Eileen Fisher is the real deal when it comes to sustainability.

Back in 2011, when I was a wee lass who had just been accepted to business school, I attended a panel discussion titled “Sales with an Impact: The CSR Advantage in Consumer-Facing Businesses” at Boston’s Simmons College. It was a fascinating event: One that left an aspiring, mission-focused marketing consultant wide-eyed and bushy-tailed at the thought of a concentration in business ethics and sustainability. There was one panel member, however, who – even several years later – I recall as being remarkably not full of shit. That was Amy Hall, Eileen Fisher’s Director of Social Consciousness.

It’s a testament to Hall’s character that’s particularly crucial on the heels of Eileen Fisher’s Vision2020 announcement: The declaration that, by 2020, to go from being on 66 percent sustainable, according to the initiative’s website, to 100 percent. By then, the company has declared, “if the linen is conventionally grown we won’t use it.” It’s so much more than linen, though. “Sustainability” is a far-reaching term that certainly includes, but also extends beyond ecological sustainability. It’s about labor issues, toxic treatments, and recycling, among other imperative parts of the supply chain. In the company’s words, there will be “no excuses.” But, as I said back in 2011, “no bullshit.”

Last Monday, Hall, joined by three of her colleagues (Liz Wisler, Eilieen Fisher’s VP of Manufacturing and Product Development, Candice Reffe, Co-Creative Officer, and Inka Apter, Facilitating Manager, Fabric Development) at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) for a panel discussion on the company’s Sustainable Business Vision. Perhaps the largest takeaway, as first made evident by the multi-departmental composition of the panel, was, in fact, the company’s extensive and momentous definition of sustainability.

“Eileen Fisher is not siloing sustainability in a CSR department,” says Sass Brown, FIT’s Acting Associate Dean School of Art and Design. “It’s a conversation across the entirety of the company, the entirety of the supply chain.”

On Vision2020’s website, Eileen Fisher lists six fundamental categories that will fall under its broad sustainability initiative: Fibers, color, resources, people, mapping, and reuse. Fabric wastage? Outta there. Toxic dyes? See ya. And anything less than fair pay for global workers? Forget about it.

“They are talking about human rights,” continues Brown, “as well as environmental justice.”

Back to the idea of no BS, though. I hardly believe I was the only one who raised a skeptical eyebrow under the Color category when I read, “By 2020, roughly 30% of our product will be bluesign® certified,” meaning that it meets the standards of this third-party system of rating of water and chemical utilization.  That was, however, until I read the next sentence: “But frankly that’s not good enough.”

That sentiment reflects what was another key impression left by the FIT panel: The transparency of Eileen Fisher and its people. “They were quite honest that they don’t have all the answers,” says Brown, “and they don’t know exactly how they’re going to change, in some respects.”

The brand is the first to admit the freakishly ambitious nature of Vision2020. After all, I’ve been trying to give up carbs for five years, not change an entire corporate ecosystem, and I still haven’t been able to commit. While not an entirely fair comparison, Eileen Fisher does have its work cut out:  Four years, 6 months, and 17 days remain before January 1, 2020.

I have faith, however, and there are two reasons for my confidence: The first: Eileen Fisher’s role as something of a pioneer in the space of social consciousness. After all, prior to meeting Amy Hall at Simmons in 2011, the words “social consciousness” hadn’t even appeared in any job title I came across. Second, while its aspirations may be bold, they’re also precise; Eileen Fisher has broken down and analyzed vital details of what, exactly, the company is setting out to achieve within the realm of Vision2020. Rather than “going green” or “reducing waste,” the company has done its math and spelled out exactly what those commitments will look like. And if Eileen Fisher falls short? They’ll be the first ones to admit it.

Let the pervasive sustainability countdown begin.

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Image: Eileen Fisher on Facebook

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Just in time for Earth Day, some of our favorite names in eco fashion are springing forth with new lines this season. But you can step out in guilt-free designer gear and support companies who support Mother Earth any day of the year.

Earth Day celebrates and promotes the greening of cities and communities worldwide. It’s a big-picture holiday that you can participate in year round by virtue of the small choices you make on a daily basis. The daily question of “what to wear” can have a tremendous impact on Mother Earth, as the garments you wear contribute to your carbon footprint.

These stylish, sustainable eco fashion designers can help you make every day an Earth Day, straight out of your own closet.

1. Ethical Fashion from Eileen Fisher

The vision of Eileen Fisher is to change the fashion industry one garment at a time. Fans of the designer can feel confident that they’re giving back by opting for these eco styles. From the organic, chemical-free materials to the bluesign certified factory ensuring fair working conditions, Eileen Fisher is ready-to-wear for Earth Day.

Her breezy Spring 2014 collection features classic cuts like the Boyfriend Jean in organic cotton stretch denim. By avoiding conventionally grown cotton, you avoid one of the most toxic crops.

The collection also features an elegant take on sustainable silk within the Silk Effect collection. The garments are multi-layered with an ethereal yet earthy vibe.

2. Raven + Lily Preserve one of Earth’s Most Powerful Resources: Women

Earth Day is not only about preserving the physical resources of our planet, but also the health of humanity. Raven + Lily offer eco friendly, Fair Trade fashion and accessory collections that support women. The company’s mission is to empower women by employing those marginalized and in recovery from abuse. The artisans and craftswomen employed by Raven + Lily are provided with a sustainable income and health care.

Tops and tees from Raven + Lily are perfect for Earth Day festivities, and you can feel good that any jewelry you choose to accessorize with supports women all over the world including Kenya, Cambodia and the USA.

3. Tread Lightly on the Earth in PONS Avarcas

This Earth Day, you can step out in traditional sandals with a twist. The Avarca is a classic Spanish sandal. It’s the traditional footwear from the island of Menorca in the Mediterranean Sea.

PONS Avarcas  is a company with a mission to preserve the integrity of these ancient sandals. PONS Avarcas imports the shoes directly from artisans on Menorca and the sandals are hand-sewn utilizing rubber soles repurposed from old tires. The company is true to the traditional design and craftsman ship of these versatile warm-weather essentials.

4. Akola Project: Accessorize with Activism

Earth-friendly endeavors extend to all levels of the manufacturing process, from the materials used to the labor practices. The Akola Project focuses on the Fair Trade and labor aspects of eco fashion, opting to employ impoverished women in Uganda. The marginalized Ugandan women are masterful artisans and create handmade jewelry and accessories.

Akola also provides fresh-water wells in the areas where its craftswomen live. In fact, 100 percent of the net proceeds from Akola are funneled back into Ugandan, Kenyan and Ethiopian communities in need.

5. LSTN Ear Buds for a Cause

Get into the spirit of celebration this Earth Day by listening to inspiring tunes on these equally inspiring ear buds and headphones from LSTN. These uber hip and eco friendly high-quality earpieces are the ultimate sonic accessory. LSTN donates proceeds from each sale towards restoring hearing for those in need, so you can rock out in socially-supportive style. The gorgeous one-of-a-kind headphones will turn heads and match with your sustainable threads. Made from repurposed wood, each pair is unique. Proceeds go to the Starkey Foundation which helps restore hearing to those in need. LSTN has already helped more than 15,000 people hear again.

6. FashionABLE is Fair Wage and Fabulous

A springtime scarf can be the ultimate accessory, adding a depth of style in the easiest possible way.

When you purchase a hand-loomed scarf from FashionABLE, you directly create sustainable business in Africa. The FashionABLE model is dedicated to long-term solutions in fighting the poverty that keeps women marginalized in East African communities. Your purchase creates jobs for women who become part of a revitalized local economy. FashionABLE also promotes Fair Trade and fair wage practices in the communities it serves.

7. Bluejeans Without the Blues: Love Premium Denim

Denim is the essential “down to earth” fashion item. In denim you’re ready to get down and dirty, to work and to play. 

Wouldn’t you love to step out on Earth Day in jeans designed by the same folks who wrote the “Kama Sutra of Jeans”? Love Premium Denim is your go-to designer for jeans that truly hug your body.

Luckily, the day after Earth Day, April 23rd, is National Denim Day–a day to be proud of your jeans-clad self.

Your purchases from Love Premium Denim supports breast cancer awareness, adding a socially aware element to your casual comfort.

Related on EcoSalon

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EILEEN FISHER has developed a multi-level approach to sustainability, involving changes big and small — from using more conscious materials and investing in renewable energy to innovative recycling programs.

Ever since starting her company in 1984, Eileen Fisher has been focused on simplicity, beauty and systems-thinking applied to fashion. The line started with four basic shapes and quickly expanded to a whopping eight pieces — featuring beautiful colors, great fabrics, shapes and proportions that worked together. Today, EILEEN FISHER employs 900 people and has 58 stores across the US, Canada and the UK.

Environmental initiatives are a major priority for the company, which has developed an impressive multilevel approach involving changes big and small, including developing eco materials and supporting renewable energy to recycling clothing. “It’s a commitment to our belief in honoring the earth and its connection to our well being,” Fisher states. “By seeking the best practices throughout the lifecycle of our products, we are creating healthier environments for farmers, supply chain workers and future generations.”

As part of that environmental push, the brand’s Ampersand collection consists of pieces that are sustainably made either in a domestic factory, by artisans, or using Fair Trade and organic materials. Whenever you see an Ampersand on the label, that means there is a sustainability story behind that garment.

The commitment to a healthy work environment starts right in the corporate offices in Irvington, New York, where cubicles have been replaced with open work areas that inspire collaboration and ample natural light shines through the windows. Happy workers are important on the home front, but no more so than in the factories that produce the clothing. EILEEN FISHER’s Social Consciousness team is dedicated to keeping track of human rights issues at the label’s factories — there are seven in China, one in India, three in New York and a few others around the globe — ensuring that real life conditions meet SA8000 workplace standards.

The label also emphasizes long-term relationships with suppliers, giving them further incentive to deal with problems in the factories. “I’ve come to realize that we are unusual in the industry,” says the Social Consciousness Team’s Luna Lee. “Many brands shift suppliers all the time.”

Although frequent audits are necessary, they are not perfect (as we’ve seen in the far too many deadly tragedies in overseas factories lately). EILEEN FISHER aims toward building factory rights from the ground up by training workers to be aware of and exercise their rights in vulnerable situations. Ten years ago, the brand began working with Verité, a nonprofit specializing in human rights, to hold workshops for workers at three China factories. “The first year was rocky,” says Amy Hall, EF’s director of Social Consciousness. “Managers were highly skeptical about letting Verité into their factories. Appointments were made and cancelled repeatedly. But once the trainings began, the workers began asking for them and we instituted separate ones for managers. We’ve expanded to all seven of our Chinese factories.”

Bobby Ahn, one of EILEEN FISHER’s domestic denim manufacturers

As part of a push for domestic production, EILEEN FISHER manufactures all jeans in the United States — 80 percent in Los Angeles and the rest in New York City. On the label’s Ampersand site, you can read about Bobby Ahn, the owner of an LA denim factory, who drives a plug-in Prius, eats organic food and has a family story that mirrors the ups and downs of the US garment industry.

The benefit of not following trends–something Fisher has never done, is that the garments never go out of style. Recognizing this, the brand launched its first GREEN EILEEN store in 1997, reselling gently worn clothing. Today, there are four stores, where you can find everything from archive pieces like a knit motorcycle jacket to simple tees. The proceeds, which have added up to $1.3 million in the last three years, are all donated to nonprofits that work toward empowering women and girls.

EILEEN FISHER introduced this piece in 1997. It’s not available today, although you might find one at GREEN EILEEN.

In April (for Earth Month), EILEEN FISHER announced the start of their new GREEN EILEEN Collection Program, a recycled clothing initiative of the EILEEN FISHER Community Foundation whose proceeds will support women and girls. Bring back your gently worn EILEEN FISHER clothing to one of the company’s stores and receive a tax receipt and $5 in Recycling Rewards to spend at any EILEEN FISHER store or at eileenfisher.com.

Funnel-neck top, originally from 2002, still looking good ten years later. It’s paired here with a straight skirt introduced in 1997.

It’s not easy for an established company to implement sustainability initiatives across the board. It’s never perfect right away, but the important thing is that things move in the right direction. EILEEN FISHER shows us a multitude of ways it can be done.

Images courtesy of EILEEN FISHER

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 Happy National Business Women’s Day!

There may still be a huge gender gap in the workforce, with even the women running Fortune 500 companies earning just 69 cents to every dollar earned by male CEOs. But women are proving to be major forces of change in virtually every industry, from international banking to non-profit organizations. These 10 women CEOs, including Eileen Fisher, Lauren Bush and Majora Carter, are promoting social and environmental responsibility within their companies and in the world at large.

On this National Business Women’s Day we salute them!

Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, Green for All

CEO of anti-poverty organization Green for All, Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins is also a sustainability advocate who has been named among the 100 most powerful people in California’s Silicon Valley. Green for All provides green jobs training for low-income people and people of color, and helped push through a California provision that guarantees local workers access to energy-efficiency and renewable energy projects. Before she came to Green for All in 2009, Ellis-Lamkins was the Executive Officer of the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council and Executive Director of Working Partnerships USA, which works to address economic disparities in Silicon Valley.

Kim Jordan, New Belgium Brewing

Along with her husband Jeff Lebesch, Kim Jordan co-founded one of America’s most successful craft breweries, New Belgium. Now the company’s CEO, Jordan was instrumental not only in bringing the company from a tiny two-person operation to selling beer in 26 states, but also in making New Belgium truly sustainable. The brewing company is 100% wind-powered and employee-owned, with a sustainability team visiting each department on a regular basis to make sure operations are as green as possible.

Through smart cuts to waste, energy and water usage, New Belgium has become a leading example of how breweries can take a sustainable route to profitability. The company is about to open a new brewery in Asheville, North Carolina, where it will revitalize an industrial brownfield and create new parks and greenways.

Eileen Fisher, Eileen Fisher Sustainable Apparel

The name Eileen Fisher is associated with timeless elegance, high quality and eco-friendly fabrics like organic and Fair Trade cotton, hemp and bamboo. As CEO of her eponymous brand, Eileen Fisher has committed to environmentally and socially conscious fashion, creating sophisticated garments that can last a lifetime. Many of Fisher’s garments are hand-sewn at a family-owned facility in New York City with a seamless process that reduces waste and creates a more durable product. The company even takes back used garments to either repair and resell, or recycle into other items like rugs and blankets.

Irene Rosenfeld, Kraft

Kraft Foods isn’t exactly known for being sustainable, more closely associated with industrial ‘cheez food’ products that barely resemble actual food. But Irene Rosenfeld is trying to change that. The Kraft CEO has dedicated a vast amount of resources and time to overhaul the company’s strategies, setting aggressive sustainability goals that have resulted in massive reductions in packaging waste, water consumption, energy use and carbon dioxide emissions. Kraft is also the world’s largest buyer of coffee and cocoa from Rainforest Alliance-certified farms. While the changes may be slow, they’re certainly notable.

Lauren Bush, FEED

Ducking out of her family’s historical involvement in politics, Texan Lauren Bush (now Lauren Lauren, after marrying the son of fashion designer Ralph) has dedicated her life and career to feeding the hungry. She co-founded FEED after becoming the UN World Food Program’s 2004 Honorary Spokesperson and is now CEO and Creative Director. FEED seeks to create products that can help bring food to impoverished people across the globe. The purchase of one FEED reusable shopping bag can feed one child in school for one year.

Gail Kelly, Westpac Bank

Can big banks be sustainable, too? Gail Kelly, CEO of Australia’s Westpac Bank, believes so, and has pushed sustainability as a business strategy in this seemingly unlikely industry. Under her leadership, Westpac rose to #14 on the Corporate Knights Top 100 Most Sustainable Companies  in 2011. Kelly has advocated for unprecedented transparency in Westpac’s operations and its sustainability report reveals such small details as CO2 emissions per employee. Westpac Bank also has 37.5% women in positions of leadership, which is unusual for such big companies, let alone banking institutions.

Alexa Von Tobel, LearnVest

28-year-old Alexa Von Tobel started LearnVest in 2008 to teach women how to be financially independent. Since then, the company has been valued at $100 million and expanded to offer affordable financial advice to clients ranging from those extremely in debt to people with a net worth that reaches 8 figures. Von Tobel got the idea while at Harvard Business School, taking a leave of absence to follow her dream. According to LearnVest, the company has helped over one million women gain control of their finances to date.

Majora Carter, Majora Carter Group

The founder of Sustainable South Bronx (SSBX), a non-profit organization that works to address economic and environmental issues through green job training, Majora Carter is now CEO of her own economic planning and consulting group. Known as one of America’s top environmental justice advocates, Carter’s motto is “Green the Ghetto!” and her current work with the Majora Carter Group brings her SSBX approach outside the South Bronx. The Majora Carter Group “uses the green economy and green economic tools to unlock the potential of every place – urban, rural and everywhere in between.”

Denise Bode, American Wind Energy Association

Denise Bode is the CEO of the American Wind Energy Association, the national trade organization for the United States wind energy industry. A nationally recognized energy policy expert, Bode was once the president of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, but now heads up lobbying efforts to get funding for wind energy projects. She has also served as CEO of the American Clean Skies Foundation, and was named among Washingtonian’s “100 Most Powerful Women of Washington” in 2011.

Maria Eitel, Nike Foundation

After sportswear giant Nike got caught violating worker rights in outsourced factories around the world in 1998, Maria Eitel came on board to help turn things around. The CEO of the Nike Foundation and vice president of Nike, Inc. works to bring economic opportunities to the world’s most impoverished girls, focusing on 250 million girls aged 10-19 in the developing world. Eitel turned the Nike Foundation from a passive group lacking any real budget or organization into a force for change committed to gender equality. Initiatives that have been created under her leadership include efforts to keep girls in school in Zambia, to avoid early marriage in Ethiopia, and to build rural learning centers in Bangladesh.

Images: wikimedia commons, new belgium brewing, eileenfisher.com, wikimedia commons, feedprojects.com, westpac, learnvest.com, majora carter group, awea.org, unicef.org

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Eileen Fisher shows off its company’s commitment to sustainable and ethical business practices. 

Thumbing through Eileen Fisher’s fall eco collection is an intensely tactile experience. There’s thick organic wool knit into a slouchy sweater, hung next to blouses in lightweight textured sheer hemp, fluid bluesign®-certified silk, and an unbelievably soft cashmere from Outer Mongolia, made even more sensuous from a lack of chemical dye.

On another rack, you’ll find stiff, organic, made-in-NYC denim jeans and an organic version of stretch French terry, one of the company’s trademark fabrics. On the accessories front, wrap yourself in a hand-tie-dyed Japanese shibori scarf or try on a pair of vibrant striped wool glovelettes, naturally dyed with plants from designer Cornelia Blümli’s garden.

Eileen Fisher has long been known for producing simple but sophisticated womenswear, and the fall line is no exception. But what most customers don’t know is that the fashion brand also operates with a strong sense of social responsibility. That’s about to change this fall, with the launch of the Eileen Fisher Ampersand campaign, a new marketing initiative that highlights the company’s commitment to sustainable and ethical business practices.

The purpose of the campaign is to give customers a look at what’s “behind the label” of Eileen Fisher items, an idea that is literally translated through new garment hang tags featuring a checklist of the item’s eco-credentials.

In many ways, the name of the campaign embodies the company’s approach to its industry accomplishments. Though Eileen Fisher has long operated under the dictum of “business as a movement” – a phrase coined by Eileen herself – it has been hesitant to shine a spotlight on its social responsibility efforts.

“Subtle is who we are,” explained Candice Reffe, a member of the Core Concept Team at a recent Eileen Fisher breakfast. “What’s bold about the Ampersand campaign is that we’ve decided to actually speak out about things that we’ve been doing for decades, but that no one knew about.”

The hallmark of the campaign is an elegant ampersand symbol (&) used throughout marketing and advertising material to indicate additional information about an item’s production.

“It feels like us,” says Claire Whitcomb, who worked on the campaign. “It’s ‘by the way, here’s a bit more about what we’re doing. Here’s more of the story.'”

The company dives a bit deeper into those stories in a new newsletter available online and in retail locations. It is a refreshing break from typical CSR publications, with a fresh design and creative approach to product storytelling. Reffe, for instance, contributed a poetic image recap of a sourcing trip to China in the last issue, while other articles explore the process of sourcing sustainable denim and provide practical advice on how to hand wash a sweater.

The new hang tags are another key element of the campaign, letting customers know off the bat if the product consists of organic fibers, recycled fibers, or sustainable fibers; whether it is undyed or certified dyed; and if it is Fair Trade or made in the United States.

Highlights of the collection include:

• A nubby organic cotton sweater that is hand-knit by Fair Trade cooperatives in Peru.
• Silks certified by the strict bluesign® standard, which considers both inputs and outputs in the dying process.
• A sensuous “undyed” cashmere sweater, woven from five different types of “dyed by nature” cashmere yarns from goats in Outer Mongolia.
• Naturally-dyed wool glovelettes produced through a collaboration with Barcelona-based designer Cornelia Blümli.

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Cocktails in the Hamptons with sustainability folks? Sign us up!

Join the American Sustainable Business Council at the Hamptons Players Club for an evening of cocktails and farm-to-table hors d’oeuvres as they discuss a “Window Into a More Just Economy” with featured speaker Jeffrey Hollender, founder of Seventh Generation and an ASBC founding partner. Amy Hall, Director of Social Consciousness at Eileen Fisher and ASBC co-founder and executive director, David Levine will also be part of the evening’s talk.

The American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC) is the leading coalition of businesses and business networks committed to creating a vision and framework that advances policies to support a vibrant and sustainable economy. Founded in 2009, ASBC and its organizational members represent more than 100,000 businesses and more than 300,000 individual entrepreneurs, owners, executives, investors and business professionals across the United States. As the business community’s national policy advocate for sustainability, ASBC informs and engages business leaders, while educating policy makers and the media about the need for a sustainable economy.

WHERE: The Hamptons Players Club, 103 Montauk Highway, East Hampton, NY 11937
WHEN: Saturday, August 18th
TIME: 5:00PM – 8:00PM
TICKETS: $25.00 here

10% of proceeds will benefit women’s leadership in business and economic development.
For Reservations call:  (631) 324-1663

The Evening’s Sponsors include:

American Sustainable Business Council
Hamptons Players Club
Star Vodka
Digital Plus
T Salon

Artist Bobbi Van will also be showing her artwork with 10% of all sales going to Women’s Leadership in Business and Education.

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In the last of this 4 part series, undercover industry writer, Louise Lagosi address the history of fashion marketing, the strategies used to build the perfect consumer while covering up poor quality, and how those tactics have effected us as a society. We also look at how the fashion industry and marketing is changing with the times to keep up with an evolving society of people.

If you read the first three parts of this series, you might be in the mood to avoid the media, shut off your TV, stop shopping, and just give up on fashion. But, other than offering you peace of mind, what would that accomplish? As easy as it is to point fingers, the leaders of the fashion industry are not the only ones responsible for the state of fashion. Society as a whole bought what was being sold without stopping as individuals to question the motives behind the advertisement or wondering if our “consumer” habits were good for us, our neighbors, or the planet.

Unless you want to go back to wearing burlap bags, and go Medieval, we all need something to adorn our bodies. And let’s face it, beautiful clothes, beautiful anything for that matter, really does make life more joyful. That said, nothing can be beautiful if it has a dirty, rotten underbelly it’s hiding. So let’s just get to the core of this thing.

Taking Responsibility

Now that the phrase “Think Globally, Act Locally” has been imprinted on our brains, we all know that shopping with small mom and pops stores, as well as supporting local designers and supply chains is the best thing we can do for our immediate environment, but how can we be effective on a global level? Have you read any articles, or signed any petitions requesting that corporations clean up their acts? Written to your government representative asking for higher international labor standards lately? Not sure who your representatives are? Well, it’s pretty easy to find out. In this age of information sharing with a little due diligence and research it’s becoming increasingly easier to figure out who’s doing business right, and who’s doing business wrong. And it’s even easier to find a petition or even to start a petition asking companies and the government to do business responsibly.

It has become more and more common to share our opinions and knowledge of this kind freely among our friends and associates, on Facebook, Twitter, and various social media sources. As a favor for your sharing the information, they in turn go on and share it with their friends and pretty soon the news has gone viral. Some of your conversations on Facebook might look something like this:

“There’s a joke going around China today that you can tell what colors are going to be in fashion next season by looking at the rivers.“

“I think I’ll opt for a nice neutral, beige from now on, thanks.”

 “Time to Stop the Fashion Pirates again. Forever 21 has gotten caught stealing yet another design from independent designers.”

“I stopped shopping at Forever 21 after my last purchase from there smelled like magic markers and fell apart in the first wash. But I do buy clothes from the local designers in my own town.“

 “Why does Disney still carry polyester jammies for kids coated in fire-retardants? Didn’t they get the memo that it’s been repeatedly proven that both the synthetic fibers in clothing and formaldehyde based fire-retardants are carcinogenic, cancer causing, hormone disrupting, and/or can cause damage to our nervous systems?!

“I wouldn’t know, I avoid both synthetics and Disney like the plague.“

 “Did you hear that Victoria’s Secret were caught slashing and throwing away garments that were returned because donating them to charity was too much of a hassle to organize?”

“I wouldn’t wear Victoria Secret, even if it were free. Let’s just say that I don’t know a single 16 year old whose boobs naturally sit directly under her chin, so why, at any age, should mine?”

Whether or not these conversations in social media and on the street actually sway the decisions of those in power to create a change in the industry, for us to be aware enough about these issues that we feel a little whistle blowing is in order can make us better, more informed, people.

Word gets around fast in this Internet Age and in no time at all, Walmart has a publicity crisis for abusing their laborers, and the Gap is making public apologies for promoting red,white, & blue flag waving products that are made in China. H&M and Nike claim they too are doing their parts, all while receiving raised eyebrows from the sustainable community, for making lofty corporate responsibility initiatives mandated for 2020 that promise unprecedented standards with little or no suggestions on how they might go about doing so. Perhaps H&M & Nike could borrow from their multibillion dollar marketing budgets to fund reaching their 2020 goals.

Are initiatives enough? Hardly, but when you’re a company that’s big enough to consume one third of the planets organic cotton supply, even a small initiative, like H&M’s organic cotton initiative can keep large amounts of fertilizer and herbicide from going into our water, provided it’s an honest effort. “Good” is questionable when you take into account that their organic cotton is not all that organic after all.

Recent New York City H&M window

With their greenwashing marketing efforts these companies still do not get the green light for sustainable shopping. In the same way we shop for food, if we can’t find clear and certifiable labeling on the product, many of us are not buying it. Some consumers are even going so far as avoiding stores with bad track records altogether, regardless of their “eco” initiatives.

In 2009, The Hartman Group’s report, titled Sustainablity: the Rise in Consumer Responsibility stated that 88% of consumers engage in what they consider to be sustainable behavior. Are people hearing concerns about water contamination or global warming and choosing to cut back where they can to help? Are fast fashion fans growing annoyed that their clothes fall apart after a couple washes when the hand-me-downs from their mother’s wardrobe seem to last forever? Have people suddenly realized that they have enough stuff in their closets that they could probably go for years without shopping and still maintain appearances?

Author of Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion, Elizabeth Cline, describes the pivotal moment in her consumer mindset, “When I piled up all of my clothes in the middle of my bedroom, I was astonished that there wasn’t much variety within the mound of poorly made clothing. It was mostly all one color, and I had bought more or less the same few items over and over again. I wasn’t using most of it, and most of it was cheep crap that I didn’t even like very much. Overall, I was unsatisfied with what was in there.”

She explains the transformation that occurred in that moment of realization, “It made me more mindful. I shop my own closet now. I have stopped buying repeat garments. I don’t crave having a million tops. That doesn’t really interest me anymore. I want one or two good garments for each category to make complete outfits within my wardrobe. I want to save my money to buy really nice items to fill in the holes.”

Signs of Change in Mainstream Fashion Media

CFDA Leader, Diane Von Furstenburg, and American Vogue Editor-in-Chief, Anna Wintour, recently released that they support encouraging a cleaner Fashion Industry through an initiative presented by the NRDC called Clean By Design. We’re still waiting to see how they do clean up, but they have taken the first step, which is openly acknowledging the elephant in the room. This is nothing short of a miracle.

Fashion Labels Evolving With the Times

Eileen Fisher

This privately owned company has always taken a holistic approach to designing clothing. The brand carefully chooses fibers for their sustainable, community based, growing methods, natural content, longevity, and feel. They work with collectives and factories around the world that pay fair-trade wages. They design clothes that are timeless and that do not relate to any trends, allowing the clothes to survive as long as their high quality materials do. And through their recent initiatives like Ampersand, they have been educating their customers on why choosing their products supports a sustainable environment here on earth for everyone involved.

Patagonia 

Patagonia also keeps their marketing to a minimum, but when they do promote something, the message is unusual for a clothing company. They promote clean water initiatives, such as Our Common Waters, in their recent Common Threads Initiative, they tell people to stop buying more than they need. They also provide transparency in their supply chain like in The Footprint Chronicles, with this interactive map on their site showing exactly where their factories are located with stats, reports, and a brief on Patagonia’s history with each one. This brand ultimately puts their dollars in recycled materials innovations, such as polar fleece made of recycled bottles, and maintaining factory standards, so they can provide more responsible products to their customers.

Timberland

Timberland is a brand that is committed to the outdoors. Which is why they have made  developed TIMBERLAND RESPONSIBILITY, their plan for significantly reducing their companies emissions through the research, evaluation, and investment in company structures that will allow them to run cleaner and produce products that have a smaller impact on the earth. The company reports are transparent and available to the public on their home site, grading their efforts and describing all the methods used to achieve their challenging goals to reduce their company wide climate impact.

Levi’s 

Levi’s has been doing business with the goal of striving towards sustainability and excellence for over 100 years now. They give cash credits to customers who return their old Levi’s in for their denim recycling programs and they have been working on increasingly finding ways to reducing their water use in their denim production processes. Are they singing about their exceptional practices in their ad campaigns to help better educate their customers? Let’s just say this is one of the places where they still have room to improve.

Pendleton

This nearly 150 year old American company produces much of it’s premium products, from fibers grown, spun, dyed, and woven in America. They keep marketing to a minimum and keep their funding aimed at doing business responsibly and offering the best quality products possible to the customers they serve. Their product’s are so beautifully made, by  that they end up heirlooms in most of the fortunate homes that they grace.

Change is indeed happening all around, but most of all it starts with each one of us. We have to make up our own minds. What type of consumers are we?

Image: oxfam, Fashionista, Last Night’s Garbage,Amy DuFault

The post Fashion Marketing 101: From Social Media to Social Responsibility, Fashion Evolves appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnConscious life, hear me roar.

It could have been when I listened to Nick Hahn, former CEO and co-founder of Cotton, Inc., a keynote speaker at a recent sustainable fashion event at FIT. It might have been when he told the audience that Monsanto may have made his company better and that the use of organic cotton wasn’t all that favorable. After all, regular cotton uses less water and with the impending water crisis well…we all have to pick our battles.

I had to determine which statement was more absurd. I looked around at the women I was surrounded by which included Ecouterre Managing Editor, Jasmin Malik Chua, EcoSalon writers Jessica Marati and Jennifer Barckley, Greta Eagan of GretaGuide, Rona Berg, Editor-in-Chief of Organic Spa magazine, representatives from Eileen Fisher, sustainability professors from FIT, Parsons and Pratt, not to mention a bevy of sustainable designers and fabric suppliers and I cringed.

Who could he be trying to sell his idea too and did he really think this platform was the proper place? We muttered under our breaths “What about the pesticides?,” “What about contaminating the water?,” and most popular, “What a bunch of horseshit.”

Still, people were listening and he might have planted his own genetically modified seed into the brains of some of the audience there. Later in the day, watching him sleepily nodding off in a corner, head on his chest, I had to ask myself again, who are these people running the show?

The next day I literally ran from a breakfast with the Eileen Fisher sustainability team – where we’d just talked about how eco fashion is very political – to meet Erica Wolf of Save the Garment Center who is also designer Nanette Lepore’s assistant.

“I am so slammed,” she said over the phone as I picked up my pace nearing Midtown. “Have you heard what’s going on?”

“Nope. What have I missed?”

By the time I pushed the elevator button to bring me up to Nanette Lepore’s 5th floor studio, I had already passed ABC News outside on the street. Sweat covered and trying to fix myself in the elevator, I was greeted by a Fox News camera man and reporter who were just leaving the studio.

“Sit down there,” Erica whispered pointing to a corner chair and covering the phone.

Here is where I learned of the Olympic uniforms being made in China. As a major supporter of Save the Garment Center, Lepore was on tap to tell the world just how possible it would have been to make that entire uniform in the U.S. After all, it’s the American team so why wouldn’t Ralph Lauren have thought of maybe just this once, taking his American inspirational brand and made it, well, truly American not faux American?

Still, there’s an issue that looms large and it’s this: why now. Why do so many Americans care about U.S. made clothing now? Because it’s the Olympics? Because it’s election year? What about all the other weeks of the year when U.S. consumers are shopping China-cheap buys at Walmart, Forever21 and H&M stores nationwide? Do YOU ever flip the label to see where your clothes are from? Let’s not get all righteous now unless we want to keep walking the talk.

With the Olympics starting in just 10 days, the entire Olympic committee, the athletes, and the entire United States of America now need to get their minds off of why weren’t those tacky Lauren-logo-emblazoned uniforms made here (really? That polo logo passed the committee?) and start backing all the athletes looking for a shot at their personal best. Those men and women waiting for their chance at a glory they have been waiting for since they were little kids swimming in public pools and racing their friends up and down the street.

“I’m so upset. I think the Olympic Committee should be ashamed of themselves,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told Fox News reporters when asked about an ABC News report on the origin of the Ralph Lauren-designed uniforms.

“I think they should take all the uniforms, put them in a big pile and burn them,” Reid added.

Between the Lines is a weekly column navigating the sometimes-sharp, sometimes-blurred lines of conscious life and culture between city and country, between inner worlds and outer.

The post Between the Lines: It’s Election Year, Do You Know Where Your Clothes Are From? appeared first on EcoSalon.

Join Teens Turning Green and the Eileen Fisher sustainability team on Twitter today at 12:30 eastern to talk lunch, school lunch that is.

Eileen Fisher loves supporting women and girls and is hosting a Twitter Chat today (#EFCSRChat) on sustainable school lunches. The company has been hosting these Twitter chats as a vehicle for their Social Consciousness Team to talk about issues important to them and EF. In the few months since launching this monthly series, they’ve partnered with Not for Sale, Practically Green, Pop Culture Pirate and trended (in NYC) every single time.

This month they’re partnering with Teens Turning Green to shed some light on how to make school lunches healthier and engage  kids and communities to have an aggressive voice about the food choices they’re offered daily. EF’s Social Consciousness Team Leader Amy Hall will talk with TTG to help break down what sustainable food means, understand the GMO food issue and how it affects school lunch. They’ll also offer information about TTG’s education and advocacy work to get all stakeholders, including teens, involved in the change.

What: Live Twitter Chat #EFCSRChart
Topic: Sustainable School Lunch
When: Today, Wednesday, June 20th. 12:30 – 1:30 pm EST
Join us at #EFCSRChat on Twitter

EILEENFISHER on Twitter
teensturngreen on Twitter

Image: Teens Turning Green

The post Eileen Fisher Wants to Know What Your Kids Are Eating appeared first on EcoSalon.

Nine ways to wear one of spring’s hottest trends: ankle-length pants.

Ankle-length pants have been seen on the runways of fashion darlings like Isabel Marant for a few seasons now. This spring, it’s the hottest pant shape. A definite love-it-or-hate-it trend, ankle-length pants are easy to pull off, if you know how. The secret: picking the right shoes. We’ve done the work for you and found nine cropped pants and shoes that will make each look a home-run. Pair with a simple tee and a cropped jacket or long blazer and you’re wearing the spring trend as it should be.

Red is one of the hottest hues this spring when it comes to pants. Get inspired by Isabel Marant’s latest runway collection and pair your skinny ankle-length jeans with black pointed-toe pumps. It’s a fail-safe look.

Eileen Fisher Organic Stretch Twill Slim Ankle Jean in Saffron, $178, Eileen Fisher / Novacas Vegan Olivia Pump, on sale for $39.99, Moo Shoes

Take a walk on the wild side by pairing cropped cigarette jeans from Edun with cruelty-free vegan loafers in leopard print. All hues of pink – from soft pastel to hot fuchsia – are very on trend for spring.

Cropped Cigarette Jean, $198, Edun / Leopard-print Loafers, on sale for approx. $97, Beyond Skin

Most people will look best in a pair of skinny ankle-length pants, simply because they are more flattering and tend to accentuate the curve of the calves. Play with another of spring’s trends – stripes – in these organic cotton leggings by Feral Childe and pink vegan pinup-style sandals with a striped cork wedge heel.

Feral Childe Organic Cotton Chain Link Legging, on sale for $69, Jute & Jackfruit / Vegan Wedge Pindowns, on sale for $99, Fluevog Shoes

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, prints are huge for spring. Combine these galaxy/flower print cropped pants with yellow strappy sandals by Cri de Coeur and you’ll nail another hot trend – monochrome.

Low-waisted Skinny Pant, on sale for $112.50, Suno NY / Elegance T-strap Vegan Sandals, on sale for $50, Cri de Coeur

Strike the perfect balance between casual cool and street-savvy elegance by pairing Stewart + Brown’s Organic cotton sweats with shiny black rubber platform heels by Melissa. Top it off with a long black blazer and you may just get away with wearing sweat pants to a fancy dinner.

Stewart + Brown Terry Sweat Pants, $133, Stewart + Brown / Melissa Amazonas Platform Sandals, on sale for $67, Tobi

For a more avant-garde take on the ankle-length pant trend, pair these Organic wool trousers by designer Bruno Pieter’s new line Honest By, with a pair of vegan creepers. Keeping the look simple in all black keeps you from looking like a kid who outgrew his pants.

Adjustable Organic Wool Trousers, approx. $608, Honest By / Novacas Vegan Oxfords, $129.95, Compassion Couture

Keep things easy and breezy by pairing loose-fitting cropped pants by Dace with elegant architectural slingback heels. Add a lace top, sand-colored blazer and or loose-knit sweater and you’ll look like the nature-babe you are.

Dace Timothy Pants, on sale for $122.95, Future:Standard/ Clio Ankle Strap Vegan Wedges, $380, Cri de Coeur

If you’re ready to be totally daring with this trend, pair this printed jumpsuit by Edun with a pair of graphic black and white sandals. You’re guaranteed to turn some heads. Chances are, though, that this look will only work on amazonian model types.

Yoruba Print Jumpsuit, $489, Edun / Charm Bib-front Sandal, on sale for $42.50, Cri de Coeur

The post How To Wear It: Ankle-Length Pants appeared first on EcoSalon.