This guest post was written by Kyle Simpson (shot bio below).  Though many of us are familiar with eco-friendly or green fashion, this post serves are a good reminder for all of us.

There are many ways in which you can enjoy an eco-friendly lifestyle. You can start eating organic fruits and vegetables that are grown without the use of harmful chemical pesticides and meats that are raised without hormones or antibiotics. And a green home can incorporate planet friendly building materials, a strong dependence on natural light, energy-saving appliances and electronics, and of course, a recycling center. You can even do your part to make the Earth greener by volunteering to plant trees, work at a community garden, or educate kids about the benefits of recycling, re-using, and renewing. However, one area that you may not have realized has the potential to go green is your fashion shopping. And here are a few ways you can get on board with all that is eco-chic for your wardrobe.

1. Clothing. Eco-friendly clothes are no longer limited to the sad-sack offerings of old. An entire industry has sprung up around the idea of fabrics that are not only sustainable and treated with low-impact dyes, but are also comfortable and on par with the fashions of the day. To that end, you can find a variety of options when it comes to feel, from organic cotton (including super-soft jersey) to hemp silk to bamboo fiber. Not only that, but famous designers like Stella McCartney and Linda Loudermilk offer full lines of eco-friendly fashions.
2. Shoes. If you thought eco friendly shoes came only in a small variety of cork sandals and hemp sneaks, you were so wrong. Green kicks can be found in every style a woman needs from pumps to boots to strappy high-heeled sandals. If you’re skeptical, check out the huge selection at Planet Shoes, and eco-friendly e-tailer, to find the green footwear you’ve been yearning for (even Crocs offers some cute wedges for summer!)
3. Accessories. From handbags to headbands to bangles and eyewear, you can accent your outfits in eco-friendly materials that will leave you looking and feeling great. You can find products made with eco-fabrics, humanely-treated animal leather (or leather substitutes), and even wood. Many companies also employ production processes that cut down on waste and recycle, in addition to donating a portion of proceeds to green organizations or charities.
4. Gas vs. electricity. There are two ways to shop. You can go to the store or do your browsing online. If you visit a physical outlet, you will burn fuel (unless you prefer mass transit) and support an industry that pumps tons of power into well-lit and outrageously air-conditioned malls. Certainly there are some items that need to be tried on in person, but most online stores offer a standard return policy (30 days) and by shopping online, you are using far less electricity.
5. Recycle. When you are ready to dump your old outfits, consider sending them off for a second life at a thrift shop that caters to homeless and battered women’s shelters. And when you go to buy, try out the other end of the recycled clothing spectrum by shopping for vintage pieces that give you a uniquely retro style.

Kyle Simpson writes for Medical Coding where you can find information on a career in medical billing and coding industry.

I recently saw a new documentary on the American garment industry called, Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags.  It goes into how the fashion/garment industry got started in America with New York City being at the center of it all, and where it is today.

Dozens of people who were at one time or is still in the industry were interviewed.  Individuals who’s parents worked in the New York City Garment District in the early part of the last century, union workers,  entrepreneurs who started garment manufacturing companies and people who was recently pushed out of business or laid off for various reasons were featured.  Reasons includes smaller companies going public, the recently crashed economy and factories going overseas.  Its a historical piece that’s both fascinating and will force you to think about our individual and collective choices.

How does this relate to green living?

“In 1965, 95% of American clothing was made in the U.S.A.; by 2009, only 5% is manufactured here.”

Most of our clothing is not local and is being shipped in from overseas.  The carbon footprint couldn’t get much larger than that.

Where is our clothing coming from?

Most of us are familiar with sweatshop labor, but I guess I didn’t realize that so many of our clothing comes from places that still practice modern day slavery. Though I personally try to be mindful where my clothing comes from, its sometimes hard to pass up on a good deal.  The problem is, that $10 dress from any large discount retailer cost more than just $10 as pointed out in the Story of Stuff video.  Chatting with local designers in the Portland area, I learned just how difficult and costly it is to create just one garment.  Factors such as the cost of materials (especial organic), paying employees a fair living wage, rent, insurance, overhead and so many others makes it difficult to break even sometimes let alone turn over a profit. Just because some locally made items are being sold at high double or triple digit prices, doesn’t mean the brick and mortar stores, online shop owners, designers, seamstress, etc are living large.  Its a tough and many times thankless industry to be in.

What can we do?

That is a very good question and I am always open to ideas. I do know we have to change our shopping and consumption habits: buy less and buy local.   Is there anything else we as individuals can do to reverse this trend?

Moxsie.com is a new online fashion boutique that primarily carries items by independent designers.  In this fashionably diverse online store, you will find apparel for both men and women, jewelry, handbags, footwear and accessories.   If you’re a fashionista in search of of new look by independent, non-corporate designers, Moxsie is the place to go.

Moxsie.com has an eco-friendly spin-off shop dedicated to clothing, shoes and accessories made from recycled, repurposed and organic materials at Moxsie Eco Shop.  There you will find shoes made from 100% bamboo-cotton, dresses made from 100% vintage silk, 100% organic cotton sweaters, handbags made from rubber tires and the list goes on.

Moxie.com is committed to giving back to local and global communities so a portion of every  purchase is donated to a charity of the customer’s choice.  Charities includes March of Dimes, Dress for Success, Sierra Club, Feed the Children and several other organizations.  You can find the entire list of charities here.

Until December 15th, get 15% off at Moxsie.com, by entering code Eco15 at checkout.

Crafting a Green World – DIY for Environmentalists
Crafting a Green World is a network of bloggers, artists, crafters and designers that teaches us a wide variety of environmentally friendly do it yourself  design and art projects.  You will find a wide variety of projects such as jewelry, home decor, accessories, stationery, baby supplies and so much more. All projects utilizes eco-friendly and  chemical free supplies and rehashes all types of materials such as glass, newspaper, fabric from old clothes, buttons, shipping peanuts, junk mail, CDs and more.  Whatever it is, you can be sure someone has or will make something useful and artistic out of it on Crafting a Green World.   Some of my favorite projects includes Recycle Grocery Bags Into Eco Packaging and just about everything in the home and garden section.

The bloggers at Crafting a Green World also introduce various artists such as yarn spinners,  organic fabric,  stationery and jewelry designers.  The buy handmade section is my first stop when I’m shopping for handmade gifts. Many of the featured designers and artists sell their creations on Etsy.

My contribution to Crafting a Green World: San Francisco Bay Area Resource for Eco Home Improvement

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Green and Gorgeous
Green and Gorgeous is a brand new blog by Jennae Petersen of Green Your Decor and Hibiscus Creative. I’m less familiar with Hibiscus Creative, but I have loved Green Your Decor for quite a while (so much so, I wrote a sort blurb about it several weeks ago).  I’ve learned so much about eco-friendly home decor and design and discovered a lot of resources on her blog.

What’s discussed at Green & Gorgeous?  Just about everything else related to green living including her own personal journey.  Jennae goes into a variety of subjects from  fashion to food to cell phones. What I love about both her blogs is that she writes about green living and related subjects without finger pointing.  When you check out her blog, don’t forget to enter her Nostalgia Organics soap giveaway.

If you’re a handbag lover, did you know that vegan, eco-friendly purses and handbags could be so stylish?

Go to Stefani Bags and check out their Matt & Natt line. These bags 100% vegan, made with vegan leather, 100% recycled gray faux suede lining (made from recycled plastic water bottles), antique brass and copper hardware.  I received my Takumi bag a few days ago from Stefani Bags and I couldn’t be happier with the style and quality.  These bags are made to last!

When you shop at Stefani Bags until August 7th, you can get 25% off all Matt & Nat vegan bags by using promotional code Green25 at checkout.

Diane Kennedy Serene Pant

Amy DuFault has been writing about fashion and design for ten years at such publications as Boston Magazine, Coastal Living and Bluefly.com as well as appearing on ABC’s Emmy award-winning Boston news magazine Chronicle and NBC’s Style File as a fashion expert.

Currently she works as lead fashion writer for ecosalon where she writes about trends, news and designers who continue to amaze her.

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I’ve been working in women’s retail for years and because I work with higher-end brands I always get the question, “Why don’t they design for larger women?”

To which I can only shrug my shoulders, uncertain myself.

Thankfully, some sustainable fashion designers are taking the lead and doing it with some great styling as one of the biggest complaints about plus-size clothing is that they always make it frumpy. Maternity moms might be tempted to say the same, but the eco-industry has treated them much better than plus-sized women when it comes to styling, affordability and access.

Designers like Diane Kennedy, Lundstrom and Spun have found the right recipe to flatter even the fullest figure with ruching, bias cuts, wraps dresses and smart layers – looks anyone would want.

A few styling tricks, while you’re here: never cover with more material than you need and once you do find a great line, start building a staple wardrobe with pieces you love and rid yourself of all the frump you don’t.

For more great eco-designers, online shopping sites and venues for plus-sized women, check out a great list at greengrechen.

Naturally Trendy an eco-friendly baby boutique that has everything from organic baby clothes, non-toxic toys, nursing supplies to organic furniture is giving away a pair of Cale Organic baby booties (0-3 months) to one lucky Green and Chic reader.

From Naturally Trendy:

“Oh so cute! The vegan baby booties are stylish, super soft, and ultra eco-friendly, made from designer organic fabric. One of celebrities’ favorites, Mia Joie baby booties are handmade in USA and there is no other like it. Because of this, not every detail is perfect, but it is perfectly unique. These organic, vegan baby booties come gift packaged in an eco-friendly and reusable fabric bag.”

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Here’s how to enter:

Leave a brief comment below telling me which product(s) you are interested in from the Naturally Trendy website and how you would use it (gift, for yourself, etc).  This is your first entry.

To earn more points, you can do each of the following (separate comment for each entry):

1. Blog about the giveaway and link back to this page on your blog. Comment below with the link in case I dont get a pingback.

2. Sign up for my email updates or RSS feed. Leave a comment below telling me that you have signed up. You will also get an entry if you already subscribe — make sure to leave a comment!

3. Follow me on Twitter and tweet about the giveaway. To make it easier, you can use the “retweet” button at the top left hand side of this post.  Leave a comment telling me that you followed & tweeted.

4. Email 5 friends about the giveaway. Leave a comment below telling me that you did.

5. Stumble this post and leave a comment telling me that you did.

You can do one or all of the above. The more you do, the better your chance of winning. The contest will end on Monday, July 6th 12:00PM PST. The winner will be selected via Random.org and will be notified via email and will also be announced in a future post.

Grechen’s Closet (aka Green Grechen) has teamed up with stefanibags.com and is giving away another beautiful handbag.  Stefani Bags is offering this  Takumi bag in grey made from “vegan leather”, 100% recycled grey faux suede lining, antique brass and copper hardware.

Go to Grechen’s Closet to find out how to enter.

Contest ends June 15.

Related post: Enter to Win an eco-friendly Beth Springer Handbag on Green Grechen!

Previous posts in this series:
Eco Fashion: What is it?
Eco Fashion: Do it yourself – Organic Fabric
Eco Fashion: Do it Yourself – Yarn
Eco Fashion: The Cost of Eco Fashion
Eco Fashion: Consignment
Eco Fashion: Thrift Stores and a little link love

Though there are online options for used clothing such as eBay and Craigslist.  Online swapping is also growing in popularity.  I recently started swapping clothing and books on sites such as:

Rehash

Dig n Swap

Swapstyle

SwapTree

All of these websites are free to register and post.  You only pay the cost of shipping when a transaction takes place.

There are also many local events and gatherings where clothing and accessory swapping takes place.  To find an event in your area, check out Clothing Swap Meetup. Though each group have their own set of rules, you generally have to bring a certain amount of clean clothing for admission and you can leave with several “new” articles of clothing, shoes and/or accessories.

You can also host your own event. The Alpha Mom – Guide to Everything blog has a post on How to Host a Clothing Swap that takes you through each step of hosting your swapping event.   About My Planet has a similar article in Host a Clothing Swap Party.

I find clothing swapping to be a fun and rewarding “shopping” experience – not to mention easy on the wallet and closet. Doing it online is relatively pain free and you can ask as many questions about the clothing as you’d like (size, condition, measurements, etc).  Swapping in-person can also be a very fun and social experience.

Have you ever attended a clothing swapping event or swapped online?

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Yes, I did publish this a few days ago.  Unfortunately, I had a major technical error in WordPress that devoured this post.  My apologies to everyone who commented on the original post.

Green Grechen has teamed up with  Beth Springer and is giving away this Beth Springer Market bag in “natural” (valued at $715) made from vegetable tanned leather & love in Venice, California.

To enter, leave a comment on Green Grechen telling her something you’d like to do to “create a little less waste and a little more love” in this world.

Contest ends June 20.