On location of 'The Lazy Environmentalist' TV series, season two
source: http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/ecollywood/stories/on-location-of-the-lazy-environmentalist-tv-...
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In my quest to green our fashion designer on the show, I took her to the L.A. showroom of Stewart+Brown, one of the top green fashion lines available today, where cofounders Karen Stewart and Howard Brown showed us the latest in green fabrics. Perhaps my biggest shock so far this season came when Karen and Howard presented their super-soft, luxurious garments made of hemp. Considered one of the greenest materials in existence because it grows rapidly without the need for pesticides or insecticides and requires relatively low amounts of water to cultivate, hemp has historically been coarse to the touch, typically possessing more in common with frumpy potato sacks than with stylish fashion items. To witness hemp’s evolution into a desirable clothing fabric (our non-green fashion designer really liked it, too) is to witness the evolution of the green fashion industry. I assert as much because it takes significant capital investment and years of development for designers and manufacturers to undergo enough “trial and error” to learn how to best work with hemp — or any another green material for that matter — in order to develop attractive products that the marketplace will demand. Ultimately, to replace conventional, synthetic fabrics that are derived from crude oil with more natural alternatives such as hemp on a truly large scale, this is the type of commitment, evolution and innovation required to get us there.
Yet, Stewart+Brown’s success with hemp illuminates a sticky point for the green movement, which is the uncomfortable reality that not all eco-friendly companies and brands are created equal. Some are outstanding while others are still deficient in terms of delivering green products that Americans will realistically gravitate toward. While we may laud the environmental commitment and effort of all eco-entrepreneurs, it’s important to identify those who are creating green products that not only match the attributes of the conventional competition, but, more often than not, surpass them.
http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/ecollywood/stories/on-location-of-the-lazy-environm...
Yet, Stewart+Brown’s success with hemp illuminates a sticky point for the green movement, which is the uncomfortable reality that not all eco-friendly companies and brands are created equal. Some are outstanding while others are still deficient in terms of delivering green products that Americans will realistically gravitate toward. While we may laud the environmental commitment and effort of all eco-entrepreneurs, it’s important to identify those who are creating green products that not only match the attributes of the conventional competition, but, more often than not, surpass them.
http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/ecollywood/stories/on-location-of-the-lazy-environm...
