A Planet-Loving Look
Environmentally correct dressing was once the exclusive domain of the function-over-fashion crowd. Within that world, choices were limited. You could wear an undyed, unbleached eco-nerd beige cotton T-shirt. Or something made of cork, fish skin or rubber reclaimed from used inner tubes.
Recently, however, the whole environmental dressing movement has gone mainstream. Big-league players, such as Levi Strauss & Co., Esprit and VF Corp., are designing sportswear made of organically grown cotton or other fabrics that use non-polluting technologies.
There are two reasons for the increase in Earth-friendly clothing: consumers have expressed an interest in chemical-free apparel, just as they have in organically grown vegetables. And the companies involved see it as a potential growth area.
Results, so far, have been mixed.
When introduced last December, Levi’s Naturals--brown denim men’s jeans and jackets--sold out in Los Angeles in two days, according to company spokesperson Jill Novak. The fawn-colored fabric used in Naturals is made of Fox Fibre, a cotton genetically programmed to grow in colors to eliminate the need for toxic dyes. Clothes made from this fiber get darker, rather than faded, with age. (The line is available at Millers Outpost on Pico and Robertson boulevards.)
Sales of Esprit’s new environmentally correct Ecollection, however, have fluctuated with the geography. “The response has been best in Paris, New York and Australia, where we have an older customer,” says Tracy Wheeler, director of advertising for Esprit International. “In Los Angeles, which has a younger customer, we’re encountering some price resistance.” Ecollection prices are about 10% higher than Esprit.
Spring’s Ecollection (available at the Esprit Superstore and Fred Segal for a Better Ecology) included only leaf green and natural-colored cottons and linens. For fall, designer Lynda Grose added more color, fabric and silhouette choices, including multicolored tweed jackets made from recycled fabrics.
The next big entry into the eco-fashion market is O Wear, an off-shoot of Green Cotton Environment, the Los Angeles-based T-shirt line sold at Fred Segal for a Better Ecology in Santa Monica. The firm was purchased recently by the apparel conglomerate VF Corp., parent of Vanity Fair lingerie, Girbaud, Lee and Jantzen. Featuring contemporary knits made of organically grown cotton for men and women, O Wear will appear in stores this fall.
In the future, consumers will get guidance in separating truly environmentally conscious clothing from “green pretenders.” Green Seal, a nonprofit Washington-based organization, is working to standardize ecological criteria clothing would need to meet in order to be awarded the group’s Green Seal.
The environmental seal of approval, which will function sort of like the Underwriters Laboratory seal on appliances, could start appearing on clothing in about a year.
