Sweet Skins

My new fuzzy hoodie was your fizzy drink bottle!
Sweet Skins makes this super comfy Eco-fleece hoodie from 2-liter bottles - who knew soda bottles could feel so soft and cozy?

I love the simple design - it has a flattering contour, exposed serger stitching, and I'm a sucker for its belled sleeves. And it's comes in such a nice rich brown... anyone who knows me knows about my penchant for brown.

BTW...Is that a Providence thing? My friend Laurence was visiting this weekend from Brooklyn, and pointed out that everyone in Providence wears brown, as opposed to the NYC black standard. I thought she was nuts, but when I looked across the counter at Taqueria Pacifica, there were five diners in a row all dressed in brown silkscreened shirts. Hmmm....

But back to Sweet Skins...There is a wrap version of this hoodie that you should check out. It's really elegant, and it's what I originally hoped to purchase, but the site seemed to be sold out of it in my size and kept defaulting the order form to the pullover. I'm not disappointed though - I'm very happy with my purchase. I may just have to go back for the wrap version one of these days though! And maybe I'll do something crazy like order it in blue!

Green or Gimmick?
So I have been wondering about the whole Eco-fleece thing - is it really a sustainable choice? Does it use just as much energy in the recycling process as it does to make it fresh? Or is all polar fleece (polyester fleece) made out of recycled soda bottles? Is calling it Eco-fleece just a marketing scheme for up-pricing it?

I sleuthed around a little on the Internet and here is what I found, thanks to Answers.com, among others:

Polyester fleece Making polyester fleece from recycled PET bottles is a significant means to reducing the amount of plastic that is otherwise buried in landfills. One manufacturer estimates that for every meter of polyester fabric made of 80% recycled PET, eight plastic beverage bottles are kept out of landfills. Patagonia, the leading manufacturer of recycled polyester fleece garments, estimates that 25 soda bottles go into each jacket made from the fabric. Recycling PET into polyester is also alleged to be less damaging to the environment even than growing organic cotton, because cotton leaches nutrients from soil and requires so much open space to grow. The energy used to make polyester from recycled PET bottles is also significantly less than that needed to heat the chemicals for virgin polyester.

So my verdict is:
GREEN!

Kudos to the ladies at Sweet Skins for making this lovely green hoodie in its warm and earthy brown!

Greenish

Before I get all ranty, I wanted to point out this great one-of-a-kind hoody I found from Brooklyn Industries, handmade from from t-shirt remnants and fabric scraps. It is not organic, but still pretty cool and green to make something out of materials that would usually be disposed of.

I know there are many out there that roll their eyes at the idea of buying only sustainable clothing for a year being hard, and I must admit that sometimes I am embarassed to view it as such a challenge. But I am amazed at how often people look at me like I'm nuts or think it's impossible. I am also surprised at how often people are ready to try and point out all of the hypocrisies of someone trying to do something green.

I've often heard things like, oh sure they bring their own bags but look at the car they drive. Or, they buy food at the farmer's market but then they go home to their air-conditioned house. Sure there is pretty much always a way to be greener, but it is not as if that means you should avoid doing anything at all. It also seems that as someone adopts one green lifestyle change into their everyday life, that others tend to follow, and sometimes doing a little at a time is a good way not to be overwhelmed.

I know I have been guilty of the hypocrisy finger pointing. I am not sure what makes everyone so eager to do it. Is it our way of protecting ourselves from having to do the same thing? I know it is not always done in ill will, and it is good to ask questions and be critical. But I also think that sometimes it acts as a protective shield against having to make any changes yourself.

So why not live and let live? We so often want people to think the way we do, and do things the way we do. I guess because it makes it easier on us. If everyone in a city biked to work, people would be safer on their bikes and not be expected to wear the same clothing as when some are biking and some are not. Conversely someone who loves driving to work, would be more likely to find a place he worked at that accomodated drivers with parking spaces, if everyone they worked with drove. So I guess it's in our nature to want the people around us to do what we do.

I admit that I wish everyone demanded organic materials for their clothing, because then it would be easier for me to find the things I want. In the meantime, I hope I can not be too pushy, and just try to show people some of the great things that are out there. There will always be greener people out there, but maybe if people see some average somewhat hypocritical Joe like me making these changes, that it's maybe not so hard to make a couple themselves.

Jenn H-L

Oh yeah, a side note, for those that haven't managed to bring themselves to bike everywhere yet (that would be me, but I swear it's on my to do list) you might try a Terra Pass to offset your car's carbon emissions.

The Cost of Organic

Who can afford organic clothing? Everyday, this topic comes up, from people saying "I wish I could" with a shrug to people getting angry and feeling that it is elitist. I am at a reasonably comfortable place in my life, and still most of my new organic purchases have been on sale. From my Loomstate jeans bought on sale at eluxury, to my hoody from twice shy, I haven't paid full price for many items. Even on sale many of these could be found much cheaper someplace else.

I can see why people feel angry when confronted by a $180 pair of jeans, but at the same time there are many willing to pay that amount for non-organic jeans. It would be nice if people did consider organic a luxury item. If every pair of Seven for all Mankind , Citizens of Humanity, and True Religion jeans were organic, there would be a lot more farmers able to make a transition to organic cotton. So to the people that claim organic is for the elite, I have to almost wish it was more so. If organic and sustainable materials were more valued in luxury items we'd be living in a much more sustainable environment.

I would argue also, that there are a lot of people that would consider themselves too poor to buy organic, but think nothing of buying four or five on sale shirts at Target when they really only need one. Many of these are given away at the end of the season to Goodwill or Salvation Army. We are so used to getting throw-away items. You treat something differently that you spend more money on.

There are people that treat items with value whether they bought it for five dollars or fifty dollars. I am still embarassed to remember talking to my friend Jen (Guertin....most of my female friends seem to be named Jen) who was darning socks, and saying to her "why spend all that time when you can buy a pack of 6 for like 3 bucks" she replied, " I just feel bad throwing them away" I felt really stupid at the time about what I had said, but I was absolutely in the buy cheap, often, then toss mindset. It is kind of easy to fall into because it is all around you.

There are places like Wal-mart that are making organic accessible to a larger market. I still have trouble getting past their issues with employment practices, to purchase anything from Walmart yet, but they are making a huge impact. Should we get excited or nervous when big business embraces greener lifestyles? I'm not sure, but I know there are a lot of americans unwilling to go anywhere but big box-mart for anything, so I'd rather they buy organic if they do.

The hidden costs of not buying organic or sustainable are high, but invisible at point of purchase. Is there a way to convince people they should spend a little more for something which has very real benefits? Quality over quantity?