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Fashion Weak

Aug 13 2008

Back to: Cloaked in Green

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Anya Hindmarch
The white-hot I’m Not a Plastic Bag totes (some shoppers were trampled while trying to snatch them up) were revealed to be made in China with nonorganic, non-fair-trade cotton. The designer and the totes’ distributor, supermarket chain Sainsbury’s, said they’d made no claims to the contrary.
Ermenegildo Zegna
A men's jacket (starting at $1,350) features a solar-paneled collar that can recharge phones and iPods. "We haven't solved the problem of global warming," Zegna's C.E.O. said last fall, "but the Solar Jacket shows there are steps one can take in the right direction."
Vivienne Westwood
The British designer invited children to paint fabric with images of soldiers of the future, living in the jungle. She then used the fabric in her fall 2008 "eco-warrior" collection. A Westwood publicist allowed that the collection's cotton isn't fair-trade—and the leather shoes really are leather.
Eco-Luxury Fur
Eco-Luxury Fur, an Oregon importer, sells $4,600 throws made from the pelts of paihamu, New Zealand possums that destroy "20,000 tons of vegetation" nightly. The company argues that trapping paihamu is eco-friendly because it spares crops. PETA activists agree to disagree.

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