Kids’ Eco-Friendly Designer Moccasin Maker Expanding Its Adult Collection

Courtesy of potamusprefers.com

LAMBERTVILLE, NJ- Nowali, a maker of kids indoor footwear and apparel, is announcing the fall/winter expansion of its adult line of moccasins from solid navy and oatmeal colors to design patterns which are currently only offered for company’s children’s and toddlers collections.

“The primary age this product is of interest for is really between 12 to 18 months, when a child starts to walk. Pediatricians recommend footwear with a soft sole so that the foot moves and develops naturally. This is a very good product for that need,” said John Haug, president of Nowali’s New Jersey-based distribution company.

Beyond toddlers, “right now the main size range for the moccasins is for children up to six years old. We have one design that goes up to 10 years old,” added Mr. Haug.

Nowali’s design collection includes patterns such as flowers, hearts, robots, space aliens, and monkeys. Regarding the designs, Mr. Haug said, “We have customers that like certain designs that are really fashion forward and that was our inspiration.”

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Retailers Seeing Growth in Consumer Purchasing of Organic Cotton Products

A United States cotton field. Photo courtesy of Cottonusa.com

LUBBOCK, Texas- Contrasting the continuing sales slumps in the traditional garment industry, the organic cotton side of the market is thriving. Global retail sales of organic apparel and home textile products reached an estimated $3.2 billion in 2008. This represents a 63 percent increase from the $1.9 billion market in 2007, according to the Organic Cotton Market Report 2007-2008.

The report just released by the Organic Exchange, a non-profit organization promoting the expansion of organic agriculture, with a specific focus on increasing the production and use of organically grown fibers such as cotton.

The top ten organic cotton-using brands and retailers globally were:

• Wal-Mart, Bentonville, Ark.
• C&A, Brussels, Belgium
• Nike, Beaverton, Ore.
• H&M, Stockholm, Sweden
• Zara, A Coruna, Spain
• Anvil, Knitwear, Inc., New York, N.Y.
• Coop Switzerland, Basel, Switzerland
• Pottery Barn, San Francisco, Calif.
• Greensource, Seattle, Wash.
• Hess Natur, Butzbach, Germany

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What’s Hot For Spring - Basic Colors With a Little Print Mixed In, Says Fashion Expert

Ashley Tisdale wearing Eco-Ganik’s popular stripe racerback shirt.

LOS ANGELES- Spring is here and women are shopping. The trend this year is having a lot of basic color pieces in your wardrobe, with a few prints to mix and match, says Hoda Mallone, design director of the eco-conscious design house Eco-Ganik.

One of the hottest items the design house featured this year was a black and white stripe racerback tank top, made from recycled polyester. “It’s a really nice fabric. It has a nice feel and it breathes unlike traditional polyester,” said Ms. Mallone, who added, “It was probably one of our best sellers. A lot of celebrates wore it.”

The design house’s current celebrity following includes such high profile names as Nikki Hilton, Ashley Tisdale, Jessica Alba, Ann Hathaway, and Selena Gomez.

Eco-Ganik gets a lot of the influence for its fashion lines from the array of California cultures ranging from Hollywood sophistication to the Santa Monica and Venice Beach scenes. “It’s very cool seeing all these different kinds of girls. They inspire us a lot,” said Ms. Mallone, who describes the design house’s style as “contemporary for sure, with some vintage inspiration; a little hippie-chic mixed with street-girl.”

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Vintage Blue Evolves Into an Eco-Fashion Boutique, While Keeping Its Retro-Sports Style

Photo courtesy of Vintage Blue.

PHILADELPHIA- The classic 1940s baseball-inspired fashion boutique Vintage Blue is in the process of launching its current product lines and developing those in the works to exclusively use eco-friendly materials, according to Liza Goncalves and Michelle D’Avella, the company’s co-owners.

The boutique’s product lines are currently tee shirts and totes. Ms. Goncalves talked about the company’s tee shirts, explaining that they are “now 100 percent organic cotton and we use non-toxic, water-based dyes for the printing on our products.”

The boutique is also in the process to designing a green line of dresses, sweat suits, and hoodies, all with a vintage theme inspired by its exclusive licensing of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League brand. Currently, the company expects to roll out this new line in the Spring of 2010, according to Ms. D’Avella.

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