Tina Sparkles

Being fashion conscious doesn’t mean you have to ignore the environment. In Fact, it’s extremely fashionable nowadays to “go green”, and there are whole lines of clothing devoted solely to production of eco-friendly clothing. Fashion sense isn’t just about what is the most expensive or what’s popular, it’s about looking great and choosing the best clothing and accessories. And right now, recycled accessories and clothing are all the rage.

Cotton bags have started to make a comeback as a great accessory to have with you. A cotton bag can be anything from minimalistic and plain to stunningly decorated and highly attractive. These bags usually come in tote form, so if totes appeal to you, you can combine your fashion desires with your global consciousness and choose the newest rage: recycled cotton tote bags.

Recycled Yet Fabulous

These bags are very plain in their simplest form, but their design and shape makes them extremely easy to decorate and “spice up”. These are often the bags chosen for screen printing, and a custom made cotton tote can be the perfect thing to complement your outfit of the day. They come in all colors and in many sizes, and you shouldn’t have a problem in finding the perfect bag to add to your wardrobe.

A recycled cotton bag should be the first choice of a fashionable woman going out to shop. Reusable shopping bags are usually made from recycled cotton, and you can bring your own fabulous bag or a collection of them to be able to tote your groceries and other purchases home. That’s the more practical side of choosing one of these totes, but don’t think for a minute that your bag won’t be appreciated for it’s purely aesthetic qualities as well.

Good For the World, Good For You

And buying one of these recycled cotton bags is good for the environment, because it supports those who are doing their part to make the world a better place. These totes are made from perfectly good cloth that has become worn out or clothes that have been ruined. The cotton material is easily recyclable and made new, and by choosing these “green” bags, you’re choosing a cleaner and healthier world.

This is one fashion bandwagon that everyone should jump on. The best fashions are the ones that not only make you and your outfit look great, but which you can feel good about and which make a difference in the world.

Eco-fashion is becoming a hot trend these days as more and more designers veer towards the use of environment-friendly and recyclable materials.

The term ‘eco-fashion’ is defined by STEP (Sustainable Technology Education Project), a non-profit organization, as a stylized type of clothing that takes into serious consideration the environment as well as the health of the people who will be wearing them. This type of clothing style makes use of environment-friendly fabrics combined with clever clothing production techniques.

Alternative Eco-Materials

Bamboo, organic cotton, and tencel have all been used by eco- designers in coming up with new fashion trends. In the coming years, they will be looking into the usability of alternative clothing fabrics as well as other eco-friendly materials like tagua, tweeds, milk proteins and flannel, which will be used in creating clothes, shoes and even accessories for the fashion market.

Wool Funnel and Recycled Tires
A shoe manufacturer referred to as Simple Shoes will be ushering the use of recycled car tires and plaid wool funnel for their upcoming sneaker collection. The shoes will be shipped in recycled boxes to promote a more eco-feel.

Heritage Tweeds
Fall season is all about the use of tweeds, which is incorporated in both regular as well as eco-friendly fashion designs. Top designers, Eloise Grey, has launched her autumn collection which features the ethical heritage tweeds as the main material. Heritage tweeds were introduced in the fashion scene about two years ago.

Milk Proteins
Meanwhile, FIN – a Norwegian eco-lox brand – is currently experimenting the use of a gauze-like material, derived completely from milk proteins, in their upcoming spring and summer collection scheduled to be launched next year. One great benefit of using milk proteins as an alternative material for clothing production is the fact that it can help free up lands that can be otherwise used to grow cotton fields, the material of choice when manufacturing clothes.

Sustainable Materials for Eco-Friendly Accessories
While many designers still continue to use cotton as the primary material when producing their clothing collection, new alternative eco-friendly materials are now being introduced in the fashion industry. In fact, their use is not only limited to clothing production since they are now being utilized even in the manufacture of eco accessories. The Andrean Collection, a famed jewelry designer, will be introducing an environment friendly line of fashion-forward and colourful pieces made from sustainable materials – jabon, tagua, acai – harvested from the rainforest of South America. This new line of accessory has been previewed at the Nolcha Fashion Week in New York last September.