Eco-Fashion Getting Noticed during Berlin Fashion Week

Photo courtesy of People Tree.

If you’re in Berlin within the next few days and into eco-fashion, then you have the opportunity for some fun and education. Berlin Fashion Week is underway, and this year there’s a strong presence of eco-designers and brands focusing on high-end styles. THEKEY.TO - an international event for green fashion, sustainable lifestyles, and culture - will be at the Heeresbäckerei on Köpenickerstr in Berlin, with active events from tomorrow until Jan. 23.

“The sustainable philosophy of the event is reflected in the selection of brands, event furniture, fresh organic catering, and the tradeshow architecture,” said a statement by Gereon Pilz van der Grinten, one of the founders of THEKEY.TO.

Among the sustainable brands that will be featured at the event will be: Van Markoviec, Knowledge Cotton Apparel, Studio Jux, Milch, Itsus, Banuq, Komodo, and People Tree. The event will also feature new up-and-coming Berlin-based brands, including: Slowmo, Pamoyo, and Isabell de Hillerin.

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Mimi the Sardine Gives Kids a New Grownup Way to Carry Lunch

Lunch sacks photo courtesy of Mimi the Sardine.

Little kids are always in a rush to grow up. It’s why they are always getting into their parents closets and playing dress up. This idea played in Pia Anderson’s mind when she decided to design preschool age lines of lunch bags, with a grownup feel, but still a young and practical twist.

“We gear to this age group of messy eaters. It’s where we are trying to make a difference,” said Ms. Anderson, founder and chief executive officer of Mimi the Sardine, a provider of eco-friendly accessories and houseware.

Last month, the company launched its latest creation, a gender-neutral line of lunch sacks, to complement its long existing purse-style lunchbugs.

“The lunch sacks are more of a brown bag style. They’re a little more traditional for the boys,” said Ms. Anderson. And, while the design cut of the lunch sacks might appeal more to the boys, the print designs provide something for everyone’s tastes, with the availability of the five following prints: planes, frogs, trucks, ladybugs, and flowers.

The lunch sacks are all made with organically grown cotton, and coated with a water-based acrylic that has been thermally baked into all the materials.

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What’s Hot For Spring - Basic Colors With a Little Print Mixed In, Says Fashion Expert

Ashley Tisdale wearing Eco-Ganik’s popular stripe racerback shirt.

LOS ANGELES- Spring is here and women are shopping. The trend this year is having a lot of basic color pieces in your wardrobe, with a few prints to mix and match, says Hoda Mallone, design director of the eco-conscious design house Eco-Ganik.

One of the hottest items the design house featured this year was a black and white stripe racerback tank top, made from recycled polyester. “It’s a really nice fabric. It has a nice feel and it breathes unlike traditional polyester,” said Ms. Mallone, who added, “It was probably one of our best sellers. A lot of celebrates wore it.”

The design house’s current celebrity following includes such high profile names as Nikki Hilton, Ashley Tisdale, Jessica Alba, Ann Hathaway, and Selena Gomez.

Eco-Ganik gets a lot of the influence for its fashion lines from the array of California cultures ranging from Hollywood sophistication to the Santa Monica and Venice Beach scenes. “It’s very cool seeing all these different kinds of girls. They inspire us a lot,” said Ms. Mallone, who describes the design house’s style as “contemporary for sure, with some vintage inspiration; a little hippie-chic mixed with street-girl.”

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Vintage Blue Evolves Into an Eco-Fashion Boutique, While Keeping Its Retro-Sports Style

Photo courtesy of Vintage Blue.

PHILADELPHIA- The classic 1940s baseball-inspired fashion boutique Vintage Blue is in the process of launching its current product lines and developing those in the works to exclusively use eco-friendly materials, according to Liza Goncalves and Michelle D’Avella, the company’s co-owners.

The boutique’s product lines are currently tee shirts and totes. Ms. Goncalves talked about the company’s tee shirts, explaining that they are “now 100 percent organic cotton and we use non-toxic, water-based dyes for the printing on our products.”

The boutique is also in the process to designing a green line of dresses, sweat suits, and hoodies, all with a vintage theme inspired by its exclusive licensing of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League brand. Currently, the company expects to roll out this new line in the Spring of 2010, according to Ms. D’Avella.

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Marine Biologist Ventures Into the Fashion World to Become an Online Retailer

Fashion photo provided by Adrian Desbarats.

EMYVALE, Prince Edward Island — On a mission to make your wardrobe both healthier for you to wear and its production more environmentally friendly for people across the world, Fashion & Earth, an online organic clothing retailer has just opened its web doors. 

The family-owned company’s founder and president, Adrian Desbarats, is also a marine biologist. He is currently the senior biologist and director of research and development for a company on Price Edward Island, designing and building systems for the aqua culture industry.

When asked what made a marine biologist decide to also venture into the fashion industry, Mr. Desbarats responded, “I am also an entrepreneur at heart. My wife is also a biologist, so we have always been environmentally focused. We have done all the stuff like recycle, compost, put in the florescent bulbs, put the energy efficient appliances in, etc., but when our first daughter came along, that gave me a whole different perspective on life and the planet.

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