Everyone’s talking pops. Maybe it’s because the holiday season and its consequent consumption mania is upon us, but pop up shops are hot.

Gauging the type of brands that are taking part in this pop-up shop phenomenon, however, reveals plenty of great intentions. In fact, vacant storefronts everywhere are being tweaked into creative spaces with a good cause in tow.

Here’s the skinny: a pop-up shop is a vacant space used for a temporary retail setting, a trend EcoSalon has followed in New York where artists are making good temporary use of empty commercial spaces awaiting new tenants. The gimmick is an excellent way to give a high energy consumer shot to jolt this tired economy, but there are also several eco reasons pop-ups rock:

1. Pop-ups allow organizations to spread their message.

At the Environmental Justice Foundation’s pop up shop in London, where the term “pop-up” was coined, EJF is selling preview samples of their organic and fairly traded cotton tee shirts from the 2010 line. The t-shirts make a social statement, and are all designed around the theme of “childhood, lost innocence and hope” in order to represent the million-plus children around the globe who are forced to labor in cotton production.

2. Pop-ups give small eco-conscious brands much-needed exposure.

Portland-based company Looptworks is taking part in the pop-up trend. The brand, which launched in September, makes all of its garments with 100% upcycled garment scraps and is one of the featured lines in downtown Portland’s hip and trendy pop-up shop Flurry.

“Most eco-fashion is an attempt to do less harm in the production of clothing,” says Scott Hamlin, co-founder of Looptworks. “Many of the companies in that arena are small and trying to get exposure and sales. Pop up stores help them achieve that.”

Hamlin points out that there’s also an environmental benefit to pop-up shops, thanks to the “reduction of shoppers’ carbon footprint via utilizing empty space in a heavy traffic area.”

3. Pop-ups help spread the word about sustainability.

For beloved eco-clothier NAU, the concept of a pop-up shop is helping the brand spread a general message of sustainability, using the retail front as a vehicle for change. As Mark Galbraith, General Manager of NAU, says, “Our intention is to integrate into each specific community using repurposed and recycled pieces and parts, work with artists, musicians, not-for profits and organizations that allow us to be part of the dialogue for positive change.”

Photo credits: Anna Brones, Anna Brones, NAU

The post Pop Up Shops Are an Eco Hit This Holiday Season appeared first on EcoSalon.

Magda Rod recently took her LA boutique Visionary on the road.

We are a society used to getting immediate gratification so why wouldn’t we want clothing as quickly as we can get a Big Mac?

The shift in consumer desire to want more now has led us, over the years, to the current state: body care and electronics being sold in vending machines, a craving to know more about where your friends are 24/7 through social media and those energy drinks to help you move faster to get everything, you know…now.

Eco-designers and boutiques are not exempt from this Nowism.

From Pop-up shops in major cities where designers can have a temporary storefront (and for a short time only!) to Etsy sites (once scoffed at by many designers I know) to create limited editions with their end-run fabrics, the race is on.

These pop-ups offer what Trendwatching.com calls “temporary brand manifestations that add an element of surprise, urgency, and must-have/must-see to shopping, dining, entertaining, lodging, exhibiting and so on.”

And with this quest to quench the insatiable with what’s new NOW, we don’t have to wait until January to buy our spring dresses at our favorite boutique before they’re bought out. We can buy them now. We may even be able to ask the seller to modify them for us.

The lines have become blurred. What kind of an effect does this have on your own purchases where once you planned seasonally? And when it’s eco, immediately, how eco is it?

Some words of advice: With all that is Nowism being forced down your throat, keep yourself in check with what you really need despite the hype and yes, even the immediacy of the vending machine.

Can you imagine designers promoting something like pencil skirts in all sizes in a machine in your city? Would you buy one?

The post Nowism, Coming to a City Near You appeared first on EcoSalon.