Why Go Green Redux

Seattle's fashion community is a little greener thanks to the great insights from our illustrious panel of design professionals at last Thursday's seminar. The event welcomed a great mix of fashion, beauty, interiors, education and sustainable living professionals from around the city.

Our gracious hostess, Sandy Campbell, swung wide the doors of One Earth One Design, her home interiors and consulting business on the edge of Shoreline. Among the panelists was Rebecca Luke, owner of Les Egoistes and co-founder of the Sustainable Style Foundation (SSF).

Rebecca shared a fabulous new program sponsored by SSF called SSFtags. Read below to learn more about this sustainability seal of approval that's great for both businesses and consumers.

Rebecca made a great point last Thursday too when she encouraged trade members in the audience not to get too hung up on being 100% sustainable or green in your business, but rather take smart steps to do the best you can. The truth is that many industries including fashion and beauty aren't tooled up to support all the 'green' decisions we'd like to make, but if over time we all ask for it, so it will be.

SSFtags
The mission of SSF is to educate, support and inspire people from all walks of life to make more sustainable personal lifestyle choices at home, at work and at play. SSFtags is a consumer- and producer-friendly awareness program with an internationally recognized logo that indicates that a product, service, event, project, company or organization, etc. has incorporated sustainability into their efforts in some way.

Nice work SSF!

Green Houses Make Great Homes

My friend Sloan Ritchie has just listed his new townhome development by Cascade Built. Sloan's tag line is good living tm and it is. He has used LEED prescribed green building guidelines to create incredibly well designed and stylish living.

LEED is the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. The organization is made up of building industry leaders who believe that green design and manufacturing is critical to happy and healthy living. Their members and supporters also realize that it can be good for the bottom line as green building resources begin to drop in price and are competitive to the big box retailers' pricing and selection.

Here's a great article on the real versus perceived costs of going green in construction projects from industry resource Building.com.

Kudos to Sloan, Cascade Built and all those LEEDers out there!

Seattle Retail Rules!

We're at retail! I think of it as form of VERY positive validation for our company concept and product line. Satsuma can now be found in stores around the Northwest, Alaska too! In Seattle, we're very proud to be featured at Village Maternity and Birth & Beyond that cater to the with or soon to be with child set. We're also carried at Fresh, A New Lifestyle Boutique Located in the Heart of Seattle’s Wedgwood Business District. Wendy and Julia there are great and are ready to help you find the best in gift, home and of course babies. Stop by and ask for Satsuma.

Happy Shopping!

WHY GO GREEN? MAKING THE BUSINESS CASE FOR SUSTAINABLE FASHION, BEAUTY AND LIFESTYLE BRANDS

Fashion Group of Seattle and Sustainable Style Foundation Present:

WHY GO GREEN? MAKING THE BUSINESS CASE FOR SUSTAINABLE FASHION, BEAUTY AND LIFESTYLE BRANDS

Enjoy an evening with some of the region's leading design professionals who have made the case for green fashion, beauty and lifestyle products. Discover business reasons to incorporate green design, sourcing and sales techniques in any successful 21st century business. Proceeds benefit the Sustainable Style Foundation and Fashion Group of Seattle.

Feast on organic bites from Seattle’s Herban Feast and wash it down with organic wine.

Panelists include:
□ Rebecca Luke, Co-Founder, Sustainable Style Foundation and CEO, Les Egoistes
□ Sandy Campbell (our fabulous hostess!), Founder and Owner, One Earth, One Design
□ Scott Branscum, President and CEO of SB Premier Brands, LLC and Born Clothing
□ Lisa Françoise, CEO, Sweet Beauty
□ Leigh Anne Van Dusen, CEO, Oeco Textiles
□ Tarah Prater, Designer and founder, Urban Fashion Network
□ Moderated by Jennifer Porter, Co-Founder, Satsuma Designs
More to be confirmed.

Date: Thursday, October 25, 2007
Time: 6:30p-8:30p
Location: One Earth, One Design (www.oneearthonedesign.com)
14300 Greenwood Ave. N, Suite A, Seattle, WA 98133 - (206) 418-8120 - Street and neighborhood parking available.

Cost: FGI Members $20/Non-members $30/Students $10 – includes light refreshments – proceeds go to Sustainable Style Foundation and Fashion Group of Seattle.

RSVP: To reserve your spot – space is limited – email FGI Membership Chair, Theresa Olson at theresa.olson@brooksrunning.com or dial (425) 489-2461.

Mining Sickens (and kills) - Let's lobby for another way

As if it weren't apparent that we need to rely less on fossil fuels (coal et al) to run our homes, cities, and country, Bill Moyers Journal ran a very informative and important piece on Mountaintop Mining also called surface mining in the hills of the Appalachia.

The method features blowing the tops off the hills to 'clearcut' and mine coal. Families down river from the mining sites are being poisoned by sludge/slurry, byproducts of the process. It was sickening to see the black water that filled one family's washing machine as they tried to do a load of laundry; not to mention the fact that every person interview suffered from kidney stones and some level of mineral poisoning. These people couldn't drink their own tap water.

Ridiculous! And the BAdministration (with a capital B) just made it easier for mining companies to conitue these practices for the foreseeable future.

Here's background on the Journal investigation and here's the show. And here's how you can contact your member of the House and Senate.

Thanks for taking action.

How to go green: when you're lazy like me

I feel the pressure. Not only to be responsible to our environment, but with the business, I really should walk the talk. That means composting. Yes. I can't tell you all the food scraps I shove down the insinkerator (which I love!) that could be going to nourish the soil where I grow my half-live hostas and hydraengas (sic).

So I've made a change and am using a large Ziploc brand (FIL works for the makers of these WONDERFUL products that are 100% recyclable) tub with top to contain the remnants of meal prep and mealtime. I decided I'm going to try to empty it a couple/few times a week. More if opening it becomes a biohazard experience.

I keep it under the sink and it's been pretty easy to manage the routine. I've been doing it for 4 days without complaint. I'll try to take it out to the yard waste bucket today when I bring in the recycling and garbage cans that my husband hauled out at the crack this morning. Good egg.

When I get really ambitious, I'll start a compost pile and feed the worms, but for now, I rest.

Good luck going green!

Satsuma launches!

We did it! We're officially up and running and have been really excited about the response to our first product - 100% bamboo jersey swaddling blanket for bouncing babies.

We hosted a party for our incredibly supportive friends who snapped up the blankets and gave invaluable feedback on our next product - bamboo velour blankie and we had enough interest in an adult size that we plan to produce a throw. Doesn't hurt that Pottery Barn is featuring a bamboo rayon throw. We figure the market's there.

Next phase involves activating our three tiered approach to marketing - wholesale (through our incredible friend Melissa Dodge), online sales, and media outreach to local media and a concerted effort to connect product-focused gift, parenting and mommy blogs.

Thanks for stopping!

SD