If you haven’t heard about Nike’s green design movement, I’m not surprised. The company has intentionally not promoted it significantly. As I wrote before, Nike product designer Jane Savage said that Nike wasn’t promoting the Considered message more because “the average sneakerhead isn’t ready for that message yet.”

The fact that the company is taking significant strides toward cradle-to-cradle product design and not even promoting it as a selling point of the shoes is absolutely incredible. Nike will gain credibility for green design where some eco brands will never dream — because Nike is still putting performance first, and when satisfied Nike-wearing athletes eventually do learn about the their shoes’ green-cred, sustainable design as a whole will WIN.

Read more about Nike Considered’s internal design standards here, from my February 2008 article.

We’re still building up our user base and already working on plenty of updates, but feel free to check it out and follow me at storenvy.com/Janette! (And now that that’s launched, I’ll be back to my “regularly scheduled programming” here! Whew!)

Featuring the fashion illustrations of J. Kirk Davis (circa 1969), printed by Storenvy, photographed by Sarah Hillis, worn and self-styled by Katie Brown, Heather Hale, Dylan Little and me. I should be able to launch the online store early next week, and trust me, you’ll hear alllll about it. ;)

Check out more “behind the scenes” snapshots from our shoot in this Flickr set!

The beginning of this month marked the bazillionth-ever Paris Fashion Week, and along with it, the sixth-ever Ethical Fashion Show. I was flattered to have been invited to judge this year, but alas, I was not able to make it to Par-ee. (One of these days…!)

The show looked and sounded truly amazing, and Ecouterre posted a great recap of designers, including a new favorite of mine — Valentine Gauthier.

Her current Autumn/Winter collection is so perfect, I want every piece of it. I can’t find the line for sale anywhere online, but the site shows a beautiful flagship store in Paris and lists outlets in NYC, Philly, SF and LA, plus nine more throughout Europe and Asia.

Perfect studding and color-block details. And those boots!

I love the detailing on all the wide belts. The overall simplicity… gorgeous.

For now, the line is a perfect inspiration for subtle color palettes styled with thoughtful details. And who wouldn’t go for opaque tights and wellies?

Ecouterre says that, for her upcoming Spring/Summer line at least, she incorporates organic cottons and silks dyed according to Oeko-Tex standards, plus vegetable-tanned leather gladiator sandals. Really looking forward to seeing more.

Tomorrow night I’ll be diving into “the art of conversation” at Pecha Kucha Night, an awesome concept that invites creative people on stage to talk about anything they choose for 6:40 at a time — 20 slides at 20 seconds each. About 200 cities around the world host their own local events.

I went to my first PKN several months ago and immediately wrote about it at the PopTech blog, and this time, I figured “why not?!” So there I’ll be, talking about “smarter buying” with a bunch of architects. (Architects founded PKN, so they’ve been the widest adopters.)

If I like how it turns out, I’ll post the video for you… wish me luck!

Crosstown Station
1522 McGee, KCMO
Oct. 22, 8:20 p.m.
$0
21+

(Thanks to Steven Chau for turning me on to Pecha Kucha in the first place!)

Vintage necklace from My Inheritance
Price upon request, 973.233.1112

Tee by Stewart+Brown: i love you s/s tee
100% organic cotton
Ethically made in the U.S.
$64

Handbag by Matt & Nat: Takumi
Vegan leather, from the Japanese Paper Collection
100% recycled magenta faux suede lining
Comes with detachable shoulder strap
$123 (on sale from $245)

Denim by Kuyichi: Lisa Skinny Jean, at Ascension (formerly Adili)
98.5% organic cotton, 1.5% elastane
Recycled leather back patch
Ethically made in Tunisia, SA 8000 Certified Production
$151.54 (price depends on the day’s exchange rates)

Shoes by olsen Haus: Balance
Faux suede, 100% vegan
Made “with a high standard of ethical social responsibility”
$205

This leather trench-inspired onesie is awesome. Per-fect!

Samantha Pleet’s Fall 09 collection is her first of the eco-friendly persuasion, made in NYC at a wind-powered factory and including some organic pieces.

Also, I want that rug very badly.

Via Starre at Eco Chick

Yes, I’ve posted about the company a fair amount here, and yes, I own a fair amount of the brand’s pieces. But no longer can I defend Dov Charney and the brand’s antics to my naysaying friends, defending the company for its fair labor policies, because my naysaying friends all make very good points. The brand has gone too far too many times. Like these two antics that pushed me over the edge:

1. The soft porn

This illustration from lunchbreath at Core77 almost says it all, but if you needed any more convincing, how about an innocent Google image search of “american apparel”? Feel free to take my word for it, but its results show about as many crotches and boobs as tees. (Oh, and Woody Allen.)

I will say, I think American Apparel has done a fantastic job with their brand positioning, bringing their basic garments into a much higher echelon of both real and perceived taste than a single one of their competitors. But please, leave a little more to a 12-year-old boy’s imagination.

2. Retail store hiring policies

Here’s the real kicker. Earlier this summer when AA retail sales weren’t so hot, an anonymous tipster reported that Charney took it out on his not-so-hot salespeople:

One week, he went on a huge tirade and made stores that weren’t doing well send in group photos. Why, you ask? He made store managers across the country take group photos of their employees so that he could personally judge people based on looks. He is tightening the AA ‘aesthetic,’ and anyone that he deems not good-looking enough to work there, is encouraged to be fired. … Dov personally judged each person … The comments that he made were raging from childish ones to insulting ones.

(Dov denied that claim, but who do you believe?) And that’s when you already worked there. To apply in the first place, online applications include uploading three images of yourself (”To show us your personal style and how you present yourself,” the application reads) that are reportedly reviewed by corporate before store managers even get their hands on them. If that’s not considered discrimination based on looks, I don’t know what is.

***

I can’t say that I’m going to stop buying American Apparel altogether. (I spend half of my week in the T-shirt printing business, and American Apparel is the Cadillac of tees, a position they’ve earned on quality alone. I can’t take this bias out on apparel company owners, who stand to profit much more than AA when one of their custom-printed shirts is purchased.)

But when it comes to making purchases from brands and businesses that are as respectful as possible to the world around them, this simply doesn’t cut it. Which means I’ll be rethinking all future purchases directly from the American Apparel name.

Hat by Hats in the Belfry: Knotty-Sisal Cloche
Finely woven knotty sisal
Handmade in the USA
$65 on sale (from $128)

Necklace by Flora Bond on Etsy
Handmade of vintage and found silks, linens and deconstructed jewelry
$115

Dress by She-bible: Evelyn Dress
100% Japanese organic cotton
Sewn in San Francisco
$105 on sale (from $170)

Slightly used oxford pumps from mynameisanete on Etsy
Size 8.5
$60

When I got my first pair at Pivot, they came in this same hand-spray-painted box, but with a small feather thrown in for good measure.

This time was even better.

The surprise necklace!

This new pair of earrings is a bit lighter than my first, but the more neutral shade is perfect for this fall.

So here’s the best part. Only now that I have the necklace do I realize how versatile it really is. I’d blogged it, but I don’t think I would have bought it. Now, I’ve worn it about five times since receiving it! (That’s pretty much every day since then.) I really love it, and I think you would, too.

It also arrived several days before my birthday, which was Monday, which made it feel extra-extra special. Thank you, Kristen! xxx

Two last notes: First, my order came with a $12 shipping fee that seemed accidentally high… though I didn’t mind paying extra to a brand like this. FYI. Second, the title of this post refers to nothing more than Manimal’s domain name: save-the-manimals.com, which is so adorable.

Top pics by me and bottom pic by the lovely Sara