell this “organic crap” that scares their customers, I get to see and hear it from all sides.

Take note, we all choose our paths but sometimes the weight of it all is crippling when you compare it to how much easier non-eco designers have it (you know, not having to consider the planet and all). And I had to stare at many of them for four days.

I love designers – even have a t-shirt that says it – and true, there’s always the inherent design process that takes skill and a muse, but not designing sustainably has its perks (cheaper to source, easier to sell price point wise, not freaking out customers). Yet I still can’t believe all designers aren’t trying to do something sustainable.

Blah, blah, blah.

In a perfect world, I would wave a magic wand over the designer’s head and whisper three times “Your business now thrives,” and they’d gaily skip away clad in U.S. grown organic cotton and hemp silks to Dylan’s “The Times they Are A’Changin”.

Buyers would just know that educating their customers about what they put on their bodies was par for the course. Shoppers would consider their purchases and be more invested in the person who designed for them and know that by buying a simple coat this fall, they are also doing such virtuous deeds like helping an organic farmer through another season, putting food on the table of a local seamstress, allowing a designer to sleep peacefully through a night and enabling a boutique that does care the ability to buy consciously for another season.

Still, it’s hard to create progress.

After all, Marshall’s is having a fall incentive sale! So, another time we’ll do it, but not today.

But maybe, just maybe, we will begin to consider something else next time there’s a craving for boots or a pretty cardigan or even a new wireless bra. Maybe we’ll step outside the box to consider more than that purchase; prioritizing the dedication (or lack of it) involved in the process.

Me? I’m bound by it.

The post Notes from the Underground appeared first on EcoSalon.