Retail Giants Joining the Green Movement : Apparel: Levi Strauss & Co., Esprit and Nike among those selling environmentally correct clothing.
The move to be environmentally friendly started off slowly. First newspapers were recycled, then bottles and cans. Now you can dress in environmentally friendly garb from head to toe. Yes, even recycled shoes.
Environmentally correct clothing, once considered a foolish venture by critics, is now being sold by retail giants such as Levi Strauss & Co., VF Corp. (owner of Wrangler and Lee), Esprit and Nike.
O Wear, a VF subsidiary, is marketing a line of organic cotton T-shirts and casual wear at Fred Segal outlets and the Beverly Center Bullock’s. Levi’s Naturals, produced by the San Francisco-based blue jean king, has a collection of natural-colored jeans and jackets, while Seventh Generation of Vermont offers sweaters and underwear. And come next spring, Nike will unveil a partially recycled athletic shoe.
Andrea Wills, a spokeswoman for Natural Cotton Colours, a company that provides cotton to retail clothiers, says organic cotton is grown without the use of chemicals. The company also sells a type of cotton that grows naturally in shades of green and brown.
Finding these items is still not as easy as heading down to the mall. Some are offered exclusively through mail order, but virtually all of the companies selling these products plan to expand.
“It’s commendable when a big company takes a first step” toward environmental awareness, says George Akers, who in 1989 founded Green Cotton, which has since become O Wear under VF. “Everything they (VF) learn will filter down through the $3-billion corporation.” VF owns Wrangler, Lee, JanSport and Health-tex. In 1991, it was ranked 152nd on Forbes list of 500 top companies.
Akers attributed O Wear’s success to his clientele--financially secure, educated men and women in their 20s and 30s. “They have the money to start the change,” he says. “They’re going to buy it because it’s fashionable and it’s environmentally correct,” Akers says.
Already present in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Chicago, O Wear is anticipating moving into other markets such as Seattle, Atlanta and Denver.
Levi’s Naturals, which are brown denim jeans and jackets, are made with naturally colored cotton, spokeswoman Jill Lynch says. “The dyeing process is eliminated.”
“We introduced (Levi’s Naturals) into eight markets last year,” she says. “The response was so strong we rolled it out to over 200 stores.”
The success has prompted Levi to diversify its offerings, Lynch says. Levi has plans to introduce a line of natural green shirts next year.
“I think you’re seeing companies trying to respond to the environmental movement,” says Lynn Spuhler, western regional director of Kurt Salmon Associates, a consulting firm. But even with that effort, the fledgling movement still only accounts for less than 5% of the $120-billion retail industry. “(The movement) is in its infancy and it’s hard to predict what impact it’s going to have.”
Akers became involved in the organic cotton movement in 1989. “I found that cotton is a very polluted fabric.” He says O Wear uses nontoxic dyes.
Seventh Generation, a 4-year-old company that posted earnings of $7.5 million last year, offers a wide range of environmentally friendly products, including blankets and socks. They have close to 300 stores, though largely in the Northeast, and are looking to expand distribution nationwide by the spring.
And like Levi, Seventh Generation is also looking to add more color to its line. “Growing cotton in color solved so many problems,” says Jonathan Radigan, the company’s public relations director.
However, the environmentally friendly clothing campaign is not limited to traditional fabrics.
Billing their product as “nature’s leather,” Jungle Beach Corp. of Honolulu has introduced a line of cork clothing. Though the line is 100% natural, it is also expensive--$230 for a skirt and $520 for a raincoat.
“Cork is a great product because it sheds from trees naturally,” Theresa Thurmond, owner of Jungle Beach Corp. said. “We have an overabundance of it.”
But when you think of cork, Thurmond says, don’t think of the stoppers used in wine bottles. She says her company uses a finer grade. “We only use the top 1% of all cork produced.”
Thurmond said she will open her first store Nov. 15 in Marina del Rey.
This “just do it” attitude toward recycling has even propelled Nike to jump into the act. Spokesman Dusty Kidd said the process entails grinding up old or imperfect sneakers. Kidd says the byproducts--rubber and fiber--are separated, and the rubber is used to make up 20% of new shoe soles.
Nike has no use for the fiber, Kidd says, but has been contacted by other companies looking to use the material as filling for futons and briefcases. Nike says the “Air Escape Lo” will be available this spring.
