EcoSalon’s top 20 favorite sustainable fashion sites from around the globe.

They help us find out about new designers, industry news, trends, learn what sustainable fashion means, and discover all the swanky events we can attend on a global level – these are our eco fashion writers and designers, our go-to girls reporting all the news fit to print, from the exciting and beautiful to the all-too-often tragic and wasteful designer landscape. These are the pioneers of a new type of fashion that explores, connects and draws us in to what the industry could be if we simply supported it more.

We’d like to throw our own hat into this ring, as well- but then, you’re already here reading us, aren’t you?

Past Fashion Future

Past Fashion Future founder Emma Grady says: “I founded Past Fashion Future one year ago as a platform to explore my personal style aesthetic and to show the beauty of timeless and classic fashion and style. I love hearing people’s personal style stories, specifically about their sentimental connection to the clothing that they wear.”

We love the site layout, sharp, stylish images and especially, Something Old, Something New, a series that reveals how modern day style mavens wear heirlooms, vintage, and ethical fashion.

Vogue’s Green Style blog

Come on, It’s Vogue, it’s Livia Firth, it’s eco fashion and it’s high style – do we need to say any more about it?

Ecco eco

BurdaStyle

BurdaStyle, is an online social community that uses the web to bring the craft of sewing to a new generation of designers, hobbyists, DIYers and anyone looking to sew. What could be more sustainable than making clothes yourself? Sewers flock here to mingle, share and support over projects, patterns and full galleries of completed designs.

Join their community to keep current with what other budding (and seasoned) designers are doing. We most certainly do.

Six Magazine

SIX says it was founded with one aim, “to celebrate the designers, individuals, independent brands and companies who are creating a more ethical and sustainable future for the fashion industry.”
We love how the site incorporates beauty products as well as high fashion and packages it so beautifully we want to read every article.
We also love that SIX represents the sixth sense we all have when it comes to style and value.

Clever.

4 Equal Sides

Tara St James, founder of Study NY and 4 Equal Sides believes that “open source material plays a strong role in the development of the sustainable design community,” making her the rare designer that has vision enough to see how the sustainable designer’s new model needs to play out. Under her guidance, Study’s interns have developed, produced and continue to sell their own sustainable mini collections. St James is very open about her production and design process and documents her own story as a designer in a visually as well as editorially personal way that makes you come back for more.

Fashion Me Green

FashionMeGreen is a sustainable fashion awareness project and style site. Founder Greta Eagan says it’s “Conscious coolhunting from around the globe,” and we are in total agreement.

All the curated product pulls, designer features, amazing photo editorials and fashion trend pieces give us extreme hope for the future of ethical fashion that it can in fact be stylish enough to become mainstream without anyone even noticing.

Closette

Yuka Yoneda, founder of Closette and Ecouterre’s Senior Editor calls herself a shopaholic.

“Well, I was a shopaholic. I was always a jeans and sweatshirt kinda girl, but when I graduated from college and got a job in the city, I went a leeeetle crazy with the shopping – okay, a lot crazy. Then I learned about where the clothes I was buying came from and how they were affecting and hurting other people, particularly women and children, around the globe. The idea that these crimes against women, pollution and chemicals going into our water and bodies, and just shear waste were all happening because I wanted a new top or jeans really made me feel ashamed. I knew I had to make a difference in my own life, so I started thrift shopping, supporting sustainable designers and making my own clothes and I feel wonderful knowing that the garments I wear don’t contribute to anyone else being hurt (except maybe for the people who have to look at my crazy outfits).”

Check out Closette for some fun DIY ideas, shop vintage and secondhand clothing or try winning one of her fun giveaways.

Goodlifer

Founded by Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Johanna Björk, Goodlifer is all about style and the good life. “With your help, we’re writing a guidebook for a new generation of Goodlifers. We want you to share in and help craft a positive, enthusiastic vision of a future that is both sustainable and achievable. Through first-hand, personal journalism and thoughtful exploration and discussion we’re here to consider daily choices, reconsider assumptions, pose questions, uncover opportunities, make you think and collaborate with us on what it means to be a Goodlifer.”

Sign us on Johanna.

We’ve been following Timo Rissanen since we came across him in this New York Times article and were more than elated to finally meet him recently at the Yield exhibit in Brooklyn. Timo says on his site: “I’m investigating fashion creation without fabric waste creation through design practice.”

We are fascinated by his finds.

EFW

EcoFashionWorld says they aim to inspire with new ideas, ideals and information. “Our goal is to keep you green, gorgeous and growing with a comprehensive guide to finding sustainable designer brands and online eco fashion stores.” For those new to the game and fumbling over the words like Peace Silk or tencel, check out their glossary for the latest terminology definitions.

Ethical Fashion Forum

The Ethical Fashion Forum is a non-profit organization, that makes life just a little more easy “for fashion professionals to integrate sustainability at the heart of what they do.”
Membership to the EFF delivers support for sustainable fashion businesses through three programs with each program including several essential tools which members can take advantage of to succeed in ethical fashion business.

Members can also stay current with events, sourcing and EFF socials.

Ecouterre

The fashion daughter of Inhabitat, Ecouterre is a heavily photo-curated website devoted to the future of sustainable fashion design. “We’re dedicated to showcasing and supporting designers who not only contemplate cut, form, and drape, but also a garment’s social and environmental impact, from the cultivation of its fibers to its use and disposal. Our ethos: To follow the evolution of the apparel industry toward a more environmentally sound future, as well as facilitate a conversation about why sustainable fashion matters.”

Treehugger

What came first, eco blogging or Treehugger? I think many of us were reading Treehugger when eco fashion was just beginning to evolve past the point of crunchy. Still on track to provide us with timely fashion news, we’ve bookmarked the site and will continue to go back.

Eco Chick

Eco-Chick editor Starre Vartan, consultant and author of The Eco-Chick’s Guide to Life, says the main intention of her site is to “inspire readers toward a healthier, more sustainable life (which we think means a happier life too). That includes slowing down, unplugging, getting out, going in, making mistakes and moving on, being choosy, doing research, and growing every day. Rest and relaxation are real and important, and so is time with friends and family. We love local food, farmer’s markets, independent designers, handmade everything, and connecting with where our stuff comes from and who makes it. We especially love inspiring women who keep us on our toes and asking questions.”

Her site covers all aspects of the fashion industry and Starre is a known girl about town on the streets of New York City when it comes to getting the scoop on eco-fashion. If you’re where she is, you’re in the right place.

Magnifeco

Magnifeco is an eco-fashion blog currently based in Tokyo by founder Kate Black and features fair-trade, sustainable, organic, recycled, vintage and vegan brands in a place where ethics meet aesthetics. From earth friendly fabrics, to sustainable manufacturing processes and fairtrade practices, the site features conscious designers and products for the conscious consumer.

Market Publique

Market Publique is an eclectic marketplace dedicated to vintage fashion “committed to bringing the community together so we can all have a place to buy, sell and discuss vintage in a positive and focused environment.”
The Brooklyn based company started when the founders realized there was a lack of options for quality vintage sellers online.

We are obsessed with how great the styling is and are always inspired to grab a piece to add to our own wardrobes or to simply wear clothes differently after we leave the site.

Holly McQuillan

Holy McQuillan, Yield Curator, designer and lecturer in the fashion design program at Massey University’s College of Creative Arts in Wellington, New Zealand says since completing her Masters of Design, which explored the presentation of cultural memory through garment design, her work has focused on exploring the possibilities that arise when garment design is restrained by one goal – zero-waste.

Peruse her site or get in touch with her with some of your own zero waste design questions. She will get you rethinking fashion for sure.

Organic Girly

Organic Girly founder Jennifer Barckley is not only one of the nicest people we’ve ever met, she’s also a fantastic resource. Utilize her “Ask me anything,” button and she will get back to you quickly. Check her site for periodic updates on vegan and sustainable fashion forays that sometimes even lead her to chicken sitting.

Social Alterations

Mary Hanlon’s Social Alterations was “developed with fashion and textile design educators in mind, it also acts to create a platform for design educators to benchmark themselves against other educators not only within their own field, but across various design disciplines. In order to create real lasting change, designers of all disciplines must work together to foster transformation.”

A wonderful venue for timely fashion news regarding everything from Fast Fashion to CSR.

Image: Shandi-lee

The post From Eco to Vintage to DIY, 20 Fashion Sites We Can’t Live Without appeared first on EcoSalon.

Last week we gave you Part 1 of  “Using Your Hands to Soothe the Brain,” featuring designer and author Natalie Chanin, textile artist and Ecco Eco founder Abigail Doan, and Jill Danyelle, Occupational Therapist and founder of FiftyRX3.

When I came across this blog entry from sustainable designer and writer Natalie Chanin, it not only piqued my perception of the positive effects of “women’s work,” but it brought to light a real aspect of how using our hands to do meaningful tasks can benefit our overall health and well being.

Chanin cites neuroscientist Kelly Lambert, author of Lifting Depression:

“Lambert shows how when you knit a sweater or plant a garden, when you prepare a meal or simply repair a lamp, you are bathing your brain in feel-good chemicals and creating a kind of mental vitamin. Our grandparents and great grandparents, who had to work hard for basic resources, developed more resilience against depression; even those who suffered great hardships had much lower rates of this mood disorder. But with today’s overly-mechanized lifestyle, we have forgotten that our brains crave the well-being that comes from meaningful effort.”

Here in Part 2, Owyn Ruck, one of the founders of Brooklyn’s widely respected Textile Arts Center weighs in on how using our hands not only enhances our sense of well being, but how it also creates a sense of self-sufficiency.

I think it is inherently human to desire self-sufficiency. Behind it all, we are just trying to survive. It may be cheesy and a half-way joke when people talk about the “apocalypse” and being able to construct a house or make clothing, but knowing how to use your hands to create things that are useful, never mind beautiful, is vital to our self-worth and provides a feeling that we can survive anything. As kids, we want to shoo the adult away (“I can do it myself”, “let me do it!”) and that continues through our lives, though as technology advances, we become more and more dependent on machines, or others, doing things for us.

We are often so removed from the process of creating, that we miss out on knowing the basic satisfaction of taking the time, care, and knowledge that it requires. Everything is so fast-paced, we are able to skip so many steps, that we forget how simply even knowing how to fix something gives us power. The act of being able to fix something we love, even if we didn’t create it from scratch, gives us a glimpse into the knowledge behind an objects making. It takes the power and control out of the hands of someone else and gives it right back to us – we get to relate to an object, and ensure that it is built to last. It’s a great sense of freedom. Even in a sense of finances, we are taught to feel that money equals freedom, but what if you didn’t even to need to buy half the things you did, you could make them or simply make something last longer? That’s freedom.

When we first started Textile Arts Center, a lot of the trust we had in the whole venture was this gut feeling that there was a general stirring and change within people, that they’d want to take classes and have the meeting place. Maybe it’s the same as you, we are around a lot of creative people in New York City and Brooklyn in particular and have seen this DIY trend growing for years now.

Without a doubt, I think that it’s because we have distanced ourselves from creating. Not only the feeling of creating, but people are sick of the same machine-made objects. Technology has allowed us to become lazy. We’re told it makes life “simpler”, but I think all it’s done is left us yearning for more meaning from the things we own and the objects we surround ourselves with. We place so much importance on the object itself, when we could feel much more satisfaction from the process of creating. It seems life is actually much more emotionally difficult and sad as we constantly search for more stimulation, and make an empty monetary exchange for objects that actually mean nothing.

In our not so distant past, grandparents and great-grandparents (depending on your age) still made their clothing, or at least knew how to mend them. Handmade items were more the norm but they treated these objects lovingly. My grandfather likes to retell the story of when he lost one of his few button-down school shirts that had been hand made and how much trouble he was in! Or Isa often recounts the sheets and towels that she still has of her grandmothers, that are all hand embroidered. A once common practice by young women who were beginning to create items for their home and married life.

We’re so absent from these ideas now, that they are hyper-romantic to us. A desire to go back to these days, where things seemed more lovely, I think is very common for 20-40 somethings. I think his has been a growing trend, and spans a lot of age ranges depending on where you live, but I can definitely say that it seems people are more adamant about it. In recent years, we’ve seen some great changes in attitude toward independent designers and fully hand made clothing. A willingness to buy less, higher quality, classic pieces for our closets, as our appreciation for the work increases. We desire uniqueness and rely on fashion and the things we adorn our bodies with to express it. What better way than with “one of a kind” and hand made items?

What do you think of the idea that working with our hands and the idea of it being a “mental vitamin?’

What do I think? It’s amazing! And it’s such a great visual. Going to your fridge in the morning popping a giant, sunny pill of creative energy. The new year rolls around and we resolve to make sure we exercise enough, and eat right. While these are important aspects of our physical and mental health, creativity is sadly often forgotten from this equation.

I wish trades would come back, where it was expected that we decide at an early age what we want to learn to be really good at so that we can rely on it for our livelihood. Something that allows us to exercise our right brain, and makes us money? What is better than that? And isn’t that the dream?

I see sort of an epidemic among my peers/young adults my age, of discontent with jobs and a “career path.” The most common answer I feel I hear to the big question of “what do you want to do?” is to simply not work in an office, or to “work for myself”. And I can understand the annoyance with us from an older generation – it comes off as entitled, that we shouldn’t have to work hard, we have enough experience and intelligence to do exactly what we want when we want to.

But what I’m starting to feel is that maybe it is about greater desire to get back in touch with this idea of trades, and using our hands. Or maybe just getting our “hands dirty” in theory. Even if not within a technically creative business, allowing the creation of ideas to be the creative part. Maybe there can be more emphasis put on this as we search for jobs, and what to do with our lives, rather than climbing the ranks to higher salaries at jobs that we could care less about. The emphasis is on getting the “good job” rather than the job that feels good. I think there is a chance that we are deterred not by the idea and fight of “climbing the ladder”, but where the ladder ends up.

Of course this comes hand in hand with a full change to our society and giving up such a consumerist and materialistic mentality. But I think that’s where the desire to make things, even as a hobby, comes in. There has to be a way that as a society we can foster this “mental vitamin” idea and add it to the list of things you automatically associate with good health and force yourself to make time for.

Image: Mr T In DC

The post Using Your Hands to Soothe the Brain: Part 2 appeared first on EcoSalon.

We all need to be more proactive with our friends and families about what we want for holiday gifts. I remember having an epiphany one Christmas when my mother bought me battery-powered, heated socks that took two D batteries in order to emit that warmth. Trying to sleep while camping was a blast with what felt like chunks of hard cheese nestled on my ankles. Nope, not another year of that.

I say why not tell people what we want so that they don’t waste their hard earned cash on things we’ll tuck away under our dusty dressers and so that we get something we really like? Isn’t that line of thinking sort of ah, sustainable?

This holiday season I want a few really good things but themes keep surfacing. This time it’s pretty lacy things.

Not lingerie, no, I want jewelry made from lace that will break up my tough winter looks and here are some favorites:

I came across Ceca Georgieva recently through Ecco Eco fashion writer Abigail Doan and could not believe something so pretty could come at such a low cost. Please bring me this back from Sofia Abigail!

Textile bracelet from hand sewn silk cord, $15

Another stunning line of lace accessories on Etsy is from White Owl, based in Detroit. Their delicate earrings and necklaces are so affordable and are your entire outfit.

White Owl’s Solange lace Earrings, $22

Seems we fashion writers are strangely on the same page this week with Ecouterre writer Victoria Klein in finding this gem which she says “blends old world charm with modern sensibilities by casting vintage lace and ribbon in recycled metals.”

Heritage with a capital H Victoria? Damn straight.

This is pretty but don’t count on it being price friendly. This little number from L.A. based White Fly will cost you some dough, or, roughly the price of 400 packs of D batteries for the tube socks you’ll get if you don’t share with your loved ones what you want.

White Fly Lace Cuff Bracelet, $4,500

The post This Holiday Season? Try Something Lacy appeared first on EcoSalon.

There is no doubt that Fashion’s Night Out (FNO) is an occasion to celebrate fashion as we know, love, and covet it – up close and from afar. With a globe-spanning agenda aimed at rattling the timbers of gilt fashion houses and retail venues, FNO is also great way of celebrating the very fiber of what inspires us as unique style makers and shoppers.

Whether you are in NYC, LA, Rio, or Reno, there is something for everyone this Friday, September 10. Given my passion for all things fiber, textile, and eco-related, here are a few of my picks for FNO happenings in NYC’s environs and beyond.

KRELWear 2 Go and Trunkshow at Kaight NYC (Sept 9 -10)

A two-day event at Kaight NYC where visitors can custom design their own “˜quickie couture creations’ with KRELWear‘s talented knit designer, Karelle Levy. KRELwear’s philosophy is based in the simplicity and beauty of “toobular” knit design. Their stunning collections include sweaters, dresses, skirts and tanks, as well as colorful hats, scarves, leg warmers and cuffs. This will be a totally unique way to fashion a one-of-a-kind FNO couture creation, suitable for fashion week parties and fall fêtes to come.

Clothing Map (2007) by Daria Dorosh

Fashion Lab in Process (FliPâ„¢) at the American Folk Art Museum

Do not miss the launch of Fashion Lab in Process (FliPâ„¢), a one-of-a-kind fashion house created by designer and Project Director Daria Dorosh, PhD, with a social, economic and environmental agenda to carve a new sustainable niche in the fashion industry and support local young designers. FliPâ„¢ will show its first collection of garments and accessories in a ‘fashion theater’ installation at the American Folk Art Museum, 2 Columbus Avenue, between 65th and 66th Streets on Friday September 10th, from 5 – 7pm.

Daria Dorosh’s recycled textile ‘Wrist Loops’

Current participants include: Dorosh’s line of “˜Wrist Loops’ (jeweled textile accessories for both women and men) and fashions by eco-conscious designers, among them Meiling Chen of Fearless Dreamer, Phaedra Elizabeth, Laura Bond, and the local sustainable design collective Eko-Lab by Melissa Kirgan and Xing-Zhen Chung-Hilyard. A special fashion performance by artist Meghann Snow will be ongoing in the AFAM window.

‘Slow Fashion’ at The Textile Arts Center in Brooklyn

Titania Inglis F/W 2010

Come celebrate the official kick off of the fall season at the Textile Arts Center in Brooklyn with an evening of slow fashion and design discussion, hands-on workshops, and local sustainable designers presentations.

Recycled rubber band necklaces by Margarita Mileva of M2 Jewelry

6 – 7 pm ‘Hack Sustainable Fashion’ workshop with Giana Gonzalez

7 – 8:30pm Ecouterre eco-fashion panel and Q&A moderated by Jill Fehrenbacher of Inhabitat and Ecouterre. Invited panelists include Greta Eagan (FashionMeGreen), Caroline Priebe (Uluru), Sarah Scaturro (Fashion Projects/Cooper-Hewitt Museum), Titania Inglis, Shabd Simon-Alexander, and Laura “London” Shirreff (Waste Not Want Not)
8:30 – 11pm Shopping hours with local designers (reMade USA, Wiksten, Shabd, Titania Inglis, and M2 Jewelry), free DIY workshops, food, drinks, live DJ

Visit The Textile Arts Center’s website for more details.

Ikou Tschuss Store Opening at 8 Centre Market Place, New York City

Ikou Tschuss unique knitwear designs are all hand-crafted and “the process of doing the work is vital to the form the design takes. Their production is staffed exclusively by grandmothers, who retain the old crafts-womanly approach to handwork-skills that owners Guya Marini and Carmen D’Apollonio feel are disappearing today.”

You can weave together your own rockin’ itinerary for the evening of September 10 via Fashion’s Night Out.

Editor’s note: Reprinted with permission from author Abigail Doan of Ecco Eco. You can find the original article here.

The post FNO: Fiber, Textile, and Slow Fashion Rules appeared first on EcoSalon.

You read about, link to and send out tweets talking about a plethora of sites filled with either great content or stunning clothing, and it can be hard to keep track.

I have my own problems keeping up, so maybe I’m doing this for my own good. Regardless, here’s a top 20 round-up of what I consider the best of the best (and most interesting) sites when it comes to shopping as well as learning about eco-designers, trends and news.

(Is it shameless to put EcoSalon and my new eco-boutique Shift in here? Shh…)

Blog Love

Founded and carefully curated by Abigail Doan, Ecco Eco is undoubtedly one of my favorite blogs to peruse as of late for how refreshing as well as interesting the content is: Fiber meets fashion meets art meets couture meets environment? Love it.

Doan is also a writer for other fashion blogs, an editor and an environmental artist residing in NYC and Europe.

She says of her art: “My eco-textile and art farming projects are a means to create sustainable solutions and key visual links to the global challenges we collectively face.”

Ecouterre’s mission? “To follow the evolution of the apparel industry toward a more environmentally sound future, as well as facilitate a conversation about why sustainable fashion matters.”

I just love it when they’re able to shock me with what can be solar or wind-powered in regards to clothing and accessories!

Through a team consisting of the likes of founder Jill Fehrenbacher (also founder of Inhabitat) and Managing Editor Jasmin Malik Chua, we’re able to discover designers taking fashion further than we ever thought it could go.

Run by founder/writer Kate Black,  Magnifeco’s daily eco-fashion and style blog features products that are fair-trade, recycled, reusable, sustainable, organic, and/or vegan.

Through her “Boutique of the Week,” I’ve found online shopping meccas I never knew of.

In writing this I just realized that when you click on any of her blog’s featured photos, you get taken directly to the spot where you can buy them. Nice Kate!

I almost feel like it’s unnecessary to write anything about Treehugger because you all probably follow them. They’re one of the most solid sources for eco-fashion trends, news and upcoming designers.

Why I will write about them is because their prolific writer Emma Grady is one of the hardest working women I’ve come across – writing almost every article you read on the site. While there are a few other writers, Emma single-handedly walks us down catwalks, and shoulders us at events where all the right people are gathering to make some noise.

And we like her for that.

One of the coolest ideas that came around last year to bring an awareness to how many clothes we have and how little we need was from designer Eliza Starbuck designer of Bright Young Things.

Starbuck designed her LBD inspired by how to make a dress “universally wearable yet individually specific,” not to mention sustainable and fashionable. Then she paired-up with Sheena Matheiken of The Uniform Project and women taking on their wardrobes in the form of wear-a-thon’s ensued. Her site chronicles a few women currently participating in their own – utilizing her (Starbuck’s) very own LBD for sale on her site.

“I’ve seen so many women with closets full of clothes who say, “˜I haven’t got a thing to wear.’ I’m giving them one dress that they can wear forwards, backwards, open, again and again, with anything they like.”

Eco-Chick

Eco-Chick Founder and Editor Starre Vartan is who I consider the current go-to green girl.

Not only does she run this blog full of current eco-fashion news, tips and interviews, Starre is the author of The Eco-Chick Guide To Life and can be found editing and guest writing on many popular green blogs. She’s also a great connector and connected to her natural environment which I think helps her to write from an honest place.

Starre Vartan for president.

With a team of writers that spread across four continents, EFW (Eco Fashion World) offers all the latest eco-fashion news and reviews, designer Q&A’s, store profiles, launch updates, and interviews with their “favorite ethical divas.”

I peruse their “comprehensive eco fashion finder” for brands or shops and resources around the globe to save myself time sometimes.

I love designer Tara St. James’ blog because it satisfies many things I need.

1. It’s written from the perspective of a designer, so I get to see different aspects of what designers go through from pattern making to dyeing.

2. I get to see what’s coming up next from a woman I consider pretty damn forward in terms of fashion.

3. I get to shop if I want her limited run pieces.

4. She’s a great writer and keeps me interested.

I don’t need to say any more.

Great Eagan’s FASHIONmeGREEN is a sustainable fashion awareness project and style site featuring eco-fashion makeovers with “style influencers.” Many who thought before Greta’s greening, eco was pretty sucko.

You can check out the FMG Daily for a current feed on what is hot, peruse her “Projects,” where she travels to the fashion capitals of the world to select a fashion influencers, and catch the behind the scenes footage in her webisodes.

Label Gazer’s goal is “to shine a spotlight on the many wonderful designers exploring various areas of socially responsible, ethical and eco-friendly fashion.”

Peruse the site’s designer database comprised of the top designers in the sustainable design field, find great deals at hot sites. And when you see some really forward-fashion-featured, then click on their link to it and voila, you’re instantly at a site ready to buy it.

Very carefully curated and delicious to peruse.

Go-To Industry Resources

Ecotextile News should be at the top of your reading everyday.

This environmental magazine for the global textile and clothing supply chain is published 10 times per year as a magazine, delivered direct to your door, and is a great blog providing expert analysis, in-depth commentary and offers the latest news on ethical fashion.

As a writer I love it because it keeps me up-to-date on lots of interesting issues.

Think you know a few things about organic cotton? Well, you might want to check out this site to see just how much and then keep learning.

Created to be a resource for industry and consumers alike who have an interest in the fiber, this site has ongoing information about organic cotton farmers, farming, designers implementing organic cotton, super-brands and interesting events.

Bookmark this site for sure.

The Ethical Fashion Forum is a non-profit network focusing upon social and environmental sustainability in the fashion industry.

Their mission? “To support and promote sustainable practices, facilitate collaboration, raise awareness and provide the tools and resources needed to reduce poverty, reduce environmental damage and raise standards in the fashion industry.”

Founded by both designers and businesses, this is great tool to help keep your finger on the pulse of industry discussions.

A newcomer to the internet but run by seasoned professionals like Summer Rayne Oakes, Benita Singh and Adam Schwartz, Source4Style is the first online marketplace created for designers and suppliers to search and source the world’s leading sustainable textiles.

You have to sign up to utilize the whole site but there’s a blog at the site where you can keep up to date on a few issues Source4Style is part of.

To even be able to participate on the Source4Style.com platform, the team gives potential suppliers a Sustainability Questionnaire and Fabric Listing, both of which are required before joining the site. This is to ensure the materials they offer are in the most presentable, accurate and transparent way possible for designers and suppliers.

With Summer Rayne Oakes at the helm, I pity the fool who tries to pull a fast one on them

For Eco-Shopaholics

Jennifer Miller, founder of Mission Savvy has five “Missions” that represent her online store: Dream, Compassion, Freedom, Instinct and Voice. Each of these collections represent an animal protection issue. She doesn’t bang you over the head with it, instead she creatively offers you clothing from designers that best exemplify her theme.

Five percent of profits generated by sales from the site are donated to a select group of animal welfare and conservation groups who work on the front lines of tough issues.

Although she’s based in Charleston, West Virginia, Miller oftentimes takes her show on the road to a city near you. Check out her tour schedule.

Based in New York City, Kaight’s brick-and-mortar shop and online site has taken center stage for awhile when it comes to boutiques, and there’s good reason for it.

Kaight owner Kate McGregor is always thinking ahead.

She’s another super hip woman having parties with designers, listening to feedback from customers, being a part of the sustainable solution and having a Melissa Store within her store. Too cool.

Designer Lina Rennell who owns Beklina is a marvel at what she puts into her store’s collection.

Think clean, modern eco-design meets art.

Just going to link to the site for this post got me distracted and wanting more from her.

Jute and Jackfruit was at EcoSalon Shops! and it was the first time I got to see a representation of the store and I loved it.

A nice collection of some of the more well-known designers in the field today. The site boasts nice clear pictures, so I can easily check out the clothes I am considering purchasing.

One important goal of Jute and Jackfruit is to empower women worldwide, as the site donates one percent of revenue to environmental and social causes.

“We try to partner with and support independent women designers here in the United States as well as designers and products that are made by women’s artisan groups and cooperatives overseas.”

Based in San Francisco, Eco Citizen’s brick and mortar and online shopping venue are owned by Joslin Van Arsdale who’s background in textiles, trend forecasting and writing help her curate this amazing shop.

Men will be happy there’s something there for them too!

Says Van Arsdale: “It feels good to know that the items I sell are not only well-designed, but also fair trade, organic and sustainable – to know this gives me a purpose.”

Me too, I’m going to get a pair of Melissa shoes as soon as I finish this post.

Foundfuture founder and former 400 Showroom co-owner Shannon Lorraine opened this little marvel this year and I always go back to it when I want inspiration for fun accessories or well, just to buy them.

Mi Asunta’s sexy necklaces and sweet swallow head bands by Love From Hetty and Dave give me that little bit of country and little bit of rock and roll I so desperately need.

Artists running boutiques? Keep it coming.

Sodafine’s designer Erin Weckerle’s boutique specializes in innovative and unique handmade clothing, accessories and gift items, not to mention a ” selective collection of vintage clothing.”

Based in Brooklyn, this sweet little haven of ethical goodness loves its designers and we love them too.

Image: garryknight

The post Your One-Stop-Shop for the Top 20 Eco-Fashion Sites appeared first on EcoSalon.

For those of you reading and asking, “Hey, what did I miss?” honey, you missed a lot!

This past Friday night, we hosted Ecosalon Shops! at a New York City venue in TriBeCa where nearly 20 designers, three eco-friendly boutiques (Foundfuture, Juno & Jove and Mission Savvy), and organic food and drink vendors (think chocolate! think martinis!) gathered to have a susty soiree. Thanks to a collaborative effort that included EcoSalon, sustainable designers, brands, editors, bloggers and friends, the place was packed and the fashion was flying.

But before that even happened, early arrivals, hoping to grab the product-packed goodie bags first, were swarming the space! After seating our eager guests in a lounge area, they waited patiently for the 7:00 whistle that kicked off the event. (Or make that the 7:00 beats, provided by none other than emcee Tofuburger. No, we’re not kidding.)

Over the course of three hours, some 400 fabulous eco gals (and a few green guys) showed to shop and mingle, including some of our favorite eco fashion writers (some of whom wrote pieces on the event as well): Jasmin Malik Chua of Ecouterre, Starre Vartan of Greenopia and Eco-Chick, Emma Grady of Treehugger, Abigail Doan of Ecco Eco and Eco Fashion World and spokeswoman, activist, writer and eco model, Summer Rayne Oakes of well, lots of green things! We were thrilled to spend time with these amazing people, some of whom we’ve been chatting with and working with online but had never met in person.

Readers who’ve been following us for the past two years also showed up and laughed over old and newer controversial stories that they’d either commented on or followed, got to meet all the designers we’ve been covering and made conscious purchases they could feel good about.

We’re deeply grateful to all the fantastic green supporters in media who helped spread the word about EcoSalon Shops! far and wide and attended the event, including Time Out New York, NBC’s Thread/NY as well as writers and editors from Lucky magazine, InStyle, the New York Times, Fox and Marie Claire.

Enjoy the slideshow, and visit us again tomorrow to watch the video of the event.

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Now don’t you fret if you didn’t get to make this one. Another event is already in the works and may be coming to a city near you. We’ll see you soon!

The post We EcoSalon Shopped! appeared first on EcoSalon.