Sustainable style news from EcoSalon’s West Coast fashion correspondent.

Sayonara Sale – Joslin Van Arsdale’s boutique, Eco Citizen has long been the go-to place for finding the most fabulous eco outfit in the Bay Area. Over the years, Arsdale has had the exclusive on the latest lines from Linda Loudermilk, The Podolls and talented local SF Designer, Sara Shepherd. Shutting its doors this summer, the store’s closing sale starts today and runs until the end of July. With deeply discounted prices on designs from Prairie Underground, Koch, Organic, H. Fredricksson, Popomomo, Indigenous, Bodkin and many more, you and Eco Citizen will be going-out with a green-colored bang this summer.

We wish Joslin all the best of luck as she moves forward.

Catch 33 – Portland is a veritable hotbed for emerging sustainable designers at the moment, which makes this weekend’s first annual Alley 33 fashion show a don’t-miss event. Hosted by Mag-Big, Siren Nation and Breedom Public Sewing House, the count for participating local fashion designers is currently at 33 and between them they’ll be showing everything from easy-fit casual wear to high couture. The show, designed to promote sustainability through local production, will re-shape the alley of Hawthorne’s 33rd Ave. into an urban runway, bringing high fashion to a public space. Doors open at 4p.m., the show starts at 6 p.m.

California Baby – Is it just me or is anyone else noticing that there are a lot of pregnant ladies around right now? Musicians and celebrities particularly seem a very fertile bunch. Since actress Kate Hudson and her rocker fiancé Matt Bellamy of Muse asked their famous friends to plant ‘celebration trees’ to mark the arrival of their baby boy, I’ve been searching for an equally low impact baby shower gift. Made in San Francisco, Bibana bib’s are made using re-purposed bandannas in punk-chic color combinations and make the perfect gift for hip parents and future rock star kids.

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SeriesPart 2: The fashion industry is emerging from its cocoon post-recession, a changed sector where consumers are more cautious, manufacturers are on their toes and designers are struggling to stay afloat doing business as usual. In this five-part series, we take a hard look at the fashion world, speaking with industry leaders, luminaries and experts. This week we ask: Has the recession turned us into cheapskates so we can feel like fulfilled consumers?

Since 2007 they’ve popped up like dandelions: The discount clothing venues we love for all the hot bang we get for our hard-earned buck.

Gilt, My Habit, FashionStake, eBay Fashion, and now even discount eco-commerce sites like the recent launch of JP Selects and LovingEco tantalize us with a designer discount warehouse vibe that appeals to our need to shop. Recession? Heck no, we’re all the same when it comes to discounts whether wealthy or middle class, hoarders or sample salers who need to get more for less. If you think this concept is something new, just look back to post World War 2 consumer habits and you’ll see a direct link to the burgeoning of low-profit-margin strategies designed to attract price-conscious consumers.

The only thing that’s changed is the technology and marketing to hungry consumers and struggling designers.

NOW Showcase, 2011

Joslin Van Arsdale, owner of San Francisco’s Ecocitizen boutique, says sites like Gilt affect eco-commerce because they encourage the quick consumption of cheap, mass produced and disposable goods, and therefore skew the consumer’s perception of value.

“In the past a sample sale was last seasons leftovers. Today, designers who participate in Gilt sales are selling are specifically commissioned by the site and its buyers. Most of the items offered at flash sale sites, are past season designs, or popular designs reinterpreted into cheaper versions of  the original which enable companies like Gilt to maintain healthy margins while also offering  60-70% off.  This is similar to how Target and H&M do their designer collections, same name and design, just cheaper labor and lower quality fabrics,” says Arsdale.

If we think about low-pricing power in the classical sense of the term, we might look at the Wal-Mart volume model, with the idea that the more powerful you are (thousands of locations), the more you can drive your cost down. While we can understand that lower prices drives more sales in the short term, what about the integrity of the brand being sold? Do thoughtful designers really want to brand themselves as deep discounters offering bottom-barrel markdowns?

Designer Eliza Starbuck says it’s become a fear-based business for sustainable designers.

“It’s hard enough to be eco and fashion, an oxymoron in itself, but then having to go against the sustainable model and sell a whole lot of stuff seems pretty counter-intuitive,” says Starbuck.

Van Arsdale says sites like these are training shoppers to expect sales all the time and while in the short term this business model can be a great marketing opportunity for designers, in the long term, it erodes a brand’s perceived value.

“Judging from the success and proliferation of flash sites, it seems that the consumer is unaware that there is a difference in product and quality and mostly doesn’t care,” she says. “Shopping is evolving to a scale of extremes between the very cheap and the very expensive, with nothing in between, similar to what is happening to our middle class.”

But with a current valuation of some $400 million, Gilt Groupe appears to have more staying power than most fashion trends struggling to stay afloat in a traditional way. New York Magazine likens it to a safe haven for designers.

“Last year, as incomes tightened and the fashion industry was left with ruinous amounts of inventory, the company’s business model proved to be a counter-cyclical savior, sucking up goods that otherwise would have moldered,” says the magazine’s writer Andrew Rice, adding that some designers have found “Gilt’s model lucrative enough that they’ve decided to do away with their brick-and-mortar sample sales; others are now making clothes specifically for the site.”

As a result, more and more shops are turning to online sales only and closing brick and mortar venues.

Closed boutique on Newbury Street, Boston

We asked an eBay Fashion spokesperson, who insisted on anonymity, about traffic patterns since the company changed its selling model from what was already in the waste stream to recent high-profile collaborations with Alexander Wang and the CFDA. While they weren’t willing to release statistics at this time, they did respond with this statement:

“Fashion has a new home on eBay at fashion.ebay.com – a dedicated destination that delivers an enhanced shopping experience with new features and sales channels like Fashion Vault that make it easier than ever to explore, find and buy items based on favorite styles, brands and popular trends.”

No longer a hot spot solely for automotive enthusiasts – who in 2005 were eBay’s biggest audience –  eBay has evolved into a clothing and accessory mecca for all financial brackets. And sites like Gilt and eBay Fashion aren’t alone when it comes to selling luxe labels for less.

Trista Dedmon, consignment manager of Brooklyn’s best secret Eva Gentry, sells higher end designers that include Zero + Maria Cornejo, Helmut Lang, Alexander Wang, Marc Jacobs, Chloe, and Marni.

Dedmon says business has picked up with both customers and consigners each season since it opened about five years ago.

“There are definitely a wide variety of shoppers we cater to from the college students looking for affordable Alexander Wang to the established professional who wants to save on a mint condition Balenciaga piece,” she says.

Brooklyn’s Eva Gentry

When asked why, Dedmon says, “It is more than likely due to the current economic climate and everyone reassessing their values. If we become more conscious of our spending habits, this doesn’t necessarily mean our taste level changes. Customers still want designer level garments, but like to stay within their new found budget, which is where a store like ours comes in.”

As recently as 2008, stores like Eva Gentry were gaining popularity quickly, not only college students but with wealthy shoppers accustomed to pricey labels. USA Today writer Laura Petrecca wrote: “There have been many euphemistic labels applied to secondhand goods, including ‘gently used,’ ‘pre-owned’ and ‘like new.’ But in the current economy, they have a new and candid label: ‘hot sellers.’

In the same article, Petrecca notes that three-fourths of resale stores polled said they had higher sales in September and October than in the previous year, and according to the National Association of Resale & Thrift Shops, “The average sales increase was about 35%.”

So what of the plight of the sustainable boutique owner, the entrepreneur supporting conscious consumerism?

Mission Savvy’s brick and mortar store

Vegan boutique owner, Jennifer Miller, has her hands full with her shop, Mission Savvy. Miller has had to forge her way forward through the muck and mire of retail since she opened two years ago in the midst of the recession.

“People want to get more, pay less. Despite its goodwill, the price point on ethical fashion for the average consumer is a big turn off – and I’m in the market to turn people on. Better to purchase something from my store, support the ethical fashion industry, feel good about it with no guilt of over spending and therefore continue to return than not shop at my store at all,” Miller says.

She says her nontraditional approach to operating a boutique has her stocking ethical products but selling at a less than average mark up which is challenging – but it keeps her customers happy and coming back.

“We’re just not there yet as an economy and in commitment. Especially if you are far removed from the fashion industry and the appreciation of the art of it, so that leaves a lot of people spending lots of money on clothes with absolutely no purpose other than to buy something new that looks awesome,” says Miller.

“And as much as people do understand the concept of responsible consumerism, it still comes down to what money can buy and for a lot of us money does buy happiness. Spending too much money on very little is not as appealing as spending a little on a lot.”

The post The Post-Recession Fashion Industry: Discounted Sells appeared first on EcoSalon.

This silk scarf from A Peace Treaty will keep your shoulders warm on cool summer nights.

A Peace Treaty is an ethically produced, artisan level accessories and apparel line inspired by hand crafting cultures in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe. Designers Farah Malik and Dana Arbib travel each season to find new artisans in different countries to “re-define an accessory,” which could include this scarf above, or a discarded bone necklace with vintage chains.

In addition to producing a lust-worthy line if there ever was one, Malik and Arbib empower artisan women to earn a living creating work for their line and helping them live dignified lives in their respective villages.

Conscious shopping just reached a new level of amazing.

$168 online at Ecocitizen

Look for Lustables daily at EcoSalon. 100% gorgeous green finds, and never sponsored. Submit your favorite to tips@ecosalon.com

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EventJoin EcoSalon and SF’s craziest cyclist at Swig tonight for a good time, a good cause and a chance to win an iPad and other prizes!

The party is tonight – come by!

By now, you’ve probably heard of the AIDS/LifeCycle: a 7-day, 545-mile bicycle ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles, starting June 5. The 2500 riders who participate, in addition to riding thousands of miles to train for the event, also raise money to benefit the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center.

Join EcoSalon as we sponsor one (slightly crazy) Zach Morvant of San Francisco’s Anatomy Creative. Zach is joining the ride this year, but, wait for it…he is riding a single speed bike, otherwise known as a ‘track bike’. (For the uninitiated, that is a stripped-down, single-speed, fixed gear machine.) To train, he’s been rising with the sun to ride up Hawk Hill before work, and recently charged Mount Tam via Four Corners to East Peak (which is reportedly “the hard way”…we’ll take his word for it).

To reach his $3000 fundraising goal, Zach needs our help: he’s got $1500 to go.

Good cause? Good time? You know we are so there.

EcoSalon is proud to co-host an event this Tuesday, May 31st at San Francisco’s very own Swig. ‘The Last Mile Fundraiser’ will feature some coveted items for raffle as well as discounted drinks, and, of course, Zach. Your $20 donation at the door gets you two raffle tickets. Additional raffle tickets will be sold for $10 a piece. Bonus? Top shelf susty cocktails with Fair vodka will be poured for just $3.00. Limited quantity, so get there on time!

Raffle prizes include: An iPad, a bottle of biodynamic bubbly, fair trade vodka from Fair, a $75 gift certificate from our favorite eco fashion boutique, Ecocitizen, a $75 gift certificate from EcoSalon’s stylish sister company, eco-chic home goods retailer VivaTerra, Giants’ tickets and other surprises. (Donations are tax deductible.)

Who, what, when, where: Everyone (including you!), “The Last Mile Fundraiser”, May 31st, 2011 6-9 pm at Swig

Mark your calendar – we’ll see you there!

Come support our San Francisco cyclist Zach Morvant!

The post See You at the AIDS Lifecycle ‘Last Mile Fundraiser’ Tonight! appeared first on EcoSalon.

EVENT Join EcoSalon and SF’s craziest cyclist at Swig next week for a good time, a good cause and a chance to win an iPad and other prizes!

By now, you’ve probably heard of the AIDS/LifeCycle: a 7-day, 545-mile bicycle ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles, starting June 5. The 2500 riders who participate, in addition to riding thousands of miles to train for the event, also raise money to benefit the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center.

Join EcoSalon as we sponsor one (slightly crazy) Zach Morvant of San Francisco’s Anatomy Creative. Zach is joining the ride this year, but, wait for it…he is riding a single speed bike, otherwise known as a ‘track bike’. (For the uninitiated, that is a stripped-down, single-speed, fixed gear machine.) To train, he’s been rising with the sun to ride up Hawk Hill before work, and recently charged Mount Tam via Four Corners to East Peak (which is reportedly “the hard way”…we’ll take his word for it).

To reach his $3000 fundraising goal, Zach needs our help: he’s got $1500 to go.

Good cause? Good time? You know we are so there.

EcoSalon is proud to co-host an event this Tuesday, May 31st at San Francisco’s very own Swig. ‘The Last Mile Fundraiser’ will feature some coveted items for raffle as well as discounted drinks, and, of course, Zach. Your $20 donation at the door gets you two raffle tickets. Additional raffle tickets will be sold for $10 a piece. Bonus? Top shelf susty cocktails with Fair vodka will be poured for just $3.00. Limited quantity, so get there on time!

Raffle prizes include: An iPad, a bottle of biodynamic bubbly, fair trade vodka from Fair, a $75 gift certificate from our favorite eco fashion boutique, Ecocitizen, a $75 gift certificate from EcoSalon’s stylish sister company, eco-chic home goods retailer VivaTerra, Giants’ tickets and other surprises.

Who, what, when, where: Everyone (including you!), “The Last Mile Fundraiser”, May 31st, 2011 6-9 pm, Map

Mark your calendar – we’ll see you there, sister!

Thanks to our friends at Swig for their hospitality. Special thanks as well to @LA, Fair, VivaTerra and Ecocitizen. All donations are tax deductible and receipts will be provided.

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Sustainable style news from EcoSalon’s West Coast fashion correspondent.

You’re Beautiful – Don’t miss the Beauty Culture exhibit at the Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles which opens on May 21. Over 600 images by the world’s most renowned fashion photographers, including Herb Ritts, David LaChapelle and  Ellen Von Unwerth, document the evolution of the definition of beauty throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. The thought-provoking exhibit illustrates the power of the still image in our lives and its ability to inform cultural ideals and expectations of feminine beauty. The exhibition will run through November 27.

True Summer –  Doing their best to forget the rain, the Bay Area’s most stylish fashion lovers are excited to swap their cool weather styles for the latest arrivals at EcoCitizen this week. Shop your summer essentials from new sustainable brands such as A Peace Treaty, Edith A. Miller, H. Fredriksson and Lina Rennell. A visit to the Polk Street store, the unofficial San Francisco headquarters of the local green fashion scene, is essential to those ready to gear up to the next sartorial season. Owner, Joslin Van Arsdale has a stylist’s eye for helping you create a number of looks from a few sound picks from her skillfully curated racks. On my list is a nautically striped boatneck t-shirt from Edith A. Miller, Bodkin’s ultra flattering and lightweight skort, and a pair of trendy, laced up boots from Penelope+Coco, handmade in L.A. in distressed grey leather.

Green Scene – After wrapping up dates in San Francisco and Chicago, the Green Festival will be returning to Seattle’s Qwest Event Center on May 21st and 22nd for its 10^th year anniversary. Festivities include presentations by more than 125 renowned authors, leaders and visionaries, informative how-to workshops, cutting-edge films, kid’s activities, organic beer and wine, organic vegan and vegetarian cuisine, diverse live music and over 350 green local and national businesses and organizations. Guaranteed to be a green weekend of family fun, make sure to catch AJ Snapper, Alchemy Goods and Seattle Goodwill for some sustainable fashion inspiration.

The post Eco Style West Vol.10 appeared first on EcoSalon.

Sustainable style news from EcoSalon’s West Coast fashion correspondent.

Spring Bliss – Warmer weather has finally arrived and the time to spring for this year’s go-to-special occasion dress is here. Some of the most striking sustainable options this season are from Palo Alto-based designer, Camilla Olson. A former venture capitalist who made the switch to design after visiting the Academy of Art to enroll her daughter in 2007, Olson has lots to say on the importance of following your dreams in life. Come down to Ecocitizen tomorrow night for champagne and a first look at Olson’s spring/summer ’11 couture and ready to wear collections. Picks from her line include signature sheaths with laser cut silk cages, hand printed silks and classic silhouettes that will ensure you being the center of attention wherever you go. 10% of the proceeds from the event will go to the Japanese Red Cross. EcoSalon will be on the scene.

SF Made – San Francisco’s hard-to-define fashion scene is known for its rejection of mass consumption and its embrace of DIY.  There’s always an amazing style discovery to be had from an unlikely garage, basement workshop or back store room. For all those with a fashion idea and plenty of entrepreneurial spirit, don’t miss The Maker Revolution: From Workbench to Business, an event hosted at the impressive TechShop facility at 926 Howard Street in SoMa tomorrow night. TechShop is a local manufacturing, open access facility that provides tools, equipment and instruction for entrepreneurs, inventors, artists, and makers of all kinds.  The event will include a panel discussion about how greater access to resources locally is fostering a vibrant community of creators and businesspeople in the Bay Area and beyond. Panelist’s include: Dale Dougherty, publisher of MAKE Magazine, Andy Filo, the executive director of SFMade, a non-profit promoting the manufacturing sector in San Francisco, and Mark Hatch, the CEO of TechShop.

Hats Off – Perhaps its Royal Wedding fever or the pervasive deco theme in fashion, but if ever there was a time to invest in a custom-made hat, this is it. If you’re in San Francisco, you have to check out Paul’s Hat Works in the Richmond District. An experience in style nostalgia itself, the 90 year old store was recently revived by four Ladies with a mission to “Bring the hat back.” Choose from bowlers, fedoras, straw hats and custom designs and tip a rakish tilt to your spring looks with an American-made, heritage design that you’ll treasure for ever.

Image: BLMurch

The post Eco Style West Vol. 7 appeared first on EcoSalon.

Sustainable style news from EcoSalon’s West Coast Fashion Correspondent.

When in L.A., do as the locals do, and in my case that meant practicing downward dog along the Venice Beach shoreline this weekend. Thus rendering the famous boardwalk upside down, and leaving me to reflect upon an entirely different perspective of the local style scene – and after all, isn’t thinking about things a little differently what the West Coast is all about?

Here’s what I uncovered this week.

Altered States –It would be hard to find a design team more innovative in today’s fashion world than Pasadena-based designers, Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte. Their exhibit, Rodarte: States of Matter, showing more than 20 pieces from recent collections, including some of the original costumes designed for Black Swan is currently on view at the MOCA Pacific Design Center until June 5, 2011. One of the early proponents of the ethical trend in the luxury market, the designing duo’s expressive and alternative manipulation of fabric transcends traditional clothing construction practices. The not-to-be missed exhibition is inspiration for anyone interested in redefining what clothing design can be.

Feel Good Initiative – Recently opened, the Green Denim Initiative on Main Street is one of Santa Monica’s newest sustainable shopping haunts. Locally producing Green Denim (its own line of unbelievably soft organic jeans), the store is L.A.’s greenest choice for finding this season’s wide-legged ’70s flare. Available in trendy colored washes and figure-flattering cuts, these comfort-driven styles share the shelves alongside other eco-friendly brands like EcoSkin, Alkemie and Alex and Ani. According to dynamo store manager, Bianca Smith, the ongoing sale prices of 15-75% off most items is part of their “feel good policy for tough economic times.”

Fresh Choice – A San Francisco fashion event promises to help you pick up your style like you do your veggies, Fresh and Local. Tomorrow’s trunk show at Project One, an art gallery, café and lounge featured in a converted San Francisco Design District warehouse will showcase some of the hottest Bay Area talents and their latest designs. New clothing and accessory collections from Jen Darling, Cary La Scala and Farm Fresh Clothing Co, together with pieces from Eco Citizen jewelry designer’s Kris Nations, J. Fein Designs and Molly M, promise to sell out quick. If that doesn’t motivate you to wrap up your day and head on down, hosted champagne is served at the bar from 6-7p.m. EcoSalon will be on the scene, so be sure to come say hello!

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Does the current trend for boho glam mean more than meets the eye?

Fashion’s ability to reflect society’s struggles and sensibilities is well documented throughout costume history. The fashions of the 1920s are a great example. With the end of the war and the rise of the suffragette movement and an emerging middle class, the world was full of choices for the ’20s woman. Shorter hemlines, dropped waists, bobbed hair, the use of wool jersey and the availability of relatively inexpensive colorful costume jewelry created a style of clothing that a woman could work in, move in and assert herself in, representing a major shift in women’s lives at the time.

With the stores currently full of ’70s full-leg pants, floor sweeping scarfs, maxi skirts, lace, leopard and liberty prints, what is being expressed by today’s clear embrace of all things bohemian? And for that matter, what is bohemian?

This week has seen a series of coincidences involving feathers, the ultimate symbol of boho glam. It started with an awareness of the birds singing unusually loudly outside my window on the morning the news hit about the devastating tsunami in Japan. Driving to yoga later on, the Jimi Hendrix CD I’d randomly grabbed on the way out  got inexplicably stuck on one track, Hendrix’s American Indian-inspired Bohemian Rhapsody, “Little Wing.”

Friday night, I sat at the edge of a runway show as a series of glorious silhouettes strutted past, but my eyes were looking beyond, upwards to the feathery hats and mohawks adorning the model’s heads. Over the weekend, I startled when the wind blew the French doors open knocking a little bird – a decoration from a wedding centerpiece I’d kept – off its permanent perch on top of my computer. By Sunday brunch, I wasn’t at all surprised when a new friend carrying a tin of feathers sat down and offered to weave my very own plume of rooster feathers into my hair.  Sitting outside at a cafe table as it began to rain, I was the picture of calm with feathers weaved like highlights through my hair. It’s most unlike me. Reader, I have been fea-dazzled!

Love Child Feather Hair Extensions

A huge trend with young girls right now, feather extensions are all the rage in Hollywood. It’s nothing new, of course. In the ’70s, girls were using roach clips caught with feather bundles to achieve the same look (be sure to dust off your crimpers as that is also back).

I’m inclined to believe this is all a sure signal of a fashion subconscious at work. According to my comprehensive research i.e. Duncan, from Wellington, N.Z., “Patterns that emerge through coincidences or synchronicities are believed to demonstrate connection with the subconscious and super-conscious,” according to your preference for either Jung or Eastern sages, respectively.

Regardless of your philosophical views, with a little age comes a well-earned amount of self assurance that entitles you to say “Why not?” to a bit of self-indulgent styling. A naive touch, like wearing a feather in your hair, appears to me to connect to our collective sense of hope for a better world right now – or perhaps, a heart’s desire to fly far away from unnecessary war, regressive politics and environmental devastation. If you’re inclined to agree, allow me to point you towards a more convenient expression of hippie wanderlust in these ethereally beautiful feather earrings (see above). They’re handmade ethically by Heidi Roland in Philadelphia and are available now at ecocitizenonline. “Fly on little wing, fly on.”

The post Flights of Fancy: A Feather Trend Re-Emerges appeared first on EcoSalon.

Holiday shopping is almost as exciting as the post-holiday sale shopping that comes on in full force during the month of January. I’ve scooped up beautiful handbags, shoes, jackets and jewelry during this time of the year that I would have never been able to afford otherwise.

In the first week of January, sales are running across the board, and I took the liberty to sniff out my three top picks to buy now and wear later.

1. A Sequin Organic Jersey Kimono Dress from Elsom. Layer it with a pair of leggings, boots, a cute cropped blazer and a vibrant scarf and you’ve got one hot outfit this winter. In the summer, pair it with flats and maybe an oversized boyfriend cardigan for a relaxed look.

2. Skinny Blazer by John Patrick Organic. Every girl needs a good blazer. It’s the LBD of daily wear. You should have a go-to black one, and if you have graduated to a more risky style sense, pretty in pink is the perfect palate for transitioning from winter’s beiges to summer’s whites!

3. NeuAura Plum Heels. Open-toed shoes with layered tights and socks this winter keeps you thick with the fashion pack. When the temperature warms up, lose the layers and go for bare legs.

If you didn’t quite get what you wanted from Santa this year, take it upon yourself to get what you deserve at a discount, and let those pieces carry you through the winter into spring!

The post 3 Pieces to Buy Now (On Sale) to Wear Later appeared first on EcoSalon.