What's Old is New, or I love Hairy Mary's

One thing about buying new sustainable clothing, is that there are a lot of solids and not always a lot of color, often for good reason, as dyes and inks can be a not-so-eco addition to an article of clothing.

Usually I don't find myself wearing a lot of bright colors anyway, and my wardrobe is full of solids...so what's the big deal? I suppose it's a bit of the you don't want it until you can't have it. So, although there are definitely printed and colorful pieces of apparel out there that are sustainable and new, used clothing offers a great alternative, and is pretty much the most sustainable thing you can purchase.

One issue I generally have with buying used or vintage clothing is that I am a relatively big person, 6 foot to be exact, with a very long waist. This often spells lots of excitement when finding something great on the rack, to be followed by a huge amount of disappointment when I try said item on and find that I look like a sad kid who outgrew her clothes. So when we found Hairy Mary's on Sunday morning we were psyched. Not only did they have a nice selection of vintage clothing, but they also carried a ton of one-of-a-kind originals, all repurposed from old garments. The updates of the dresses and shirts often made them more flexible then the original, so they are able to fit a wider range of body types. I gravitated to some of the wilder mixes of prints, but they carried a wide range of patterns and colors.

The owner of the shop was also incredibly nice. He is a musician, and his wife is an artist and designer (they own the store together) . I felt good buying from him, I don't know if I would get the same feeling if confronted with the board of directors at Target or Gap, or Nordstroms for that matter. Who would I rather give my money to, a stuffed suit, or a genuinely nice guy who takes the time to sit and chat? Pretty easy answer I think.

Apologies for not having better pictures, I need to move beyond using the built-in camera on my laptop. If anyone wants to send pictures of great vintage finds, or other sustainable clothing, please email lichenthreads@gmail.com

love/hate NYC...or blogging at 2am

Every time I am in New York City I am always overcome with so many mixed emotions. Frank jealousy is usually one of the first to bubble up, mixed with a humbling adoration for the gorgeous bits of creative genius tucked in around every corner, plastered on any random wall, or most humbling of all, walking by you. By that I don't mean celebrity siting, that's not really my thing, more the random artist/writers/musicians that seem to be everywhere. The beauty of the sweet little boutiques filled with dresses that are nothing less than works of art, the subway tile at The Liquor Bar, breathtaking street art pasted to a crumbling wall, and the effortless eclectic style of the 20 something New York hipster are all things that fill me with a sense of awe, desire and lust. The creative force in NYC is undeniable.

But creating is a blessing and a curse. New York is full of creations, every where you look there is more to buy. For a person trying to shrink her ecological footprint by making better consumer choices, the sheer magnitude of non-green items can be overwhelming and a little spirit crushing. Shop after shop we went into, drawn by the gorgeous designs, but let down that the items we craved were not green.

Please, don't get me wrong. There were green purchases to be found, and had we carefully planned and researched where every green store in Manhattan was, we would probably have had better luck. But this was a casual fun weekend, not so planned out, and the casual sampling of stores did not yield a ton of results. Yes, I guess I was pouting like a baby being in the middle of stores who's aesthetics I loved, but had nothing green to offer me. And, yes, I had guilty pangs of jealousy watching a friend I was with fill her shopping bags with items I probably would have purchased in December before making my sustainable clothing resolution.

I was a little mopey by Sunday morning, when I found some awesome retail therapy in vintage clothing and original pieces from reclaimed materials at Hairy Mary's... which I will detail at length in the next blog because the store was so great it deserves more consideration and lovin then my bleary-eyed, exhausted self can give it at the moment. It's now 3:30 am and my insomnia is sure to bite me in the ass in the morning. I am also a little afraid to see what this rambling looks like with less groggy eyes and a cup of coffee.

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!

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?