The eco-friendly apparel is designed for and worn by people of all walks of life, including celebrities Brad Pitt, Catherine Keener, Halle Berry and Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth.

‘e ko logic recycles post-consumer cashmere clothing into artfully reassembled one-of-a-kind cashmere accessories and sweaters for men and women. Designs also include fashion forward cashmere dresses and skirts in addition to a full line of recycled cotton.

Since its founding, ‘e ko logic has transformed seven tons of  post-consumer materials to create more than 30,000 individually designed pieces.

Every item made by ‘e ko logic is unique because of the intentional way Tesnakis gathers and assembles her materials. After hunting down discarded cashmere sweaters and other treasures, she dismantles each article of clothing while taking the time to recognize its individual character and beauty. Finally, she transforms the material by joining it with other pieces to give an old garment a new life and purpose.

“There’s a little magic and a lot of love in each piece we construct,” Tesnakis said. “We can’t request our palette. We use what is available in the waste stream.  Instead of making designs from virgin materials we choose to recycle post-consumer garments which allow us to save 97 percent of the energy and chemicals generally required to manufacture from virgin materials.”

‘e ko logic clothing is sold online and is available at stores on three continents, from New York to Japan.

Accessories by ‘e ko logic cost between $72 to $120, while clothing prices range from $242 to $570.

“Living a sustainable lifestyle is something you grow into,” Tesnakis said. “As a designer, I think of my clothing as green textile art. But as a green activist, I hope my clothing also gets people thinking about sustainability, recycling, where their clothing comes from and how it was made.”

Toms Shoes, the charitably-focused casual brand, has announced this holiday season’s campaign: Choose Shoes. “Now more than ever, we want to promote the idea that giving should be done thoughtfully,” says founder and “chief shoe giver” Blake Mycoskie, who notes that an informational video on how to spread the word has been posted on Tomsshoes.com. “My passing on the holiday spirit can be as simple as sharing this video with friends and family. The video shows the chain-reaction effect that one person creates when they pay a good deed forward. Please blog, tweet, Facebook… you name it, to help spread this message. The more people that see this video, the more shoes we’ll be putting on children’s feet!”

Toms makes charitable giving as easy as buying a pair of shoes — but what has your store or brand done to inspire shoppers this holiday season? Are you hosting a toy drive, offering gift cards or free gift wrapping? Perhaps you’re putting fuzzy slippers and socks on display at your counters — whatever you’re technique, let us know what’s getting your store into the holiday season and giving your bottom line a warm, fuzzy feeling!

Simple Shoes

While the company has long been able to make the top of their shoes green by using hemp, jute and other natural fibers, it, like other brands,  had been stymied in creating midsoles and outsoles that delivered the durability consumers demanded but still broke down completely. The breakthrough is EcoPure, which is added to the plastic, rubber and EVA used in the midsoles and outsoles.

With EcoPure, shoes are guaranteed to break down in a landfill environment in 20 years. The microbes in the mix are activated by a level of moisture and warmth specific to landfills, so the shoes will reportedly be sturdy and durable until they’re chucked in the trash.

Of course, given the degree of moisture and warmth in the laundry hampers and closets of some teenagers, I have to wonder if the shoes won’t break down a little earlier than that, but all the more reason to encourage Junior to keep his room clean.

While watching Stiles plug a newspaper suit and “shants” (a shirt that can be worn as pants) is fun, it made me think a little bit about how being green is often perceived by people who toss their plastic bottles in the trash or who think composting is simply gross (which, honestly, it can be). More specifically, it made me wonder if some so-called “green” habits are pretty laughable in the first place. Driving a Prius saves gas, but what do you do with that supersized battery under the hood when it tuckers out? Is painting over your walls with low-VOC paint really a good idea if your walls didn’t need to be painted in the first place? Here in Los Angeles, plenty of people are building LEED certified buildings — by tearing down the perfectly usable “non-green” buildings currently situated on the land. There are plenty of eco-activists whose hearts are in the right place, but that doesn’t mean they’re not doing more harm than good.

Ironically, a lot of people are talking about manufacturers and stores that “greenwash.” But how many people are really greenwashing in their own day-to-day lives? What are you doing right — and more importantly, what part of your company’s routines are truly green?

We share a passion for sustaining the environment so that the actions we take now will not compromise future generations. We believe it is the responsibility of every company to take the appropriate steps toward creating less waste and to improve their processes. We’re not big fans of talk and no action, so we’d like to share with you two of the ways we’ve begun doing our part.

* We’ve eliminated resin glue from our shoe box construction, which will save over 10 tons of glue on a yearly bases.

* We’ve eliminated tissue paper and cardboard inserts from our box stuffing, which will save over 40 tons of paper on a yearly basis.

Stay tuned, because we’ve got even more to share soon!

What do you think of the changes Bearpaw is making?

Talk about a step in the right direction. Merrell and the National Park Foundation (NPF) are joining forces. Merrell will be sponsoring a wide variety of events at both the national and grassroots levels, promoting parks at local Merrell stores and creating special promotions and giveaways.

“Since its beginning 27 years ago, Merrell has been about one thing: getting people outside,” said Craig Throne, vice president of global marketing for Wolverine World Wide’s Outdoor Group, the parent company of Merrell.  “We have been looking to align ourselves with the ideal partner, one that represents a similar inclusive outdoor ethos. The National Parks embody this passion and our shared goal is to work together on a long term basis to educate and motivate people of all ages and activity levels to get outside and play in our national outdoor playgrounds.” 

“We are extremely excited about Merrell’s commitment, the largest from an outdoor brand in National Park Foundation history, to help connect all Americans to their National Parks,” said Jamie Patten, senior vice president of the National Park Foundation. “Working with Merrell, we encourage all people to enjoy an active outdoor lifestyle in their communities and our national park.”

What do you think about what Merrell is doing?

The shoe brand challenged fiber department students to create works of art that reflected the recession using only five half pairs (sample shoes) and adhering products like glue and thread. Winners named in three categories (Most Creative,  Most Transformed and Most Inspirational) received cash rewards as well as industry-wide recognition, as the winning creations will be exhibited by J Shoes at industry trade shows in the future.

As cool as these artworks are (love the hat!), we especially adore the idea of putting sample shoes to good use - and the green subtext is hard to beat. More and more brands are finding ways to show off their green attitudes creatively, whether that’s by sponsoring eco groups, hosting fundraisers or donating trees. What do you think of brands trumpeting their green attitudes?

The good news is that changes for the better are already taking effect. Working together with Wal-Mart, Jiangsu Redbud Dyeing Technology in Changshu City, Jiangsu Province, has cut coal consumption by a tenth and is aiming to drastically reduce toxic emissions. The company has also secured more than 150 patents for a line of eco-friendly, jute-based textiles. Wal-Mart China is also opening stores that use 40-percent less energy than its older stores and retrofitting already existing locations.

This sounds like a win for Wal-Mart, but what does it mean for footwear manufacturers working in China? The hope is that, as companies in the country become greener, they’ll be able to pass along the benefits to every company that contracts work through them. There is a possibility, of course, that prices could go up while factories are creating the green infrastructuer needed to meet Wal-Mart’s demands. But if the end result is that consumers have a more positive feeling about the Made in China label, isn’t that enough of a trade-off?

Wondering how green European footwear brands have become? Ganter Shoes  is an example of one company that’s made green a high priority, following already stringent European Union rules and going even further on the eco-friendly path. Not only does the Austrian company recycle,  it uses vegetable tanned leather in its shoes, recycled paper for product boxes and geothermal energy at its production facility. The company even recovers and recycles solvents and collects leftover leather, paper, cardboard and cork. Suppliers are also asked to green up their acts, ensuring that the company’s green attitude is spread around. Not surprisingly, the company has become one of the few footwear producers listed in the German LOHAS (Lifesyle of Health and Sustainability) shopping guide.

While many may envy Ganter’s greenness, getting eco-friendly may not be as high of a priority for U.S. brands struggling with the current economic crisis. Everyone wants a cleaner earth, but staying in business is a priority, too. In Europe, eco-friendly laws and trade levies make green practices the only way to go, but is that the only way to make a broad spectrum of brands greener instead of the motivated few? Do you think the U.S. needs to change its laws affecting footwear manufacturing, and if so, which ones?

 For its efforts in this field GANTER is for example listed as well on the independent product guide of the German LOHAS community http://www.lohas-guide.de/schuhe/853-ganter-shoe-fashion-gmbh/view-details.html.