Can fast fashion ever be sustainable? H & M would like you to think so. Their Garden Collection, arriving in stores in March, is made from organic materials and recycled waste, including PET bottles and textiles. The pieces are undeniably lovely, but they’re designed (and priced) to be scooped up in bulk, worn once or twice, and replaced come the next season.

(Pause.)

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Seriously, have you seen the stuff?

I’ll take one in every color, s’il vous plait.

(Bad environmentalist! Bad!)

Ok. Here’s the compromise. I get to wear that dress on the left but while doing so I must promise to only attend barbecue fiestas featuring super-local, super-sustainable pork, and I must get to and from said parties in zippy cars that use very little gas. Also, as a New Yorker, I will heroically forgo California wines for French, with have a smaller carbon footprint because they’re shipped on boats.

I can live with that.

{Images via Refinery 29.}

startmeup:

Create yarn from plastic bags! How to here.

So cool. Knitting is a surprisingly luxurious hobby because yarn is expensive. I’m so curious to see what a plastic bag scarf looks like (though I can’t imagine it would be particularly cozy).

sarazucker:

happy earth day. here is a dress made of steamed artichoke leaves and kale, radicchio, and cabbage leaves. it was designed by ami goodheart. carry on.

YUM.

sarazucker:

a finalist for the cfda/vogue fashion fund award in 2008, john patrick has been at the forefront of the sustainable style movement, using recycled fabrics, impact-free dyes, and local sourcing in the creation of his collections (this season, he employed a team of cottage-industry workers from peru). the show took place in a garment district church basement; the designer announced that he was inspired by school bake sales and provided noshes from farmers from his upstate hometown.

the result was “100 percent organic” and 100 percent chic.

sarazucker writes:

kegan fisher and liz kinnmark of design glut were recently interviewed by flavorwire. i immediately fell in love with the quirky jewelry and home design duo from brooklyn who draw inspiration from macroeconomics and trends in economic globalism:

Flavorwire: You guys are known for your jewelry made out of tiny barrels stamped with the price of oil. How does sustainability fit into your work?

Liz: We should be at a point where sustainability’s not a selling point anymore. I don’t think it should be OK to say, “I’m a sustainable company — I use bamboo from China.” I think everybody should be over that. We’re entrepreneurs. It’s not possible to use all sustainable materials if you want to get a business going. But we’re really interested in being socially conscious and building community, things that go beyond general greenwashing.

Who says American companies can’t make cool cars?  My uncle takes my cousins to school in their brand-new Ford TH!NK.  They’ve nicknamed the electric, low-emission cruiser “Espy,” as in S.P. (slow poke).

Chic clutch made from recycled materials by Ecoist // Inhabitat.

Organizers assure you: “You can reduce your impact on our environment by choosing to attend The Green Ball.”

Um … what?

Tickets are FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS.

And only FIVE PERCENT “of each ticket sold will be donated to the Green Inaugural Ball partner of your choice,” which includes organizations like the Organic School Project and Environment America.

So what’s so frickin’ green about the ball (besides the ticket price)?

• Food is organic, but not local — “In January, local produce is not an option.”  They clearly didn’t want to design a menu around root vegetables.
• They’ll keep decor to “a minimum because the Mellon Auditorium is such a beautiful venue.” Have they done an estimate of the heating and electricity costs of this gorgeous venue?
• My personal favorite: “The bars will serve local and organic beverages.  With the understanding that not every beverage product is produced in the DC Metro area, our focus is on utilizing top-shelf domestic beverages in every case that a quality product is not produced locally.” Um … so expensive liquor is “green” now?  Excuse my acronym, but wtf?

I don’t mind a bit of green-washing — I’ve accepted that it’s inevitable — but I don’t like that the organizers are apparently aiming to make a profit off of this thing and giving so little to the organizations that are actually doing something about the environment.  Plus, I’m just pissed that the price of admission is blocking me out. I wanna see Wyclef Jean!