Oh Man...imal

MANIMAL

I remember the show.

Anyway, how the people from an early eighties show about a shape-shifting man got into the handmade moccasin business, I’ll never know. Perhaps they decided to shape-shift into the organic jeans business as well? Either way, I’m glad, because the shoes are adorable and sweatshop free, (vegan options are available) and the jeans are organic and simply awesome.

Just like the show.

www.save-the-manimals.com

step up:

www.barefoottess.com

en angleterre:

www.fashion-conscience.com

Oh, and btw, I know they aren't the same thing- the show and the shoes. But it would be extra amazing if they were.

By The Way...

The GreenMove

I've been a neglectful, bad bad blogger, and I apologize. But I have a good excuse- I've been moving, for TWO MONTHS, and trying to set up a green household has presented me with unknown challenges. Natural rugs, and recycled rug mats, constant trips to the eco-friendly paint store to stare at the super cute paint store guy and, uh, buy low-voc paint. Recycled vs. reused vs. biodegradable vs. recyclable furniture. Craigslist vs. ebay (craigslist has a lower carbon footprint, since it's local, but ebay can turn someone's seemingly useless chandelier prism collection in Wisconsin into the most necessary thing ever here in LA). Second hand drawer pulls from the ridiculously over-priced antique hardware store down the street. Trips to El Segundo to buy someone's grandparents' old set of matching armchairs. Getting hit on by the FSC-certified LEED french door dealer (I'm apparently the only female to go in that store in the last quarter century). Trips to the salvage yard. Trips to Reform School Rules to buy a recycled plastic rug and a trash bin made from old innertubes. Garage sales and estate sales where I had to haggle over supposedly "collectible" trash cans. The endless search for eco-friendly upholstery fabric in this one shade of light blue that I really want to sit on. Organic cushions and mattresses and beds and linens and towels and bath mats. Lamps made in factories run on wind power, using low-voc glazes. Vintage towel collecting. Recycled outdoor patio furniture. Re-used outdoor patio furniture. Plantation grown wood outdoor patio furniture. Second-hand frames I bought at Goodwill with hideous pictures in them which I threw out in order to save the planet from having to look at the hideous pictures. Going around to the garbage cans in my apartment complex and picking up old boxes to use for moving. Recycling tape from packages to wrap up my precious shot glass collection even though I don't drink. And then moving everything over by bicycle. Just kidding. That would be waayyyy too difficult.

All this while maintaining a healthy addiction to buying eco-friendly and organic clothes from my favorite eco-stores (Beklina, Avita Co-op, Kaight...). Long story short, I'm tired, broke, and green as can be. Did you miss me?

Guess Who’s Back (Pack?)

GOOC

I’ve been trying to convince my bandmate for months now that hippie is back and he should let me wear my organic high-waisted wide legs on stage, but he denies me! Well, joke’s on him, because this cute little recycled backpack is both hippie and hip, and I love it. Maybe not enough to wear on stage… but it is really cool, and really recycled- Gooc is a company from Brazil that uses 70% recycled tires and truck canvasses to make their wares. So wear it!

www.roadtobrazil.com.au

Re:Made Of Honor

RE:MADE

Nice Patrick Dempsey reference, right? Right?

Anyway, nobody does eco-cute like the kids on Etsy, and Re:made might just be the cutest of them all. This Etsy shop sells recycled and re-purposed clothes and accessories- including the ever-elusive eco-friendly hair accessory, made from old buttons, probably pilfered from old ladies who have been hording them for decades, waiting for the button market to explode. Perhaps it will, now that we can see just how useful and attractive old buttons can be, thanks to Re:made!

www.etsy.com

VOTE. JUST NOT FOR A REPUBLICAN.

CLOTHING OF THE AMERICAN MIND

Clothing of the American Mind, or Clothing of the Amer. Mind, as I like to call it for short, makes underwear reminding us how awesome it is that we can live together through a complicated system of voting for things, by which we never quite get what we want, but at least the bad guys never quite get what they want either. Democracy! These organic shirts and undies keep the democratic process close to our hearts, literally. And close to our butts, but that’s not as poetic. Or is it? Depends what you're voting for I guess.

www.cotam.org

www.myspace.com/politicaltees

become a prime number:

www.cotam.org

www.theokobox.com

www.greenrohini.com

Turn On The Power

ROBERTA OAKS

For some reason I started to write about this eco-friendly designer out of Hawaii months ago, but never finished- perhaps her stuff wasn't available online at the time? Oh, well. It is now, which is great, because her stuff is very cute. She uses sustainable fabrics like bamboo, which probably grows in her front yard or something, and all her stuff is made locally and sweat-shop free in Hawaii. And her full name is Roberta Oaks Power, which is a pretty awesome name for an eco-friendly artist and fashion designer.

www.robertaoaks.com

power up:

www.robertaoaks.com

www.80spurple.com

It’s Studio 1 AM And Do You Know Where Your Recycled Jewelry Is?

STUDIO 1 AM

You have to love a brand that uses mad design skills to bring a little sheen to what is essentially "garbage" and make it into awesome, tasteful, wearable art. Studio 1 AM’s line of hip, stylish jewelry made from recycled computer pieces, cork and other sustainable materials is a great example of what you can do when you put your mind to creating something that is both buyable and wearable, without adding to the crap factory that is our modern consumeristic society.

www.studio1am.com

In Cool Pursuit

PURSUIT OF HARMONY

When I first went to check out this line at my friend’s showroom a few months ago, I just about died from the cuteness of it all. But then when I saw a little preview of their 2008 fall line I nearly re-died because that stuff might be even cuter, if that’s at all possible. My point? Cuteness can kill, and Pursuit Of Harmony is a brand to watch. Their organic sweaters and knit dresses are sassy. Yeah, that’s right. Sassy.

www.thepursuitofharmony.com

pursue it:

www.thegreenloop.com

The Future Looks Bright, Nature Does Too

NATURE VS. FUTURE

God I love Nature vs. Future. Why wear a straight dress when you can wear an asymmetrical weird fun interesting hot dress from Nature vs. Future? I get all kinds of compliments on my awesome NVF sweater, and I plan on getting even more compliments on my awesome new NVF t-shirt that cost a lot but is totally f-ing worth it because it is so cute, when the weather stops playing with my emotions and switching from ungodly hot to not cute freezing cold (re: 75 degrees in LA= too cold for tees).

Okay, done gushing. Now go out and get yourself your own damn asymmetrical shirt (or dress, or skirt) from this eco-friendly brand, and stop coveting mine.

www.naturevsfuture.com

back your future:

www.naturevsfuture.com

www.thegreenloop.com