Eco Innovations – April 2011
American fashion label, Isoude, designer Kate Brierley, produce all their clothes within a 200 mile radius of Newport, Rhode Island, employ local professional trade, in a safe work environment with fair wages. The collection, which includes wedding dresses, is made by hand. Isoude have just won TreeHugger’s 2011 Best of Green Awards with Best Eco Glam Designer.
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US based company ReMakes are helping reduce landfill by transforming advertising billboards into fashionable PVC placemats. Each placemat is one of a kind in a set of four made from the same advertising or film poster. Additionally each mat has a QR code, which can be read by smartphones, which presents a webpage where the user can learn about the company.
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Dutch shoe brand, OAT Shoes, have produced sneakers/trainers with a difference; once the shoe is worn out and it’s time to throw out the user buries it instead of placing in the rubbish bin. Made from biodegradable materials the shoe also contains seeds for growing wild flowers! OAT Shoes have won a Green Fashion Award.
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Take a look at who TreeHugger, a sustainability discovery company, have awarded for the best people, ideas, projects and memes that are pushing green into the mainstream. Categories are Business & Politics, Fashion & Beauty, Cars & Transportation, Food & Health, Culture & Celebrity, Science & Technology, Design & Architecture and Travel & Nature. Their Best of Green Awards have been going since 2009.
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Organisations are transforming plastic bottle waste into building schools in the Philippines and Guatemala. MyShelter Foundation, entrepreneur Illac Diaz and volunteers built a school in the Philippines by filling the bottles with adobe (sand, clay, water & straw) which is three times stronger than cement. The first school built in Guatemala in 2009, was made by filling the bottles with waste, stacking between chicken wire and then covering in cement. 297 children now attend this school which was pioneered by Pura Vida.
What amazes me is the level of creativity thrown in any of this projects. I love the growing shoes!
And building a school with plastic bottle waste is a fantastic idea. You really believe you can make a difference by being part of these projects.