modern life vs. human nature

This is going to start happening more often as the bigger companies try to add less toxic materials to their supply chains. There are always going to be cheaters on the supply side because there are always greedy, careless business owners. However, H&M admitted the mistakes and are trying to correct them. Am I letting them off the hook? Not really. But I’m not going to trash them today.  You can read the full story at treehugger.com.

It is interesting to note that third party certification agencies EcoCert and Control Union were fined. Why is this interesting? I’m not sure because I just realized I won’t remember these names come purchase time anyway..or will I?

Oh and I chose this picture because India is the largest producer of organic cotton.

Enjoy.

I have spent the last few years researching and building eco friendly clothing for clients and have decided that it is time to launch a new line of clothing that is performance driven, stylish and eco friendly and/or sustainable.  The line will be called Modern Nature or actually Modernature.  I changed it to one word because ..well because I like the way it looks.

Unfortunately, it presents a somewhat perplexing problem for the attention deficit minds of modern consumers; myself included. Most people will assume that the company name is spelled Modern Nature and therefore google it that way. How do I get around this and bring traffic to my site? I am not completely sure but this last paragraph is part of a new ongoing experiment called embedding. If anyone has any advice on how to optimize my site for the eco world I am open to suggestion.

Otherwise, stay tuned to www.modernature.org and .ca and all other derivatives of this name to find the best in sustainable gear.

Enjoy!

Riding a bike makes you healthier. It is a simple fact. If you ride more you feel better, look better make love better and well..isn’t that all that matters. Well, no. The indirect benefit is that you are actually being good to the planet and to others by not polluting their air. While that is no reason to feel bad about driving a car for long errands or work related trips, it is definitely a reason to feel bad about those short trips. Just think by getting on a bike every so often you are less likely to get a “beer gut”  guys and/or “thunder thighs” ladies.

But what really got me back to this topic was this fantastic article in the New York Times about biking.  The two things that hit me about this article were this:

1) Someone else agreed with me that helmets are a not a necessity for riding.

2) Bike zealots are not helping to increase the idea that biking is for everyone.

In short, I will never wear spandex when riding because no one needs to see the shapes of my private parts dangling around a bike seat. I will never wear a reflective orange and yellow “X” style vest because I will look like an idiot. I will not ride an expensive bike and talk about the cranks, brakes, rims or any other tiny, absurd details that make my bike a “pretentious toy”.

To all those people who do these things I say read this article and stop being so judgemental. You will enjoy the ride much more if you understand that anyone on two wheels is your compatriot.

Enjoy.

I stopped producing modrobes years ago when I envisioned doing an environmentally friendly line of clothing that was more fashion forward.  Over the years and after hundreds of requests I recently have been thinking about reviving the brand, and of course the pants. For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, Modrobes was essentially a comfortable, functional pant design that I created for a student project and became relatively popular in Canada in the 90’s.  Modrobes grew into a full line of clothing dedicated to comfort, style and sport. After huge growth that skyrocketed the brand and the company we were soundly thrashed by the “big players” and the industry. In other words,  everyone ripped us off and took advantage of how young, naive and stupid I was as a businessman.

Am I bitter? No. I was for a long time. The business world teaches hard lessons to creative types with big ideas. Over the years, I have talked to many old customers and their positive feedback and “love of the pants” has helped me remember the best parts about the modrobes experience; creating products people love!

So after years of trying to distance myself from Modrobes and not “live in the past” I am contemplating a revival of Modrobes in conjunction with a new “eco” line called Modernature; a sort of “big brother with little brother” clothing company.

Hhhhmmm…

**this jacket above is made from 100% recycled pop bottles and is water reppellent. I designed it for the Ecopurna line.

So my latest project just hit the skids. The brand had to be shelved due to lack of funds from investors. It seems the economy has everyone packing up and leaving..umm..their investments behind. Not to be too melodramatic but it really is a little sad. I had spent years designing these jackets and finally I had an opportunity to bring them to market as a great combination of street, sport and technical environmentally friendliness all rolled into one concept. The entire line was made of recycled pop bottles and included water repellency treatments and stretch characteristics unheard of in the marketplace. I was so excited and now I’m bummed.  It was groundbreaking and now it is in the ground.  As for me, well they just sort turfed me.  Awesome.

Hmmm..makes me want to go out and start my own company again…just to show them how it really should have been done.

What do you think?

Say hello to the new 100% recycled pop bottle, water repellent jacket from Modernature! Well, not quite…

Enjoy.

**photo courtesy of Momentum

I just browsed through a great little photo spread featured at Momentum Planet (bike magazine). They seem to think that bike hats are going to be the next big fashion trend. I would most likely agree.  As biking is becoming more popular across North America so will all the bike lifestyle accessories.

However, the ridiculous amount of logos on most bicycle hats will most likely disappear replaced by subtle patterns and less obnoxious colorways. You might argue that a good green and red bike hat makes you stand out in a crowd!  One other unique aspect about the lightweight bike hat is that it can be easily rolled up and tucked away somewhere when you are biking (if you are wearing a helmet) and placed on your head once you exit the bicycle, thus hiding the inevitable “helmet head”.

Enjoy.

I spent the summer hunting for recycled shoes. I told myself that I would not buy another pair of shoes until I found a pair with recycled content.  I looked in London, Zurich, Amsterdam, Las Vegas, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver. Nothing. I asked everywhere I went and the most I got was that Timberland had some recycled content. Sorry, 30% was not enough and I am not really into post-modern Jesus boots.  The closest I found in a sneaker was the Adidas “Grun” collection but considering what they looked like I decided to pass.

Here is the thing. My biggest requirement for any “eco” shoe or garment is that they not look “eco”. It is kind of a test of the items true merit if it can fit into “non-treehugger” wardrobe.  In other words, If I wanted to look like a hippy I would shop at Value Village(BTW: buying used is the most sustainable and eco friendly you can get! So don’t let me talk you out of it.) My apologies to Value Village too.  You can find some great clothes there. It wasn’t until recently that Adidas seems to have stepped it up a notch. Even though they didn’t have them in stock the ZX 500 Grun is the latest offering and it is quite acceptable.

It still elements of “hippy” to it with the vomit brown accents but I could possibly wear them without embarassment and well over 50% of the materials used are from recycled pop bottles.  Adidas has alsodone a collaboartion with Canadian sneaker junkie store Goodfoot.  Again, the G’ is acceptable but it’s nothing that’s going to get sneaker kids freak’in. A for effort guys.

So if you want to buy eco friendly sneakers adidas seems to have the best offering right now in North America as far as I know. I’m still going to keep searching and wearing out my old sneaks.

Enjoy!

URL to article: http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/08/30/ecollection-at-magic-day-one/

I launched my newest apparel brand offering at the Ecollection show at MAGIC just a few days ago. The response was awesome. Some people were amazed. Some people were confused. Some people didn’t get it. Some people cried. Well, I almost did. It was an exciting moment and it’s been a long process of development but Ecopurna is ready to take on the world of eco friendliness as the new smarter, better (more assertive) cousin..who was raised on performance sports and techno music.

I wrote earlier about larger multi-national stores offering organic cottons and eco-friendly clothing. I was genuinely excited about being able to find some good organic alternatives to traditional cotton because as I mentioned before the standard industrial way to grow, harvest and dye cotton is like chemical warfare. The amount of pesticides that go into cotton growing is enough to kill a cow…umm…well..actually more like cow(s)…like thousands …and humans and..well,..you might be getting the point..the chemcials pretty much kill every living thing for miles around but no need to worry because you are safe…ha! just kidding.

Anyway, our friends(not really) over at Levi’s are actually putting out pants/jeans that are made from organically grown cotton(no pesticides..Yay!) and as well 1) they don’t look like burlap sacks and 2)they don’t cost an enormous amount. So , it makes it easier for those of us who are on a budget to be more eco-friendly and still remain fashionable. By fashionable, I mean that Levi’s can still pass in most circles as a stylish brand and their quality is usually quite good. Please note: I am still uninformed about their labour practices and wouldn’t take their corporate “word” for it.

The main reason I have posted Levi’s on this blog is that they, unlike H&M and The GAP, seem to actually have stock of the organic product in their stores. Not to downplay either H&M’s or The GAP’s organic offerings but they are totally weak, lame, completely limited, out of stock and..well…maybe I am just being overly dramatic but the way they played up the “organic” thing kind of looks a little shaky now! I am almost about to call them both out for “greenwashing”(which basically means lying about their eco-offerings to get publicity and traffic in their stores) however I am going to scope out a number of their stores again to be sure.

So beware and buy smart!

photo courtesy of aimsorganic

You may think that a little thing like a t-shirt doesn’t make a difference in the whole scheme of “saving the earth” or stopping global warming or promoting sustainability but I am a true believer in the idea that every little bit counts. As such, I have decided to buy only organic cotton t-shirts based mostly on two little gems of information that I have stumbled upon:

1)Conventional cotton farming uses synthetic fertilizers and pesticides that deplete the soil thus requiring an average of 744 gallons of water to produce enough cotton for one t-shirt. (ie. 9 years of drinking water for the average human)

2)Pesticides and fertilizers used in conventional cotton farming enter the food chain because beef and diary cows are fed cotton straw cottonseed meal and waste from cotton gins. These are all considered by-products so cotton is not regulated as a food crop. The majority of the cotton plant ends up in the human supply. 60% of the harvested cotton is seed, which is pressed into oils that are used in everything from cookies to canned tuna. The side effects of eating food contaminated with pesticides and fertilizers are cancer, birth defects, endocrine disruption and nervous system disorders.

Quite simply, the more organic cotton we purchase the less likely we are to waste water or get some form of horrible disease! That is good enough for me..well besides the fact that organic cotton seems to feel softer without all those pesticides..ewww!

If you need to know where to find organic cotton tees or other organic cotton clothing(believe me you won’t look like a dirty hippy) just look around most retailers are carrying organic tees now and judging by the latest fashion trade show in Las Vegas there are a ton of cool, fresh designs on organic tees.

You can also find organic tees at places like Mountain Equipment Co-op(good company even though they may lack some style) the gap(not so good), H&M(they seem to be trying..) But hey, I don’t want to confuse the message here…so as long as we are buying an organic tee we are helping. Go shop.