This summer, the great outdoors serves as fashion muse. Animal prints and motifs are back with a vengenance (and, thankfully, available for vegans as well), hair is beachy and messy and safari-inspired pieces work as well for day as for night. Channel your inner wild child with these sustainably savvy fashion picks, and don’t forget the sunscreen.

Alkemie Cicada Ring
Who doesn’t love being lulled to sleep by the tranquil sounds of Cicadas? This stylized version, handmade in Los Angeles from 100% reclaimed metal is a great reminder to slow down and relax. Available in a gold or silver patina.
$176, Alkemie

Badger SPF30+ Anti-Bug Sunscreen
There are some kinds of wildlife that you just don’t want to interact with that much. This mineral sunscreen and natural bug repellent by Badger is made with Certified Organic ingredients and DEET-free bug repellent, protecting you from sunburns and nasty bug bites at the same time.
$17, Badger Balm

Karla Colletto Snake-print Halterneck Swimsuit
With a dramatic plunge front and low-cut back, Karla Colletto’s swimsuit is hot number for summer. Wear it to the pool or pair it with a floor-length skirt for some casual beachy evening glamour. Each Karla Colletto collection in made in-house, ensuring all pieces maintain the brand’s signature tailored quality that combines high fashion with flattering silhouettes.
$240, Net-a-Porter & Karla Colletto

Hearts of Darkness Bounty Ankle-Strap Wedge
Wedges are the go-to shoes for spring and summer, just because they are easy to walk in but still give you that little something that happens when you wear heels. Leopard is one of those patterns that never seems to go out of style. Pair these with florals and bright colors and you’ll be the epitome of eco-chic. These vegan wedges are made in an ethical, sweat-shop free factory in China, by sustainable shoe line Hearts of Darkness.
$150, Cri de Coeur

Chainmail Clutch by Heather Heron
This stylish clutch by Southern California-based designer Heather Heron is made in the U.S. from vegetable-dyed Organic leather and Japanese boro fabric. Wear it with jeans and a simple tank for casual daytime elegance or pair it with a long flowy dress and metallic heels for a warm summer evening.
On sale for $230, Juno & Jove

Cargo Jersey Mini Skirt by Edun
Take safari chic to a whole new level with this stylish mini skirt from Edun, featuring pockets for all you need to carry on a safari through the jungle or the city. Go from day to night by dressing it up with a detailed or tailored top and strappy heels.
$158, Edun

Lulu Organics Hair Powder


Hair powder, or dry shampoo, as it’s also called, is essential for creating big, wild hair. It works best when you haven’t washed your hair in a day or two and creates amazing volume and body. The hair powders by Lulu Organics and made with all natural and Organic ingredients and come in four delicious scents. My favorite is the new Vetiver and Black Pepper, a woody layered scent with notes of dark black pepper and coriander oil.
$30, Lulu Organics

This post in collaboration with Coco Eco Magazine

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1. Good Stuff: Neutrals & Blues
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Philadelphia-based company Wash Cycle Laundry picks up your laundry using a bike-powered fleet of dedicated messengers, washes them with cold water and eco-friendly detergent, and returns them to you quickly using pedal power.

Did you ever stop to think about how big an environmental impact laundry has? Water to wash the clothes, energy to wash and dry them—and that’s not even taking into account the various products used to clean and brighten clothes, many of which are distinctly not environmentally-friendly. Especially in large cities, many people lack at-home laundry facilities, and for those who don’t have time to hang out all Saturday at the Laundromat, drop-off or pick-up-and-deliver laundry services are quite popular. Many businesses have neither the capability nor the time to do their own laundry (it builds up surprisingly quickly, whether you have a garage, a restaurant, or a janitorial service), so they end up employing commercial laundry services as well.

In an industry infamous for the use of harsh detergents and chemicals, Wash Cycle Laundry uses detergents that are hypoallergenic, biodegradable, have no added fragrance, and are made locally.

These pick-up-and-deliver laundry services are convenient, no doubt, but they’’re not often very concerned with their impact on the environment, or so says Wash Cycle Laundry, a Philadelphia-based laundry service that picks up and delivers laundry in trailers attached to bicycles, rather than gas-guzzling, inefficient trucks. In an industry infamous for the use of harsh detergents and chemicals, Wash Cycle Laundry uses detergents that are hypoallergenic, biodegradable, have no added fragrance, and are made locally (the brand is Sun and Earth) for the personal laundry they take in. The company attempts to employ detergents and processes that render the use of hot water unnecessary (your clothes get just as clean if you wash only in cold water; I’’ve done this myself for decades). They use a combination of different types of washing machines so that clothes emerge from the washers already fairly dry, meaning they’’ll be able to spend less time in a clothes dryer. And, unlike most other commercial services, which return linens to customers in individual shrink-wrap packages and plastic bags, these clean clothes radicals return linens in reusable, unbleached canvas bags or reusable plastic containers.

The pick-up and delivery fleet consists of a team of decidated cyclists that will brave the elements (even if it requires studded snow tires) to get your laundry to you on time.

Wash Cycle Laundry will pick up, wash, dry, fold, and deliver laundry to individuals, but they also service businesses. Most of the time, you’’ll get your clean laundry back the very next day. Now, Philadelphia sees her share of rain and snow, but lest you think the employees here would be deterred by a modicum of precipitation, fear not. I’m told that the delivery personnel, described as “”awesome, dedicated cyclists”,” are outfitted with good rain gear and studded snow tires. I met a few of these cyclists recently, and their energy and enthusiasm was boundless.

Wash Cycle Laundry currently operates only in Philadelphia. They have several different pricing plans, depending upon how much laundry you generate (in addition to having their laundry done by this company, businesses can also rent towels, aprons, floor mats, and more here). But, considering what a terrific idea this is, we hope the business will branch out to other cities soon. As for now, citizens of Philadelphia can consider themselves fortunate.

washcyclelaundry.com

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“Where’d you get that?” is something we commonly answer about the clothes we are wearing. What if the question instead was “where does that come from?”— could you answer? British eco-fashion label Rapanui is bringing you one step closer to that by introducing a new labeling system and online traceability maps that enable you to track your piece of clothing, from field to store.

Rapanuis eco-labeling system — here demonstrated on a tank top — uses a simple letter-graded rating scale inspired by the EU energy rating label.

Using a simple letter-graded rating scale inspired by the highly successful EU energy rating label, Rapanui’s ecolabeling system has gained recognition in the U.K. and inspired other high-street brands to adopt it as well.

Here’s how the labels work:
A – organic ethical sustainable
B – ethical with some work to sustainable
C – ethical
D – not bad, not good either
E – needs improving
F – some organic, ethical or sustainable
G – not organic, ethical or sustainable

Currently, this is only a real-life demonstration of how something like this could work, but Rapanui is working hard to make sure that their vision becomes reality. In the end they believe that ecolabeling should be a process independently verified by a third party. Their aim is to merely lead the development and promotion of this system until reaches the next stage. Rapanui is preparing to present their complete ecolabeling ratings calculation at a parliamentary committee, hoping to eventually submit a proposal to be considered by the European parliament in Brussels. This kind of initiative is exactly what the fashion industry needs, but Rapanui does not stop there.

Besides an admirable organic, ethical and low carbon approach to their supply chain, Rapanui’s truly groundbreaking contribution to sustainability is their implementation of traceability maps for the entire product line. Using the trace mapping tool on the company’s website, customers can find out exactly where their products come from and how they were made — from seed through harvest, processing and transportation, all the way to the store. When perusing the trace mapping tool, you will discover that the company’s carbon-reduction efforts include cutting out airfreight, instead opting to ship by boat, which helped lower CO2 Emissions by 80% overall.

Rapanui's organic cotton hoodie, and its traceability map, showing the complete supply chain.

When Rapanui first developed this concept, their traceability maps were the first to trace the entire product supply chain right down to the planting of the seed, the fabrics, manufacturing, energy use and transport, as well as ecolabeling initiatives and post purchase impact. “We provide detail right back to the people who pick the cotton in the fields, pictures inside the factory where the cotton is cut and sewn, plus the full journey from truck, to boat, to warehouse in the UK. You can inspect our supply chain from seed to shop,” says Mart Drake-Knight. “We’re really proud of our supply chain. Traceability opens up the doors at Rapanui and invites you to have a tour around the place, so you can see exactly what’s going on; where our clothing comes from and how it is made.”

Traceability map for Rapanui's Eco Label Vest (shown above). Pop-up windows provide specific information about each step in the supply chain.

So how did a small fashion company manage do to this? Clothing factories will do anything for their customers’ business, they say, especially for large retailers and fashion brands. In order to keep their clients happy, factories would quickly and willingly be able to produce documentary proof of the origin of a garment if requested. “It took literally days to gather all the information about everything in our supply chain. And, to be honest, traceability is as simple as that. There is absolutely no reason that all clothing brands could not do exactly what we have done, and continue to do so, today.”

Diagram showing Rapanui's supply chain.

The ecolabeling system is what will most likely have the biggest impact on consumers’ behavior, since it’s right there, front and center on the label. It’s inevitable that it will have impact, just like similar labeling systems such as Energy Star have transformed they way people buy appliances. When you’re choosing between two seemingly similar options, the sustainability credentials may be the deciding factor. The traceability maps are also great agents of change, because even though only the consumers already interested in sustainability will look at them it promotes sustainable practices on a larger level. If all companies were required to show their complete supply chains, a lot of them would look really bad. Transparency always creates change because when you can no longer cover something up, you’ll be forced to change it.

Rapanui also supports non-profits — 50% of the profits from the "Save our Seas" bamboo tee are donated to the Marine Conservation Society.

Rapanui’s new collection for summer that includes tops made from an eco fabric derived from Eucalyptus Tencel – which according to the manufacturer, Lenzing, is “the most eco-friendly man-made fibre in the world” — and T-shirts that are manufactured using wind turbines, as well as Converse-style sneakers made using Fairtrade organic cotton and FSC-certified rubber and are hand-finished in the UK. The webshop offers options for shopping by gender, size, price, color and, yes, eco-rating.

Launched in 2008 by surfing brothers Rob and Mart Drake-Knight in Sandown Bay, on the Isle of Wight, Rapanui was founded with a desire to make a genuine contribution to sustainability, and uses ethically accredited factories that are powered by wind and solar energy as well as cutting edge eco-textiles with a unique natural softness and feel. It’s clothing for young, active people — perhaps inspired by the brothers themselves, both still in theirs mid-20s — that looks great and feels great. In a few short years, Rapanui has won numerous awards for its work toward improving the communication and sustainability of the clothing industry and has already made a substantial contribution to sustainable fashion and created real change in an industry that so badly needs it.

These trainers are a limited edition design collaboration between Rapanui and Ethletic, made from Fairtrade organic cotton and FSC rubber.

The Drake-Knight brothers currently employ ten people in their beachside headquarters. But growing quickly doesn’t mean they lost touch with their roots, quite the opposite. There’s a skate ramp in the office and a coffee shop out the front. Employees find time for fishing during lunch breaks and when the waves are up in Sandown Bay you may just find them in the water.

On their website, Rapanui offers traceability maps for their entire line of clothing, something quite unique in the fashion business.

Firm believers in the transformative power of fashion, Rapanui uses their casual cool to inform and educate their customers about how much the choices they make matter. “Fashion is like no other medium, in that you literally dress yourself in what you believe in,” says designer Mart Drake-Knight. “Rapanui gives people a choice to vote with their wallet for ethical fashion. We want to use the power of fashion to make eco cool, and design traceable, transparent products that let you shop quickly with a conscience.”

Now, there’s something to believe in.

Related posts:

1. Future:Standard – Ethical Fashion for the Stylishly Conscious
2. NY Fashion Week: The GreenShows
3. Emy Blixt, Creative Director of Swedish Hasbeens Talks Inspiration & Sustainability

I’ve been out of the city for nine months now. Still, a day does not go by that I don’t miss it so much it almost hurts. I don’t consider myself very sentimental, but I can miss a place, a thing or a moment with the same intensity that one misses a lost love. A few years ago, when moving out of a Brooklyn apartment where I had spent many happy years, it felt like a divorce. I cried uncontrollably as I glanced back into the empty space and turned the lights off for the last time. Even though I was moving on to bigger, better quarters, it felt like a chapter in my life was closing and I wasn’t going to have another chance to go back and rewrite it.

We are fascinated by people’s homes, because a space is considered a manifestation of who we are. The same goes for the place in which we choose to live. Sometimes circumstance (or furnished rentals) can take us places we never intended to be, and what does that, then, do to our character? Do we absorb some of the qualities of this place and/or space that has been forced upon us or can we transcend it and keep our own identities?

I live in a very small town on the West Coast now. The total population probably equals that of the number of people that can fit onto the L-train at one time. There are no hip restaurants, no cupcake shops, and no pretentiously overpriced clothing stores. Children ride around my neighborhood on bikes unsupervised and nobody locks their doors. I’m surrounded by gorgeous mountains, flowers and trees and I go for a run amongst divinely scented orange orchards instead of on the Williamsburg Bridge, where car exhaust was the main olfactory experience. Despite this, I still feel like a city girl. I still wear impractical heels whenever I feel like it, but I can also open the back door and walk around the garden with bare feet whenever I want to.

It’s a total cliché, I know, but that sense of connectedness with nature and, ultimately, self is why we chose to leave the city for these greener pastures. Every morning, I sit outside and enjoy my herbal coffee under a majestic walnut tree that has just started to bloom. Everything is quiet, all I can hear are birds singing and the intense buzz of bees working away at those newly sprung buds on the tree, spreading life from plant to plant and giving us the possibility of enjoying life in this incredible place called Earth. The only place, I realize, I will truly miss if I had to leave.

We are all still writing the chapter about our time on Earth, let’s get rid of the typos, grammatical errors and bad storylines and make this one the best part of the story yet. We get many more Earth Days but only one Earth. I think we all agree that we never want to flip that light switch for the last time.

Photos from my Instagram. Follow me, I’m jbjork

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That morning cup of coffee may be causing more harm than you know. The energy boost you get is an artificial caffeine-induced high that creates a vicious circle of dependency, which can be hard to break. Besides causing insomnia, nervousness, mood swings, headaches, stomach problems, hypertension and increased blood sugar, coffee may also be making you fat. There are better ways to become more productive and alert.

Many claim to not be able to function without it, but do we really need coffee? Just because everyone does something, does not mean it’s OK. Compulsive consumption of caffeinated beverages is deeply rooted in our culture. In my field of work, it’s such a clichée — the writer who cannot put a word on paper, let alone get out of bed, without a tall cup of coffee to wake her up. Coffee gives us an instant boost of energy, sure, but like any drug it does so at the expense of long-term health.

Coffee drinking is so heavily embedded in our culture that it makes it hard to face the facts.

Hypertension
Some feel that coffee helps them accomplish things, thereby relieving stress, but a ten-year old study by researchers at Duke University suggests the opposite is true: caffeine actually exaggerates stress hormone production — levels rose by an average of 32% on the days caffeine was consumed — an increase that lasted throughout the day and into the evening.

The study found that the equivalent of four cups of coffee raises blood pressure for many hours and found it to be consistently higher on days when subjects consumed caffeine. Although this may not seem like a big deal if you are otherwise healthy, it is enough to affect heart attack and stroke risk, according lead author James D. Lane, PhD. For those that already have high blood pressure and are taking medications for it, consuming coffee may totally cancel out the effects of antihypertensive drugs.

Elevated Stress Hormones
When you consume caffeine, your body initiates uncontrolled neuron firing in the brain, which triggers your pituitary gland to secrete a hormone that, in turn, tells your adrenal glands to produce adrenaline. A stress hormone, adrenaline is what gives us that rapid boost of energy that enables us to power through, whether we are an athlete who needs to win a race or a cave man who needs to run from a dangerous wild animal. Caffeine puts you in a constant state of “fight-or-flight,” which serves no purpose unless we actually need to physically run from some impending danger. (No, an onslaught of emails does not count.) When this adrenal high wears off, you get a headache, you get tired and irritable and you usually reach for another cup to get the circle going again.

Switching you afternoon and evening cups of coffee for caffeine-free herbal tea will increase your quality of sleep.

Insomnia
Even the cup of coffee you drink in the morning can contribute to disturbed sleep patterns. Hormone levels are thrown out of whack, which makes us develop symptoms like nervousness, irritability, insomnia, dizziness, chronic fatigue, headaches, heartburn, anxiety, hypertension, and heart palpitations. Eventually, your body can enter a state of adrenal exhaustion, which means that excess caffeine consumption has pushed your adrenal glands so hard that they’ve actually burned out. What you feel when this happens is that caffeine doesn’t produce the same effect, and you start to consume more of it to get that boost of energy you’re looking for — another vicious circle. This may work for a while, but the fact is that when you drink too much coffee, your body does not work as it is intended to. You can compare it to a farmer who uses pesticides to push his soil into producing more and more. What actually happens is that the soil gets successively more depleted, until it’s so dry that you can’t grow anything in it.

Is coffee making you fat?
Many crash diets recommend coffee as a calorie-burning stimulant. This is a bad idea for many reasons (if you’ve read this far you know many of them), one is called tannic acid and is a mild gastrointestinal irritant, which can be found in many caffeinated beverages. Consuming too much of this can prevent your body from being able to properly absorb the nutrients and minerals it needs to function. It doesn’t matter how healthy you eat, if too much tannic acid is present in your system these nutrients cannot be absorbed, you will experience hunger and suffer from constant deficiencies.

Despite what the fashion people say, coffee may actually be making you fat. How, you ask? Our bodies produce a stress hormone called cortisol, which is even more powerful than adrenaline and is, coincidentally, also triggered by caffeine consumption. Excess cortisol production reduces the body’s ability to use stored fat for energy, and also causes increased body fat to be stored in the abdominal region. You know those otherwise skinny men with protruding beer bellies? Yup, that’s what excess cortisol can do for you. Even in extremely healthy people, elevated cortisol levels make it nearly impossible to loose weight and also reduces the body’s ability to build muscle. As if cortisol wasn’t evil enough, it also stimulates our appetite, which can explain why we start craving a piece of chocolate or something sweet with our afternoon coffee. Coffee shops also take full advantage of this by putting heaps of sweet stuff right in front of helpless coffee-craving patrons, appealing to the munchies we get through this cruel, complex brain chemistry of ours.

People, of course, have different tolerances for caffeine — some can’t consume any without unwanted side effects, while some can drink the stuff all day long and still function. Interestingly enough, research suggests that men are more susceptible to the effects of caffeine than are women.

Teeccino is a great-tasting herbal coffee. You can drink it all day long without any of those nasty side effects that come from drinking "the real stuff."

What to do
No matter how much coffee (or other caffeinated beverages) you are consuming today, it’s worth cutting down, especially if you are experiencing any of the symptoms or are trying to loose weight. You don’t have to tell me how hard it is to stay away from coffee, I grew up in a coffee-brewery town where the sweet smell of roasting beans was constantly in the air, and I started drinking the stuff when I was thirteen. The first time I took a break from coffee was when I used to run long races, because it’s a diuretic and causes fluids to pass through your system faster than they should — not good for runners. I didn’t experience that many side effects, but this was almost a decade ago and perhaps my younger self was more able to handle rapid changes. Last year, after working a stressful job in New York City for quite some time, I decided it was time to give up on the coffee for a while. This time, I experienced excruciating headaches for three days straight. Everyone thought I was nuts, but this just proved to me that caffeine is, indeed a drug, and if not getting it makes me feel that crappy then I’m probably having too much of it. Since then, I’ve started drinking a bit of coffee again, but with certain rules.

1. Drink only one cup and do it before noon. This keeps my total caffeine consumption down and largely prevents my sleep from being disturbed. Most weeks, I actually just have coffee on the weekends.

2. Only good stuff. At the office, I drank horrible “kitchen coffee” simply because it was there, it was free and I was bored and restless. Now, I only drink organic coffee that I actually enjoy.

3. Explore alternatives. Besides the energy boost, what I enjoy the most is the actual taste of coffee. Drink tea instead, but remember to stay away from teas that contain a lot of caffeine. While it may not be exactly the same thing, herbal coffees are a great alternative that make you feel like you can still enjoy that morning cup, without any of the nasty side effects. Teeccino is a great brand that makes many different flavored herbal coffees that has some body to them and actually taste really good. I have some every morning.

4. Start the day with a real energy boost. The best way to increase your level of energy, first thing in the morning and throughout the day, is to actually give your body energy. The best way to do this is by consuming nutritious green smoothies or juices, they are jam-packed with nutrients and give you an energy boost without the crash.

5. Get enough sleep. This may be the most boring advice ever, but make sure you get enough sleep. Your body needs a chance to recharge its batteries, and that only really happens when you sleep. Quality of sleep is also important, once you’re off the caf you should experience a deeper, more restful sleep. It’s the oldest trick in the book.

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“I hate running.” How many times have you heard someone say that, or perhaps uttered the words yourself? Running is one of those divisive forms of exercise that you either love or loathe. One thing we all can agree on is that it’s good for us. I recently read a book that sort of convinced me we are actually born to do it. It also made me want to get back into running, and helped me figure out how to motivate myself to do just that.

I’ve always considered myself an athlete, and grew up with team sports, mostly basketball, as my main form of physical activity. The only times I would go for a run is when the coach forced us out into the woods for pre-season training runs, and I did not like it one bit. When I started college and moved to the U.S. I got more into gym-based fitness, lifting weights and doing cardio machines at the University gym on a regular schedule. I may have gone for a half-hearted weekend run around the neighborhood every now and then, but it was definitely more of an exception that a regular occurrence. What really got me started was when the computer lab assistant at my school told me that he had signed up for a 10K run. I’m not sure why this triggered my competitiveness, but it did. If this guy could do a 10K without thinking twice about it, then why couldn’t I?

Yours truly, after finishing my second half marathon in 2005. (Please ignore the plastic water bottle, I was desperately thirsty and it was offered to me.)

I’m muscular and big-boned by nature, quite the opposite of what you imagine a runner’s physique to be. I decided to ignore this, started running on a more regular basis, signed up for a few 5K races, and soon found myself staring at the entry form for the Miami Half-Marathon, debating whether this would be a great challenge or absolutely crazy. It was hard to know in advance, but I signed up. If other people can do it, than why couldn’t I? When training for the Half Marathon I started to run longer distances, and that’s when I really started to get in to that zen-like, almost meditative, flow of running. I did not listen to music but instead let my thoughts come and go and learned that I could come up with many great ideas and solutions to problems this way. I finished the race in just over two hours, not great but not bad for a first-timer.

Running races are a strange thing, most people who sign up know that they will never win, or even come close and yet they keep signing up for them. Why? Logically, it makes no sense. You’re just paying money to, in a very crowded way, do something that you could do for free whenever and wherever you want. What motivates us to want to do this?

In Born To Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen, Christopher McDougall sheds light on the fact that humans have always run in groups. In fact, it’s how we used to hunt and survive. Could it be that the running race industry is fueled by this desire to once again be part of a pack, running together against a common goal (in this case, a finish line instead of wild game)? At no time was this more obvious than when I, in 2008, participated in Nike’s ambitions Human Race, a 10K run where everyone had to wear identical red shirts.

Nike's Human Race, where runners all wore identical red shirts, was the most obvious display of the collective appeal of running that I have ever experienced.

I ran a second Half Marathon the year after my first, and finished in 1:55. This was seven years ago and since then I have slowly have become lazy and stopped running as much. Why, I don’t know, but work seems like an appropriate excuse. Reading McDougall’s book made me not only want to start running regularly again, but really learn how to run. I had never really before reflected on the fact that even though running is probably the most common form of recreational exercise, you rarely see anyone actually practicing how to do it. This, McDougall says, is the reason why as many as 80% of runners become injured every year. A recurring injury was, in fact, what motivated him to write the book.

Christopher McDougall's bestseller "Born to Run" is a must-read for anyone who is or aspires to be a runner.

After visiting the legendary Tarahumara tribe in the deep canyons of Mexico and speaking with scientists who have done extensive research on how the human body works and why it is configured the way it is, McDougall finds strong evidence that humans are, actually, born to run. Everything, from the way our bodies are built to the way we absorb oxygen, speaks to it. What keeps most of us from running is, ironically, another one of our evolutionary strengths — the desire to conserve energy. Humans are hard-wired to take the easiest route possible, which served us well when we had to run after wild antelopes on the savannah but not so well when modern convenience has put everything we need one short car ride to the supermarket away. The only thing that can save us from becoming corn syrup-fueled drones is common sense and motivation, and perhaps a bit of competitiveness. If your ancestors could run around barefoot on scorching hot plains all day then why couldn’t you?

I’m determined to reconnect with my running past, but this time I am approaching it differently. Instead of considering a run something to just do, I’m going to learn how to run and train to actually become a better runner. To start this, I’m doing three things:

1. Setting a sort-of regular schedule of 3 runs/week
2. Trying out a few different brands of barefoot running shoes (expect to see reviews here shortly)
3. Doing pre-run drills that will help me perfect my technique, starting with 100-ups (this video is a good starting point, too)

Who would like to join me? Come on, if I can do it, you can!

Shortly before finishing Born to Run, I heard of one of the untimely passing of one of the book’s main characters, Micah true, aka Caballo Blanco. Take a moment to read Christopher McDougall’s moving account of their friendship on BBC News.

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Everybody and his dog is making caramels or toffee these days; they’re as easy to find as ants at a picnic. But I can tell you that turning out both types of these candies involves some skill, and not everybody is making these sweets as skillfully as Charley’s Organic Toffee. This is a small-scale business; according to their website, candy-making has been done in this family for generations, but it wasn’t until 2011 that they took the plunge and decided to sell their confections. I’m grateful for this decision!

One unusual aspect of this business is that agave nectar (instead of corn syrup or honey) is used to make the caramels. I’ll be the first to tell you that I’m not normally a big agave nectar fan. Yes, it’s sweet, but I was brought up on sugar, and agave nectar formulations usually taste flat to me. Not here, however. The caramels, in addition to their agave nectar, contain sea salt crystals, and Organic cream and butter produced locally. There’s a good degree of “chew”, yet they’re not too stiff. The candies are sweet and salty in good balance, and the sought-after caramelized flavor is unquestionably present.

I was also pleased with the toffee from Charley’s Organic Toffee. I tried the Dark Chocolate Toffee with Pecans. It’s a layer of good-quality toffee crowned with a thin layer of equally good dark chocolate, with finely-chopped pecans scattered atop. The toffee isn’t rock-hard, as is too often the case, and there’s a lovely blend of flavors. And did I mention that the chocolate used is Organic, and that there’s a milk chocolate variation as well? And there’s more; if you’re into the combination of chocolate and caramel (and really, why wouldn’t you be?), you can try the Chocolate Caramels or the Betsies (a combination of caramel, chocolate, and pecans).

As you’ve guessed from the name, the confections made by Charley’s Organic Toffee are Certified Organic. Food dyes, preservatives or chemicals are never used, and the candies are all gluten free. The founders support Organic farming and the smaller farmers who are committed to Organic growing methods. They believe that responsible choices made themselves and their food growers make a huge impact for the future of the children on our planet, including Charley — a real girl who happens to suffer from severe psoriasis. For every piece of candy purchased, Charley’s Toffee makes a donation to The National Psoriasis Foundation.

Charley’s Organic Toffee is a young company attempting to make responsible, sustainable choices in their ingredients and packaging. But add to those attempts some darned tasty sweets, and you have a business deserving of your support.

charleystoffee.com

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Over the past three years, The GreenShows has been the premier showcase of sustainable design during New York Fashion Week. This time around, the shows were finally invited to be an official part of the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week — a big step for eco-fashion if you ask me. Instead of several days filled with runway shows, the organizers opted for a presentation format this time around. Featured designers were United Bamboo, Bamboo by United Bamboo, H. Fredriksson, Study NY, The Battalion, Luis Valenzuela, Ajna, and Artists & Revolutionaries. (Read more about the designers below.)

Amanda Hearst at The GreenShows

Belinda Pasqua, designer of The Sway, and Coco Rocha

The show was styled by two of the industry’s rising talents, stylist Julie Ragolia, Fashion Editor of 7th Man Magazine, and Aushim Raswant, Creative Director and Executive Producer of communications and programming firm, 3V. Victoria Simes, jewelry designer and stylist for Zero Maria Cornejo, accompanied the duo with a curated ethical accessories installation using pieces from her own collection as well as from jewelry designers Natalie Frigo, Nettie Kent, East Fourth Street, Ursa Major Collection and Erika Lauren Design, and handbag designers Shannon South-Remade USA, Collina Strada, and The Sway.

Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, Director of Fashion at Lincoln Center

Marina Burini, owner of Brooklyn shop Beautiful Dreamers, actress Shalom Harlow and Kestrel Jenkins, stylist and brand concierge for Fashioning Change

The GreenShows were well-attended by eco-fashionistas, editors and celebrities — including Shalom Harlow, Coco Rocha, Amanda Hearst, Summer Rayne-Oakes, and Director of Fashion at Lincoln Center, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff — alike.

United Bamboo, a fashion collective developed by Miho Aoki and Thuy Pham, is best known for its artistic approach to fashion and the cross-cultural mash-up of media in music, fashion, and art. Their use of patterns and fabrics in both new and practical applications, inventive rethinking of traditional designs, as well as a commitment to produce more goods locally, has started put the company on the sustainable fashion map.

Launched in Spring 2011 and inspired by the birth of her first child, Bamboo By is an organic “room wear” collection by United Bamboo designer Miho Aoki. Bamboo By uses certified organic cottons, linens, and hemp, and its silhouettes are easy and comfortable. Each garment is machine-washable and softens with wear.

H. Fredriksson is a Brooklyn-based label that’s designed with a modern, artistic, and sustainable conscious purpose. Designer Helena Fredriksson creates exclusive textile prints inspired by her own photographs and drawings. With a sense of both past and present, the designer’s belief in traditional craft is epitomized in the mindful fabric choices in each collection, which is manufactured in New York City using ethical production methods.

Study NY is a high-concept brand primarily produced in New York City and, in 2011, won the Ecco Domani award for sustainable design. A strong and driving presence among young sustainable designers, designer Tara St. James facilitates discussions about the intersection of sustainability, ethical sourcing and product innovation and lends her talent and skills to various organizations, including The Uniform Project and Peru’s Awamaki indigenous weaver collective.

Los Angeles based cult clothing brand The Battalion is a modern purveyor of green luxury. Designer Linda Wong spots the most coveted trends and sources the latest conscious materials such as bamboo, Organic cotton, faux fur and peace silk, and uses them to design a collection that is as tasteful as it is conscious.

Luis Valenzuela is an ethical fashion designer and visual artist born in Caracas, Venezuela. A pioneer in green art and eco-friendly fashion, he is the founder of EcoArtFashion and EcoArtFashion Week. Valenzuela has shown at previous GreenShows as well as museums and art galleries around the world, including The Kennedy Center in Washington DC and the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts Miami.

Ajna is a four-year-old NYC-based label that embraces beauty and simplicity while using only certified Organic and sustainable textiles. Designed by Hong Kong-born designer Beryl Man, who has designed for notable brands such as Calvin Klein, Donna Karan Collection and, most recently, Narciso Rodriguez, and was named a New York designer to watch by WWD, Ajna effortlessly invokes intelligence and unexpected elegance into these timeless garments.

Artists & Revolutionaries is an eco-friendly fashion label based in Brooklyn, NY. Designer John Michael utilizes repurposed leather, cashmere, and organic cottons to create fashion forward pieces with a conscience. A graduate of Parsons School of Art and Design in Paris, John Michael started Artists & Revolutionaries in Brooklyn in 2010, with only 500 dollars and a borrowed sewing machine. He’s come a long way since.

Harvey Russack, Owner & CEO of The GreenShows, and Summer Rayne Oakes

“This is a very special moment in the history of The GreenShows,” says Owner & CEO Harvey Russack. “We are delighted to offer our designers this terrific opportunity to showcase their beautiful apparel and accessories. Our mission has always been to present trend-setting, ethical and sustainable luxury to the elite fashion community.”

Moving into Lincoln Center, fashion’s center of power during New York Fashion Week, has certainly made The GreenShows a force to be reckoned with not just within eco-fashion, but Fashion (with a big F) in general. I look forward to seeing what the future holds for these amazing designers.

Related posts:

1. Minialism, Recycled Opulence, Urban Renewal and Modern Retro at The GreenShows/NYFW
2. NY Fashion Week: The GreenShows
3. NYFW: Ekovaruhuset / House of Organic

Founder Adina Grigore wants her products to be as healthy for her customers as they are for the planet and sources ingredients from Organic, local and fairtrade sources whenever possible. She believes that beauty and true health are synonymous and does not use dangerous synthetics of any kind.

What first caught my eye was the beautiful packaging (can’t help it, I’m a designer), created by SM&KK Studios, also based in Brooklyn. All products except the lip balms are packaged in glass bottles, which is not only easier than plastic to recycle, but also assures no unwanted substances will leak into the product.

I also love the simple assortment. The line includes only seven different products — cleanser, toner, cream, exfoliant, makeup remover, scrub and two kinds of lip balm (original and vegan formula) — all you really need for your daily beauty routine. The products are all easy to use and smell very nice without being overwhelming. Generally when it comes to skincare, less is always more. Sprout Skincare proves that point beautifully.

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1. Futurenatural: Organic Beauty
2. 90 Days of Organic Raw Vegan-ness: week 4
3. 90 Days of Organic Raw Vegan-ness: week 13

After the Super Bowl last Sunday, the Giants were immediately given Championship T-shirts, hats and towels to celebrate their victory. In order to make this happen, the NFL has to produce these items for both teams competing for the title. Some retailers in the teams’ home markets also gamble on pre-ordering championship merchandise in order to be able to offer it to giddy fans right away. This means that, right now, there’s a lot of Patriots Championship gear out there that will never see a retail floor. What happens to all that stuff?

Just seconds after the end of Super Bowl XLVI Eli Manning and the Giants were sporting Championship gear.

The NFL and most sporting goods retailers donate this no-longer-relevant merchandise to World Vision, a non-profit organization that helps distribute it to developing countries or areas in need of relief, such as Haiti. They also work with U.S. customs to accept donations of confiscated counterfeit goods. Every year, World Vision receives 100,000 articles of clothing — worth an estimated $2 million — through such donation programs. “For years, World Vision has helped us to ensure that no NFL apparel goes to waste,” says David Krichavsky, NFL director of community relations. “With the enormous needs in Haiti and World Vision’s long-term presence there, we know that these goods will go to very good use.”

The Championship gear that will never see a retail floor.

Well, the good news is that the items are not being destroyed. The bad news is that when these items of clothing are being shipped off to countries in, for example, Africa they flood the market, which ultimately puts local makers and sellers of clothing out of business. This is often referred to as unwanted aid, and it doesn’t only happen with clothing. When it comes to food, too, there has been much discussion of whether in-kind donation based aid actually aids poor countries or just seriously stunts their financial growth. Signs point to the latter.

I do believe that these sports retailers think that they are doing some good by donating this merchandise. However, one fact that is hard to overlook is that they also benefit from this financially since in-kind-donations are tax deductible. This means, in short, that tax payers are subsidizing the printing of this unwanted fan gear. The value of the donation is based on the retail value of the merchandise, not the cost of producing it, which may be a tenth of the sale price. One can see how donating hard-to-sell, unwanted goods in exchange for a write-off and good PR is increasingly appealing to businesses. It also frees them from the responsibility of disposing of these goods. Again, this does not only happen within the clothing industry. American companies donate all kinds of stuff — medicine, outdated equipment, electronics — to these kinds of charities.

Thus, this pattern of over-producing stuff we don’t want here in America only to dump it on poor developing nations, causing lasting financial damage to local economies, is becoming a problem. Upwards of 95 percent of our unwanted clothing — new or used — ends up in the developing world.

Project Repat buys back T-shirts that have been donated to developing countries and employs local artisans to remake them into something they can sell in the U.S.

Some people are trying to do something about this. A company called Project Repat has developed a business model where they buy back some of the clothing that we have offloaded in countries like Tanzania or Kenya and employ local artisans to modify the items that are then sold in the U.S. 100% of all profits from (re)sales of Project Repat’s T-shirts, bags and scarves support nonprofit organizations improving lives of people in the countries from which they were repatriated. It’s a clever way to support local small businesses and artisans and give the local markets a well-needed infusion. “I went over there expecting to be angry that we dump so much clothing over there, and I realized that thousands of jobs are created from this market,” Project Repat Co-Founder Ross Lohr told GOOD. “Talk about tailors. They are taking their fat American people T-shirts and taking them in and making them fit a Kenyan body type… mixing and matching colors, modifying the designs.” This, of course, depends on our willingness to shell out $25 for the shirts and $30 for the bags and scarves. Project Repat recently ran a successful Kickstarter campaign, so if that’s an indication, they may just be on to something.

100% of all profits from (re)sales of Project Repat merchandise supports nonprofit organizations improving lives in the countries from which they were repatriated.

Donating this merchandise seems like a no-brainer, but it’s not as easy as “we have these leftover shirts that we don’t need, you need shirts so why don’t we just give you these.” It’s all part of a complicated system that has implications more far-reaching than we may see at first glance — the butterfly effect.

The real issue here is whether retailers really need to produce all that extra stuff. Couldn’t sports fans learn to wait just one or two days to buy their celebratory merchandise? What else could we do to deal with this waste? Surely there must be better ways we could make use of it, through clever textile recycling, reuse or upcycling programs. That, to me, sounds like a financial opportunity right here on the home front. Who’s game?

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3. Good News: Week 10