Green Cotton

Some good or bad news came out this week– depending on your perspective: Steve & Barry’s, retailer for low cost brands, filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday. Despite the ethical and environmental questions that many of us had in recent months (see Green Cotton’s Part I and Part II of the Cheapest Dress in the World), I must admit that I was shocked by the news.

Given their tremendous growth over the past two years (opening more than 200 stores) coupled with high profile draw of their celebrity lines such as Bitten by Sarah Jessica Parker, I was not under the impression that they were about to go under. Rather, I thought they were enjoying a price-driven surge amidst our economic downturn that would last for years to come. As a privately held company however, it appears we were not given the whole story until recently.

According to this weeks NY Times article and CNN reports, it appears that Steve & Barry’s may have miscalculated cash flow on a couple of fronts: 1) increasing lease costs (due to lapses in temporary landlord incentives put in place to incentize entry into resource-poor areas); 2) decreasing revenue from certain items such as the Jessica Parker dress (featured in Part I and Part II) associated with temporarily lowered prices; 3) high celebrity licensing fees and 4) all of the above combined, creating an inability to pay off immediate debts.

All these factors, combined with rising oil prices, tightening of credit markets and decreased retail vitality, create a sure-fire formula for a downward crash. Steve & Barry’s is not the first company to run into these problems.

Yet what is unique about Steve & Barry’s story for me, and perhaps some of you, is that the company’s downturn represents yet another example of conventional input-focused models (driven almost exclusively by price) failing to deliver over time. To me their story was inevitable, it just happened to be a lot sooner than I expected.

It is becoming increasingly apparent to me (as oil prices increase and ice caps continue to melt) that when businesses adopt environmental sustainability criteria and fair wage practices from the beginning of production to the storefront, a more sustainable business model is created, not only for our generation, but for generations to come. Even when this means passing some increased cost onto consumers, ultimately this is a good thing, since it creates a market based on “true costs” rather than partial or imagined ones.

The other benefit of increasing product cost (eg in the case of organic clothing), is that ultimately that means we will buy fewer dresses or other items for the season. Plus, we are more likely to appreciate the items more since we invested more in them and will likely not throw them away as quickly. By the way, 80% of garments end up in the landfill within a few years of their purchase (!).

On the other hand, countless companies are currently pioneering social and environmental programs that actually save them money over time and therefore do not lead to increased customer costs. For example, Patagonia, Stoneyfield Farms, Eileen Fisher, Seventh Generation, Timberland, the list goes on….have all proven in one way or another that environmentally sustainable practices (recycling programs, renewable energy investments, waste management, organic fabric sourcing) can all be profitable - in addition to sustainable. See Stirring it Up by Gary Hirschberg for more details. (By the way, I just finished reading that book - and it is great, highly recommend it!).

By creating more holistic business practices that factor in natural resources which are not finite as well as human resources, the fabric of global communities, perhaps our companies will stay in business longer too. Margins may be higher and we may simultaneously create stronger linkages between the land we cultivate, the workers and artisans that produce our goods and those of us who buy them.

May the Steve & Barry lesson be one that others learn from in carving their path into the retail future.

Photosource top: Mark Lennihan/Associated Press as seen in The NY Times

Photosource below: Tony Ciola for the NY Times also noted in Green Cotton post on the Cheapest Dress Part I

I just came across this site and am really psyched about this company. They appear to be very green and VERY hip with an edge on comfortable, stylish wears for the women on the run. While I must say their website got me from the beginning, I am now reading their ‘ABOUT’ section closely and noticed that they say their collection is made from 95% certified organically grown fibers, primarily bamboo. So, I now realize that there is a problem with that statement - bamboo is NOT certifiable organic because the process of turning it into bamboo is non-organic (it turns it into a synthetic fiber, like rayon).

So I guess I am going to have to take my enthusiasm down a notch, but I do give them a 10 on style. For a glimpse at their runway collection and their site.

Photosource above: http://web.mac.com/chryswong/THEBATTALION/HOME.html

Photosource: Natalie Portman’s Te Casan

By Erin Dale

To some, vegan fashion may sound like an oxymoron. One living the vegan lifestyle makes a point to avoid any animal products, whether for food or clothing; so for clothes to be truly vegan, materials like wool, leather, and even silk are strictly forbidden. Yes, your American Eagle jeans or canvas Keds may technically be considered vegan, but there’s more to it than that… True vegans are also environmentalists—one of the most effective ways to reduce your personal carbon emissions is to simply not eat meat. Compassion for animals extends to the ethical choices vegans make, including what to wear.

So what is vegan clothing exactly? Technically, its anything that doesn’t involve the use of animal products or by-products. By definition, synthetic fibers and conventional fabrics such as conventional cotton are OK and considered ‘vegan,’ However, if we also consider the fact that veganism also embraces environmentalism (as a philosophy and way of life), then synthetics and conventional fabrics would be excluded, or at least frowned upon.

Where can I find vegan clothing? When it comes to clothing, the term “vegan” may conjure up images of burlap slacks or jelly sandals, but there are plenty of fashion lines and enterprising celebrities attempting to bridge the gap between fashion and veganism. Of course, celebrity designers like Stella McCartney have been offering chic vegan wares for years. But vegan fashion has even been in the headlines lately, since Natalie Portman teamed up with specialty retailer Té Casan to design her own line of vegan shoes. Singer Leona Lewis, a hardcore vegan, is rumored to be starting an ethical, budget-friendly clothing line.

You don’t have to be a hippie or scour secondhand clothing racks to score cute vegan finds (though shopping vintage never hurts!). For the animal-loving fashionista, ethically-responsible threads are just a browser click away. Greenpeople.org lists umpteen links for eco-friendly fashion, with plenty of vegan sites in the mix. However, many of the vegan options look more “hippie chick” than “green chic.” I’ve narrowed the search to my favorite sites for clothes, shoes and accessories.

Alternativeoutfitters.com is a vegan’s haven for cute, cruelty-free fashions. Not all of the products listed are strictly vegan (there are Madden Girl shoes featured, for instance which are technically vegan but not necessarily eco-friendly), but many are eco-friendly. This is a great resource for vegan bags, wallets, and graphic tees, but fashion-forward vegans may crave something a little more high-end. NYArtificial offers trendy handbags made with high-tec, non-toxic materials, priced from $69 to $300 or more. Their wares include shopping totes, evening bags and briefcases. I like Bossa’s handbag collection even more: try shopbossa.com for everything from hobos to clutches.

Panda Snack sells luxury bamboo knits, and the fashions (for men and women) could not be cuter. Visit pandasnack.com to view the collection and find a list of retailers near you (I plan to look at them up close at Envi in Boston). I especially love their short pink dress with pleats and rouched sleeves.

While the vegan concept sounds great on paper, one must caution against jumping on the band wagon too quickly and trading ‘cruelty-free’ for carbon-heavy processing. Since vegan clothing does not require ‘organic processing’, its relatively easy to label a synthetic blouse made from petroleum by-products, blended with conventional cotton and made in a sweatshop, as ‘vegan’ since technically it is. However, is it actually good for the environment, good for you and good for humanity? That’s where your savvy shopping skills step in and hopefully the above resources may come in handy.

What does vegan clothing mean to you? Should we have a certification process to help identify items that are truly vegan? Tell us what you think greencottonblog@gmail.com

Theme of the Week: BAMBOO

Three Questions:

1) What fiber is the closest to bamboo in terms of processing?

2) Name one reason why bamboo may not always be environmentally friendly to process?

3) Name one company that sells 100% bamboo clothing?

Be the first to answer all three correctly and you win!

If you answer any one question correctly you will also be featured in the ‘winners circle’.

Email your answers to ecotique@gmail.com or simply post a comment.

PATAGONIA!

Patagonia is the first major US company to initiate sourcing organic cotton for their shirts, and they did so in 1996. In the early 1990’s, Patagonia issued am R&D study to look at the environmental impacts of all their fabrics and processing. Much to their surprise, cotton came out the worst. As a result, Patagonia took significant steps toward making the same products (at almost the same price) with organic fibers, and eliminating damaging pesticide and excessive water use in the process.

Interestingly, this was not a demand by Patagonia’s customers, it came from within management. In fact, Patagonia did not aggressively market the organic fibers much at that time, since their customers were not much concerned with the fabrics’ source at the time. However, since then, more than a handful of consumers and companies are now cognizant of and interested in where and how fabrics are sourced. Patagonia has been and continues to be a true pioneer in the green apparel space. To learn more about their steps toward sourcing organic cotton, check out the Footprint Chronicles at Patagonia.

This week’s Quiz Winner is ricepaperslidingdoor. Congratulations ricepapersldingdoor!

Honorable mention goes to Kelven Goodridge who guessed American Apparel in 2003.

Stay tuned for the next quiz question!