Greenest of the Crop
>> Meet Rhonda Dibachi, the Creator and Founder of Green By Design:
Dibachi is super passionate about sustainable design, and sits on the board of several solar light start-ups. She is also the CEO of Visible Light Solar Technologies.
Her Favorite Green Designer: Lutz and Patmos
Their clothing, crafted out of organic materials, is beautiful and timeless, meaning their designs will weather many seasons. Lutz and Patmos also utilize women's collectives and donate some of their proceeds to charity.
>> Meet Celestyna Brozek, Editor-in-Chief of Green By Design:
Brozek loves living in San Francisco. “I think it's the vanguard of ethical fashion in America,” she says. Currently, she’s trying to cull her wardrobe to just 10 pieces for Green By Design’s Summer Light Challenge.
Her Favorite Designer: Platinum Dirt
“I chose Platinum Dirt because for me I think the biggest problem with fashion is that it's so disposable. People get bored with clothes so easily and boom! The landfills explode with unwanted garments. We shop for clothing now much differently than we used to - I would say most people shop at least once a week whereas it used to be once 
a season. Platinum Dirt has succeeded in creating astounding, "unprecedented" garments that I am sure will hold the attention of the lucky owner for a lifetime - thus keeping them from being tossed!”
How, you ask? Platinum Dirt makes OOAK leather vin jackets and clutches out of the seats of vintage cars they find in junkyards! And they save all their cutting scraps for future projects. They actually sew the vin plate onto the chest of the garment and use the hood ornament as the zipper pull. “Imagine if all our garments were so lucky to be as durable and sentimental and cool,” says Brozek. “That is my hope for sustainable fashion and these guys are one of the only labels who have nailed that.” [Images courtesy of Platinum Dirt]
Brozek loves living in San Francisco. “I think it's the vanguard of ethical fashion in America,” she says. Currently, she’s trying to cull her wardrobe to just 10 pieces for Green By Design’s Summer Light Challenge.
Her Favorite Designer: Platinum Dirt
“I chose Platinum Dirt because for me I think the biggest problem with fashion is that it's so disposable. People get bored with clothes so easily and boom! The landfills explode with unwanted garments. We shop for clothing now much differently than we used to - I would say most people shop at least once a week whereas it used to be once a season. Platinum Dirt has succeeded in creating astounding, "unprecedented" garments that I am sure will hold the attention of the lucky owner for a lifetime - thus keeping them from being tossed!”
How, you ask? Platinum Dirt makes OOAK leather vin jackets and clutches out of the seats of vintage cars they find in junkyards! And they save all their cutting scraps for future projects. They actually sew the vin plate onto the chest of the garment and use the hood ornament as the zipper pull. “Imagine if all our garments were so lucky to be as durable and sentimental and cool,” says Brozek. “That is my hope for sustainable fashion and these guys are one of the only labels who have nailed that.” [Images courtesy of Platinum Dirt]
>> Meet Mira Torres, Social Media Intern Torres keeps busy with her many online endeavors including GbD, writing the beauty column for Examiner.com 
http://www.examiner.com/x-4826-SF-Beauty-Examiner and for her own blog: www.theBeautyBohemian.com. She loves playing Mall World on Facebook!
Her Favorite Designer: Vaute Couture
"There are a ton of green fashion companies that I just adore,” says Torres, “but one in particular recently caught my eye after snagging a free copy of Vegnews from last April's Green Festival, Vaute Couture.”
Vaute Couture (spelled "haute" but pronounced "vote") is passionate about animals and is the first high performance fashion line made with no animal derived materials. “I'm especially excited about her recent collection of eco-blend, sexy racer backs, which include organic cotton, recycled polyester and naturally occurring rayon. All sustainably screenprinted in the USA with parts of my favorite animal-loving quotes like Gandhi's, ‘To my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious’ or Einstein's, ‘Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures.’ I love it when fashion, advocacy, history, and knowledge is combined. Don't you?"
Images courtesy of www.vautecouture.com
http://www.examiner.com/x-4826-SF-Beauty-Examiner and for her own blog: www.theBeautyBohemian.com. She loves playing Mall World on Facebook!>> Meet Rachel Dagdagan, Contrib
uting Writer
Dagdagan is Green By Design’s resident expert on foreign sustainable fashion. She's currently studying Fashion Design at FIDM in San Francisco, and is leaving for London soon to study at the prestigious St. Martin's. She already has several collections and fashion shows under her belt. Check out her work at www.RachelWrightDesign.com.
Her Favorite Designer: Wren
"I love the Wren bags!” says Dagdagan. “My addiction to coffee and my love for design and utility are perfectly married in these beautifully executed bags and accessories made from recycled burlap coffee sacks.”
Yep, you read it right: burlap - the fabric that most of us would think of when "organic" or "eco" would come up in conversation, just a few years ago. How far we have come - as sophisticated as eco fashion has grown to be, the need for re-purposing has not gone out of style. Each burlap sack has a history, as do the artisans that make them. Feel good about carrying your summer in style while rocking one of the very first materials to be considered 'green.’
Dagdagan is Green By Design’s resident expert on foreign sustainable fashion. She's currently studying Fashion Design at FIDM in San Francisco, and is leaving for London soon to study at the prestigious St. Martin's. She already has several collections and fashion shows under her belt. Check out her work at www.RachelWrightDesign.com.
Her Favorite Designer: Wren
"I love the Wren bags!” says Dagdagan. “My addiction to coffee and my love for design and utility are perfectly married in these beautifully executed bags and accessories made from recycled burlap coffee sacks.”
Yep, you read it right: burlap - the fabric that most of us would think of when "organic" or "eco" would come up in conversation, just a few years ago. How far we have come - as sophisticated as eco fashion has grown to be, the need for re-purposing has not gone out of style. Each burlap sack has a history, as do the artisans that make them. Feel good about carrying your summer in style while rocking one of the very first materials to be considered 'green.’
>> Meet Daniel Stevens, I
T Consultant
Meet Daniel Stevens, IT Consultant: Stevens is an interwebs genius and has fixed every single technological mess at Green By Design. Currently he is training to ride a century bike marathon in support of cancer research.
His Favorite Designer Accessory: the Sakku bag
"Ok, I’ll admit it: I’m a geek,” says Stevens. “Most people think ‘geek’ means that I get all excited over every buzzword friendly, wiz-bang new technology. To a certain extent that’s true; I do appreciate technology and try to understand it at a deep level. However if you look into the core of most geeks I think you’ll find that the fascination with technology comes not from what the gadget can do but rather in the beauty and elegance of a truly functional design. When I look at my favorite devices, I see form following function in every step of the design process. To me, that’s the essence of cool. Fashion should be functional.”
This Swiss made messenger-style bag will charge just about any portable device via solar 
panels built into the front flap.
“I particularly like this bag because it’s made from recycled sail cloth, some of the toughest, most water resistant, rip-stopping stuff I know of. Use of recycled cloth is not only green, but gives each bag is unique look and feel due to the variety of usage, weathering and exposure the sail experienced during its first lifetime.”
When it comes to function, this bag has it all: a super sturdy strap that looks like it was once a seatbelt, just the right amount of pockets so things can be organized but not to the point of OCD. And great detail work. Note the reinforcements around the front zipper pocket and the sturdy stitching. What do you buy the hip geek who has everything? A sakku.traveller.
http://www.sakku.ch/en/products/sakkutraveller.html
Above images courtesy of http://www.sakku.ch/en
"Ok, I’ll admit it: I’m a geek,” says Stevens. “Most people think ‘geek’ means that I get all excited over every buzzword friendly, wiz-bang new technology. To a certain extent that’s true; I do appreciate technology and try to understand it at a deep level. However if you look into the core of most geeks I think you’ll find that the fascination with technology comes not from what the gadget can do but rather in the beauty and elegance of a truly functional design. When I look at my favorite devices, I see form following function in every step of the design process. To me, that’s the essence of cool. Fashion should be functional.”
panels built into the front flap. http://www.sakku.ch/en/products/sakkutraveller.html
>> Meet Brad Bennett, Green By Design’s newest Contributor
Bennett will be guest posting for Green By Design as the male counterpart to Brozek during the Summer Light Challenge. He is the founder and editor of Commerce With A Conscience.
His Favorite Designer: Knowledge Cotton Apparel
Relying as much on time-tested traditions of expert craftsmanship as up-to-the-minute advances in sustainable fabrication, Denmark's Knowledge Cotton Apparel artfully utilizes the best clothes-making practices from an array of eras. Casual, comfortable, and free of extraneous details, the brand's fastidiously styled and entirely eco-friendly menswear range is full of the kind of understated wardrobe essentials that always look good, regardless of the trends. Billed as an ode to summers past, the label's superb SS10 collection is full of bright, classic prep colors and cloths styled in modern, trim fits, and all of it is ethically made in the EU from low-impact dyed organic cotton. Really, the single and only downside to the brand is there are (as of yet) no American stockists. But, with a product this good, it should only be a matter of time (fingers crossed).
Images courtesy of http://www.knowledgecottonapparel.com/
Reader Comments:
Yes. I am unabashadly addicted to Mall World. LOL! Everyone had such great eco brands.. So glad that we were able to be a part of this! Thanks Sashay!