Eco-conscious fashion being designed for the masses' appeal
In apparel, green is the new black
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
By KIMBERLY CHOU
July 30, 2008
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/372892_fashionorganic31.html


It isn't easy buying green, at least for cheap.

Eco-conscious designer Rogan Gregory offers organic cotton T-shirts for $72 and skinny jeans for $290.

An organic cotton lingerie set from Stella McCartney retails for about $170.

But a democratization of eco-conscious fashion is on its way.

"As the consumer becomes more educated about eco-processes, these things will eventually trickle down to the mass market," said Jayne Mountford, vice president of trend reporting at the forecasting firm Stylesight. "Once simple economics start to take over then people will become more aware of these kinds of things. It starts with the niche market – it starts with the high end."

The niche of environmentally conscious fashion – that is, clothing created from organic and sustainable textiles – has expanded in recent years. More designers are experimenting with organic cotton, wool and textiles such as bamboo and lyocell (fiber made from wood pulp). The fashion industry has embraced the trend: Gregory won the Council of Fashion Designers of America/Vogue Fashion Fund's top prize in 2007, and the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation just announced a new award for the year's best "sustainable design" starting in 2008. Seattle even had its own "Green Fashion Week."

For the average shopper, most of these clothes are too expensive to construct a functioning wardrobe.

"People don't want to spend their entire family's budget on clothes," said Sara Seumae, 30, of Mercer Island.

Looking for an alternative, Seumae launched her clothing company, Spun, this spring. Her line of organic cotton tops ranges from $25 to $65.

"I don't have as much overhead as, say, Edun does," said the first-time designer, referencing the ethically and environmentally sourced clothier started by rock star Bono and his wife, Ali Hewson. "I can afford to keep my company in my home and pass along those savings to the customer."

But lower prices mean less profit, which can be difficult for a small business that has to compete against the high-volume production of big-box retailers.

"Organic stuff is more expensive – that's just the way it is," said Jack Mackenroth, a Bellevue-raised designer who competed on the fourth season of "Project Runway." Mackenroth recently designed a T-shirt for Clothing of the American Mind, which uses organics. "Right now it's just not cost effective," he said. "Mass market retailers want the lowest price. ... If you're selling to them, are you going to spend an extra 50 cents per yard for a fabric? (It) ends up being a lot."

But it doesn't have to be.

Processing textiles such as bamboo takes more time and money, and the same goes for all-natural beauty and skincare, said Dan Hoffman, publisher of White Apricot, an online source for eco-conscious fashion and beauty deals. But making organic cotton is still a "straightforward process," he said, not much different than what it takes for conventional textiles.

"Couture's couture – you're going to pay for it, period," Hoffman said. "But when you get into things like (T-shirts) and denim and stuff like that, I don't think people should be paying a premium. In the long run, they won't."

Earlier this year, Gregory teamed with Target Corp. to release a capsule collection for Target's GO International guest designer series. Everything in the collection was less than $45, and, save for the polyester-blend bikinis, it was also 100 percent organic. Barneys New York treated shoppers to previews before the clothes moved on to the discounter. The Wall Street Journal called the partnership between the high- and low-end retailers "an unusual marketing gambit."

Seumae sees Target's dip into green as positive: It's educating a greater number of consumers.

Somewhere between the two pricing tiers is American Apparel, which has offered its best-selling items in organic cotton since 2003, for a few dollars more than its regular cotton versions. But the company's image of casual prurience – what with rumpled bed sheets in its advertisements and sexual harassment suits against its CEO, Dov Charney – might not sitwell with all buying demographics.

"The JCPenney, Wal-Mart group – those are the people that are ultimately going to make a difference," Hoffman said.

Wal-Mart is already carrying organic labels, said Michael Stone, CEO of The Beanstalk Group, which represents several brands sold at Wal-Mart. A fact sheet on the company's sustainable textile program, updated in May, said Wal-Mart purchases more than 10 million pounds of certified organic cotton per year.

"I haven't heard that those products are doing better than nonorganic products, but Wal-Mart's not broadcasting it in a big way," Stone said.

But certain shoppers want to be fashionable, too.

"Consumers are becoming more aware, but I will say that fashion and good design need to be an integral part of the end result if consumers are actually going to make the purchase," said Julie Gilhart, Barneys' fashion director.

Style is partly why one superstore has done better than the other.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s online division announced recently that it is ending a line of trendy women's clothing. Called z.b.d., it was geared toward online shoppers with hipper style and higher income. It didn't sell as hoped.

But Target has developed a certain cachet in the fashion industry since it began partnering with up-and-comers for limited-release collections. GO International has featured Gregory, Alice Temperley and Proenza Schouler. Next is Richard Chai, a designer often mentioned as part of a "new Asian" wave responsible for flirty women's wear.

"Target has been very successful in taking ideas from the high-end of the market," Mountford said. "They seem to have very savvy merchants."

Target – and Wal-Mart, too – has latched on to an idea that's kind to the wallet and the environment.

With public consciousness shifting from what we put in our bodies to what we put on them, mass-market retailers as well as smaller businesses are answering the demand for affordable organic clothing.

"Everyone wants to be socially responsible," Stone said. "If you make it easy for the customer, they will do it."