THE GOODS : Down-to-Earth Shopping Guide

Just in time for holiday shopping, the second annual “EcoStyle Guide” offers a catalogue of casual clothing, footwear and accessories with impeccable earth-friendly credentials.

It’s published as a supplement to Men’s Health magazine by Rodale Press, which focuses on wholesome, “how-to” publications.

“Our readers are interested in environmental issues, so last year we did a small ‘EcoStyle Guide’ and wrote about it in the magazine,” says Rodale spokesman Patrick Taylor.

“As we looked again this year we were frankly quite amazed at the growth--we have 150 companies, which is almost twice as many as last year.”

The catalogue includes a directory of manufacturers as big as Levi Strauss (the silverTab collection of jeans and shirts from recycled denim scraps) and as small as Headcase (hemp baseball caps printed with your personal logo).

With such mottoes as “Get dressed without undressing the Earth,” the manufacturers are using organic cottons, fleece made from recycled pop bottles, hemp blends, low-impact dyes and a wealth of recycled remnants for the new lines.

“The fabrics are softer, more durable and more beautiful this year,” Taylor says. “That’s part of the industry’s evolution.”

The free “EcoStyle Guide” won’t be contributing to the junk mail waste stream either. It comes to you only if you ask, by sending an Internet request to ecogude@aol.com or writing to EcoStyle Guide, Rodale Press Inc., 14 E. Minor St., Emmaus, Pa. 18098-0099.