Interested in “green fashion” and learning about the garments’ social and environmental impact? Need a new list of great blogs to check out? Check out Ecouterre to get your fill of both!
Have you seen them yet? April 27, 2009
Payless is now carrying Zoe & Zac’s eco-friendly shoe line for women and girls made from organic cotton and linen, natural hemp, jute, recycled rubber, and water-based glues. The boxes they come in are 100% recycled shoe boxes and are printed with soy-based ink. If you shop now through May 4, 2009 online or in a store, your second pair of shoes is half off. I just love an eco-bargain just time for Spring!
Daisy Frayed Skimmer
Copyright © 2008. Trying To Be Greener. All rights reserved.
Easily accessible eco-friendly clothes and shoes March 23, 2009
Have you heard the news? Starting April 19, 2009, Target will be selling a 100% organic cotton clothing line for a limited time at Target.com and select Target stores nationwide.
The collection, called Loomstate, is designed by Scott Mackinlay Hahn and CFDA award winning designer Rogan Gregory.
The line was created due to the demand for certified organic cotton using socially and environmentally responsible methods of production. The entire collection will range in price from 14.99 to $44.99. You can view the entire collection here.
And just a reminder, Payless Shoes announced last year that they will be selling a “green” line of shoes for this April as well. I checked their web site and don’t see them as being offered yet. However, I did see that they’re currently selling, shoes made from hemp and flip flops with a PVC-free, degradable, recyclable ecoFoam outsole.
Copyright © 2008. Trying To Be Greener. All rights reserved.
Giveaway – Adorable, organic onezee with something to say January 19, 2009
Giveaway is over.
The winner is:
Here is your sequence:
- 3
Timestamp: 2009-01-27 15:16:01 UTC
Congratulations Kathleen!
So often I see beautiful, organic clothes for babies but the cost often prevents me from purchasing them. Even though I know that it’s better to have organic cotton near Eco Girl’s skin rather than not, I just can’t see buying a t-shirt for over $20.00 that I know she’s going to outgrow in three months.
There’s hope for buying organic without breaking the bank, though. Gobaby has the most adorable organic onezees and t-shirts for toddlers with catchy sayings, like “handle with care”, “fragile” and “100% natural”, that cost only $12.00. But it gets even better. Right now they’re offering free shipping and Trying To Be Greener readers can get 25% off when MOMDEALS is entered at check out.
Lucky you: One reader will win an Organic Onezee or T-shirt from GoBaby! You can enter a total of 5 times (leave a separate comment for each entry).
- Comment on this post for your first entry. Only one comment per person will count as an entry.
- Subscribe to Trying To Be Greener or let me know if you’re already a subscriber.
- Spread the word on Twitter with a link to this post.
- Give this post a Stumble.
- Blog about this contest on your own site.
This giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents and will end on January 26, 2009 at 12 midnight, EST. The lucky winner will be chosen by Random.org and will be notified by email. If the winner does not respond within 3 days, a new winner will be chosen. Good luck!
Copyright © 2008. Trying To Be Greener. All rights reserved.
Book Review – Itsabelly’s Guide to Going Green with Baby January 14, 2009
For much of my adult life, I considered myself a “green girl” but when I became pregnant in early 2007, I discovered a whole new area of health concerns that I didn’t know about – plastics, personal care products and more. I used the internet to help with many resourceful sites on what to be aware of and what I needed for the arrival and care of my new daughter. How I wished all of this information could have been in one concise resource.
Itsabelly’s Guide to Going Green with Baby by Jennifer Lo Prete and Melissa Moog is just that. Melissa Moog is the founder of Itsa-belly, a great resource for all things baby. This all inclusive book lists safer, eco-choices from clothing, bedding, skin care and baby wearing, just to name a few. So many specifics are given, like safer baby wipes with homemade wipe solution and better choices for non-toxic cribs and mattresses.
Itsabelly’s Guide to Going Green with Baby:
- shows you how “going green” and making “safer” choices doesn’t have to be more expensive.
- shows you how “greener” and “safer” options are more easily available than you may think.
- gives specific items to consider with company web sites.
- provides you with a very helpful glossary of important terms.
- gives you a “green” resource directory with web sites of associations and blogs.
- scatters eco-friendly tips throughout the book.
I myself wish I had something like this book before I was even pregnant to help me with understanding the importance of avoiding parabens, BPA, phthalates and other harmful components. This book is a must for anyone considering becoming pregnant, is pregnant or has a baby.
Itsabelly’s Guide to Going Green with Baby can be purchased directly through Itsabelly, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.
Copyright © 2008. Trying To Be Greener. All rights reserved.
Make your own “green” toys December 3, 2008
Yesterday, I attended a webinar held by Mothering on natural toys. Many wonderful “green” toys were mentioned that you can buy online. What really got my interest, though, was a fantastic site they mentioned called, Make Baby Stuff. Do yourself a favor and check it out. There’s lots of tutorials on how to make wooden toys, sewn toys, and recycled toys. There’s even simple clothes patterns and a doll pattern. Toys made by hand are so much more special than those you buy in the stores, and when there’s help to do it yourself, that’s even better.
Copyright © 2008. Trying To Be Greener. All rights reserved.
Startling fact about formaldehyde November 24, 2008
I was watching “Stuff Happens” on Planet Green yesterday and Bill Nye was talking about insulation for your home. He mentioned that formaldehyde is in traditional fiber glass insulation and the “anti-green” issue with it is that after we’re through with it, it goes in a dump, thus reeking havoc on the environment. Two “greener” alternatives to fiberglass insulation were given. One was recycled blue jeans and the other was vegetables, believe it or not. There is now a vegetable oil polyurethane insulation foam where bubbles within it trap air. Both are amazing products.
What really struck me during this segment was a horrifying fact he gave about formaldehyde. Twenty years ago, two times the amount of formaldehyde was needed to embalm a body. Now, only half the amount is needed due to the fact that we have so much formaldehyde already in our body. Here are typical products that contain it:
- cosmetics
- paper
- wood
- clothes
- mouthwash
- nail polish
- hair spray
- perfume
- floor polish
- toothpaste
- wax
- spray starch
- deodorant
According to Wikipedia, formaldehyde is “classified as a probable human carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has determined that there is “sufficient evidence” that occupational exposure to formaldehyde causes nasopharyngeal cancer in humans. Formaldehyde has been banned in cosmetics in both Sweden and Japan.”
Scary, isn’t it? Probably the simplest ways to reduce the amount of formaldehyde you come in contact with is to read the ingredients on all your personal care products, visit Skin Deep for safer ones, and use “greener” cleaning supplies. Remember, small changes over a long period of time can make a big difference.
UPDATE: December 1, 2008 – The EPA has announced that it will be looking into the health risks of formaldehyde in pressed wood products
Copyright © 2008. Trying To Be Greener. All rights reserved.
Payless is going “green” November 6, 2008
Something I’ve always been disappointed about when it comes to being “greener” is that it often means paying more for the choices I make. Well, now there’s some good news when it comes to shoes.
Payless has announced that in April 2009, they will be launching a “green” line of 8 – 12 women’s shoes and handbags that will cost about $30.00. Shoes for children and men will follow.
Inexpensive “greener” products that are easily accessible to many? That’s music to my ears. Do you know of any other companies with inexpensive, eco-friendly clothing and shoe lines? Let us know.
Copyright © 2008. Trying To Be Greener. All rights reserved.
Just too cute, eco-friendly baby shoes October 22, 2008
Not too long ago, I wrote about some really cute, Earth friendly casual shoes. Lately, I’ve been on the lookout for the same in baby shoes since my daughter is standing now and it seems like walking is right around the corner. She tends to still put a lot in her mouth and I’m always checking when I have her in the stroller that she hasn’t pulled off her socks and started munching on them. Finding shoes for her that are as non-toxic as possible is a major plus since they’re probably the next things she’ll find interesting and want to pull off to investigate. Here are some I know of listed below. If you know of any other Earth friendly shoes for babies that I haven’t mentioned, please tell us about them!
Stride Rite’s Early Walkers have a recycled rubber outer sole, water-based inks for the details and logo, and natural stitching. They’re not exactly inexpensive but Stride Rite’s shoes have excellent support which is always important, especially for little babies.
Scooterbees are made with Sensuede fabric, a breathable micro-suede engineered and patented wrinkle, fray, shrink and spill-resistant material. The fabric is made with 100% post-consumer and post-industrial polyester and is produced without the use of harmful solvents. They are lined with bamboo velour fabric that is naturally anti-bacterial and anti-fungal. The soles are made with the anti-slip and water-resistant ThermoPlastic Elastomer (TPE) material. According to Scooterbees site, TPE is a degradable material made of carbon and hydrogen, and it uses no harmful chemicals in its production such as in traditional PVC’s. It’s PVC-free, latex-free, chloride-free, dioxin-free, and phthalate-free.
Isabooties are 100% animal free, formaldehyde free, made in the United States with fair labor, use fabrics that exceed the Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Toy Safety, and come in packaging that is recycled/recyclable and printed with soy ink.
These shoes by Simple have hemp uppers with certified organic cotton knit lining, recycled PET and latex elastic, and have 100% post consumer paper pulp foot forms.
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
Copyright © 2008. Trying To Be Greener. All rights reserved.
Happy feet September 3, 2008
Anyone who’s trying to be greener knows that walking and using your bicycle are the best ways to cut back on pollution. It goes without saying that doing both are great for your health, too. If you walk to get places or walk as a form of exercise, it’s important to have a really comfortable pair of shoes.
I’ve been looking for something new to use now that sandal season is on it’s way out. I came across an ad for “J-41 Adventure On” shoes in a magazine and decided to check them out. Their products are made with 100% recycled and recyclable packaging and the outsoles are made with partially recycled rubber. They’re not exactly inexpensive but if you use them often and have them for a few years, they make sense. Doing this is much better than buying inexpensive shoes each season – reduce what you add to landfills. Zappos and Piperlime have many listed and quite a few are on sale right now. They’re just so cute, the problem is, which one to choose?!!!
