What: Free Bird Bad Habits Lunch Tote

Where: MightyNest – $21.95

Why We Love It: “Bad Habits are Disposable Good Habits are Reusable” is a good motto to live by, and this reusable lunch tote from Rebel Green makes it easier to embrace good habits like skipping the brown bag at lunch time. Made in the USA from 100% organic cotton and printed with low impact inks, this cheeky tote is great for lunches on the go for kids or grown-ups. Pair it with a reusable cloth napkin for added ‘green.’

What: Women’s Kamala Skirt

Where: Altrec.com – $47.19 – $59.00 (free shipping)

Why We Love It: You know how we love a 2-in-1 piece! This versatile garment transforms from a long flowy skirt into a knee-length halter dress and it’s wrinkle-free which makes it an ideal, care-free piece for summer vacations. Love the purple stripes, but this breezy skirt is also available in black, smoke, white stripes, and two floral prints.

It is made of a blend of 55% organic cotton and 45% Tencel® and can be ecycled through Patagonia’s Common Threads Recycling Program. Tencel is an environmentally friendly cellulose based fiber that has natural wicking properties, but because it needs to be mechanically broken down, yields a lower quality fabrics when recycled. Take a look at Patagonia’s Footprint Chronicles for more information on the eco-footprint of this product from waste generated to distance traveled to CO2 emitted. Pretty interesting.

What: Pleated Flannel Bedding Collection

Where: Pure Habitat – $20 – $178. Save 20% on first time purchases with coupon code instyle2010

Why We Love It: This time of year, all we want to do is crawl into a warm cozy bed and hibernate, and with this flannel bedding collection from Coyuchi, we are pretty sure we’d be able to sleep straight through to April.

The collection is sourced and manufactured in India in accordance with Fair Trade regulations. It’s made of 100% certified organic cotton and made using low-impact dyes and a nontoxic production process.

What: Air Hazel Setee

Where: Structured Green – $4100 (shipping included)

Why We Love It: Perfect apartment sized setee. Love the slim lines and lack of bulk without sacrificing comfort. Truly lives up to its name, its pure and simple, streamlined and elegant and an unexpected and refreshing shape with the free from arms. Texture comes from the organic embroidery that adorns the back of the setee.

Designer Ami McKay launched her furniture collection to fill the void of stylish, sustainable and healthy furniture for her clients who were seeking chemical-free eco-friendly home environment. To achieve this, her furniture is manufactured locally using biodegradable, natural latex rubber, FSC Certified hardwood frames, organic cotton batting, renewable jute and latex webbing, non-toxic adhesives, OEKO-tex certified wool fabrics that use organic dyes, renewable and sustainable Kirei grass and wheat boards, and fast growing hemp and bamboo. Because of these high eco-standards, PURE furniture also counts towards the collection of LEED points.

Available in 11 colors: Aegean, Waves, Coffee Bean, Sunrise, Charcoal, Sunburst, Inferno, Stone, Vapor, Cloud, and Clay with or without the embroidery detail. See also the coordinating Fire Cyrilla Arm Chair by PURE and the Structured Green Fire Cyrilla Daybed by PURE.

What: Organic Cotton Horton Lovie Blankee

Where: Amazon.com – $14.49

Why We Love It: Two of our favorite things have come together is this new collection of MiYim’s simply organic lovie blankees and plush toys featuring beloved Dr. Suess characters like the Cat in the Hat, Horton and The Lorax. The oh so snuggly Lovie Blankies are sure to be a favorite with your little ones and likely will go with them to ‘all the places they will go.’

Parents will take comfort in knowing that their child’s security blanket is made from natural cotton that is unprocessed, untreated, and unbleached and colored with miYim’s PureWaterWashTM process using only plants and minerals. Safe for your little one to chew and snuggle and better for the environment too. The Lorax would certainly approve!

organic toys

Who:

What: Kuma Pillow, Zig

Where: Exclusively Home – $54 with free shipping, also available in Dot, Feather, Fingerprint, Herringbone & Tatami

Why We Love It: We can’t wait to get our hands on this new collection of throw pillows from Areaware. The patterns are just incredibly cool, modern and colorful and fun. In fact, we were so taken by the Zig pattern when we first saw it, (these prints were first introduced as a limited edition collection of teddy bears), that we just couldn’t resist and ended up convincing ourselves that, yes,  it’s totally normal for grown-ups to have teddy bears… Suffice to say we were psyched to see the patterns resurface in a collection of throw pillows. (Trade you a bear for a pillow?)

The lively fabric designs are the creation of Ross Menuez who has designed everything from a small airplane to costumes for Bjork and has collaborated with Areaware in the past to create the Fauna Collection (remember the onesies?). The covers are hand silk-screened on organic cotton canvas using environmentally friendly, soy-based inks and filled with a down insert.  The canvas is pretty heavy duty and quite soft.  You can also get your hands on these prints in the form of pouches and Tote Bags.

Who:

What: “Marlene Dietrich” One-Piece Bathing Costume

Where: Yooxygen – $185

Why We Love It: British designer, Katharine Hamnett, designed this special edition collection of beachwear for YOOXYGEN (YOOX’s eco-line).  Her 14 piece vinatage inspired collection features garments made from organic cotton, recycled polyester and renewable fabrics in an effort to raise awareness about the fragility of our oceans and the critical need to protect them. Perfect timing considering the disaster in the gulf with the BP oil spill threatening to destroy entire ecosystems in the Gulf if they haven’t been destroyed already.

The sultry one-piece suit made of 100% organic habotai silk and can be worn as bathing suit or as cover up. It’s a nod to 1950′s pinups like its namesake, Marlene Dietrich when suits were more modest but still full of sex appeal. Love all the figure flattering details like the ruching up the sides, the demure neckline, the generous hemline and the cute little shorts to cover up any less than perfect  ‘bits’.  And the zipper up the back just adds to the sex appeal.

If you are looking for other eco-friendly bathing options, BTC Elements has a great collection of eco-friendly swimsuits designed for all bodies of water.

On the other hand, it is good to see a large retailer making an effort to present more eco-friendly options at more affordable prices.  Most people are not comfortable or able to spend $60 on a t-shirt when they could spend, literally $3 at Walmart (actually for even less, I went in there the other day and saw a misses sweatshirt and tank top set selling for a total of $3 – how is the ‘green’ market supposed to compete with that when most people would take cheap over quality and cheap over ethical and cheap over eco-friendly, but I digress…. ). The line is made from fabrics made of organic linen, organic cotton, tencel & recycled polyester.

And I’ve got to say the collection has some great pieces (had to buy a couple just for the sake of research). They’ve got vibrant florals, soft pinks, bold blues, breezy tops, frilly dresses, boyfriend jeans, shoes, a linen biker jacket which is kind of awesome and a red rosette dress that is amazing if it weren’t so incredibly short. The entire collection has a hippie chic vibe but with more modern silhouettes and a bit of Lady Gaga thrown in there. Definitely appeals to the ‘tween’ crowd with uber short hemlines ( I am dating myself here), but If you need some fun pieces for your spring wardrobe, there are plenty of pieces that could work for ladies of all ages.

The hope here is that this line sells well and retailers begin to realize even more the value of adopting green practices one step at a time. So, hopefully this is not a passing trend with H&M and they continue to make collections from real, green fabrics and one day with green manufacturing/shipping/labor practices as well.

Who: FIN – Oslo, Norway

What: Cropped Sleeves Dress

Where: Equita – $220 $160

Why: Love flared skirt, love the slim fit waist, love the neckline and love the ever so slightly puffy sleeves. A simple dress with exquisite lines and the classic look of Audrey Hepburn with just the right amount of sweetness and elegance.

You can feel good about wearing this dress and not just because you look good – this dress is made of 100% organic cotton and is certified Fair Trade by a carbon neutral company (FIN invests in climate credits).

FIN is an eco-luxe label who takes into consideration the entire chain of creation of their garments – from the cotton production to the spinning, dying and finishing of the fabric -  to ensure they are carried out in an eco-responsible manner.

Emma Watson’s (of Harry Potter fame) collaboration with eco-fashion label People Tree, Love from Emma, will hit stores on Febuary 8th. Their collection features youthful, comfortable and environmentally and socially conscious clothing for both men and women including jersey t-shirts, dresses, woven skirts, trousers, shorts and knitwear. The line is made using 100% organic and FairTrade certified cotton and hand crafted by FairTrade groups in Bangladesh and India. Emma’s main motivation in creating the line was to promote fair-trade and ethical fashion. She donated her entire fee as creative advisor to support the communities where the collection was made.

Irish designer, Sharon Wauchob has joined Edun as their new Creative Director. Edun founder (and wife of Bono), Ali Hewson was looking for someone to bring the socially and environmentally conscious fashion label in to the 21st century. Sharon is known for her innovative looks and her use of unusual materials and fabrics. The new collection is expected to launch Spring 2011.

And some not so good eco-news – don’t believe the labels…. European brands H&M, C&A and Tchibo have been caught up in an organic cotton fraud selling what they claim was 100% organic clothing, but after testing, it was discovered that 30% of the ‘certified organic’ clothing was actually a genetically modified cotton sourced from the same supplier in India. And to add insult to injury, when the tainted organic collection was found out, instead of donating the ‘contaminate’ cotton clothing to charity, H&M slashed it and trashed it – for shame!