Pretty and Green-(article I wrote for my school paper)

You carry your Nalgene bottle everywhere. You recycle all your old assignments loose papers when you clean out your locker. You’ve consistently turned off every light in your house that no one was using. Maybe you even planted a tree? The work my darlings, is not yet done. Those of you who are a little more fashion forward have probably heard about the new crop of designers who are going green. The green movement is entering new territory: our closets. Whether you find yourself to be particularly chic or laid-back about style, this is green tactic that we should all take part in. The great thing is that anyone can, at any price range and with any personal style.

It seems that one of the most common ways to go green with your wardrobe is by buying clothing made from organic fabrics. This means that the materials used to make the fabric such as cotton, are grown without pesticides or special growth hormones that pollute our air and water. A lot of the clothing I have bought in the last year is organic. And contrary to certain stigmas, none of the clothing is an unsightly brown or has an odd rope-like texture. Another way designers have made their clothing eco friendly is by using recycled/reground fibers. This is, of course, recycled fabric or fabric made from other recycled and reprocessed materials. Since the fabrics are reprocessed to create new ones they are never wasted which lowers the amount of new cotton and rubber produced in environmentally harmful factories.

So the question that still remains is “who makes eco friendly clothing?” The answer: you can find many of today’s eco friendly clothing in every price range, style, and any other criteria you use to select your clothing. For organic clothing, I covet Phillip Lim’s Go Green Go collection which offers beautiful cocktail dresses in the softest organic cotton. Jesse Kamm, the textile gem who makes and designs all of the patterns used for her clothing, uses organic, eco-friendly dyes and makes many pieces out of organic material. And I couldn’t possibly forget wunderkind Rogan Gregory, three different organic lines: Rogan, Loomstate, and EDUN. If you want to go green for practice check out Alo for affordable and adorable sports bras and tack shorts. Adidas Grün has not only created sneakers made of recycled yarn, cotton, and rubber but also soft, cute tops and t-shirts made from organic cotton. Aaron Chang, the surfer-photographer turned swimwear designer, creates completely wearable, mix-matched print bikinis from recycled plastic bottles.

So now that you have an array of possibilities you have no excuse for not making your next addition to your wardrobe a green one. I’m not saying you have to say goodbye to your old non-eco friendly favorites. Just remember that you can still look amazing in any situation life throws at you and still save the environment at the same time, now doesn’t that sound admirable?