The great folks at the hip and zen pen turned me on to an article in the New York Times entitled "Uncruel Beauty," written by Ruth La Ferla. It seems NYC has caught the vegan craze, not just for food, but also for fashion. Boutiques are popping up all over the place to sell hipster gear such as vegan-friendly shoes, fashionable hemp and bamboo dresses, and suits made with ahimsa silk, a fiber processed without injuring silkworms. Of course, being eco-chic in NY comes at a price. Most of the fashions mentioned in the article carried a hefty multi-hundred dollar price tag.
Is this just a trend, or the beginning of truly responsible consumerism? By the number of blogs and website cropping up, it looks like the uncruel fashion industry is more than a passing phase. One of my new favorites is ecorrazi.com, which tracks the environmental hits and misses of today's hottest movie stars. Another fun new site, global-cool, brings environmental chic to the rest of us in a hip format that makes you feel like an insider. Ethical design lab is aimed at fashion industry insiders, with interesting new product lines that combine flair with sustainability.
What does all of this mean to the future of fashion for the rest of us? I think we are on a slow but steady path to more sustainable fashion. At Hoopla, our customers have responded enthusiastically to recycled cashmere hats and scarves, organic cotton and alpaca sweaters, and hemp blend skirts. But they aren't ready to give up luxurious silk blouses, and they don't want to pay $800 to protect the silkworms from harm. Until there are enough affordable alternatives, our commitment is to find the most sustainable fashions we can, without sacrificing style or affordability. Virtually all of our fashions are natural fiber, but not all are organic. Many are made in the US, and if not, we assure you that they are sweatshop free. With fashion, it is not quite as easy as changing to CFL lightbulbs, but each small choice leads us all to a better world.
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