THE GREEN ISSUE

Previously owned shoes, Buffalo Exchange. (Photographs by Michael Persico)

Planet Style

How to avoid being an eco-uggo.

by Erica Palan

Back in the day, if you wanted an organic T-shirt, there were two color choices: off-white and sort of khaki. It ain’t easy being green when your palette is so limited. Fortunately, science has evolved, fashion has changed and now there are plenty of options for those looking to dress with a little product awareness. But as with all styles, there’s always going to be people out there who don’t know how to rock it. (We’re looking at you, Miss Short-Skirt-and-Uggs.) PW has compiled this guide to help you navigate the recycled, repurposed, natural, organic, renewable, sustainable, green streets of Philadelphia eco-fashion.

JEWELRY

Ditch the hemp. Unless you’re a professional surfer—which means you don’t live in Philadelphia, dude—you cannot wear hemp jewelry. You look even sillier than the popped-collar boys in Old City.

Necklace made from recycled bike parts, Black Cat Gift Shop

Shop around. If there’s one thing Philly has plenty of, it’s independently owned boutiques. While there aren’t many that tout being eco-friendly, a lot of them carry interesting jewelry made from recycled materials. Visit the Black Cat Gift Shop for bracelets and necklaces made from old bike parts or stop by Ten Thousand Villages for a totally badass line of jewelry made from recycled soda- can tabs.

Love repurposed metal.

Recycled soda-can tabs necklace, Ten Thousand Villages

Vagabond Boutique carries Rust Belt, a very cool line of eco-friendly jewelry. Designed by Page Neal and Anna Bario, the pieces are made from repurposed materials using low-impact, environmentally conscious practices. In addition to donating 1 percent of their profits to the Association for Responsible Mining, Bario and Neal blog about their research and the struggle to find information from suppliers, processors and other jewelers at rust-belt.org/blog, so you can trust that these ladies are the real deal.

SHOES

Vegan shoes, Essene Market and Cafe

This little piggy went to Market. It’s no secret Essene Market and Café sells some of the yummiest natural food in the city, but what you might not know is that the South Philadelphia market also carries two lines of environmentally friendly shoes—Earth Shoes and Simple Shoes. They don’t come cheap, but really, what does in a Bush economy?

Recognize: Karma’s a bitch. Problem: You’re strictly a Payless kinda shopper, but all those “genuine leather” labels leave you feeling guilty about your footprint—carbon or otherwise. Solution: Cross the street. Buffalo Exchange carries tons of previously owned footwear in good condition. Sure, it’s not the same as buying vegan sneakers, but every little bit of recycling helps. Added bonus: If you decline a bag for your purchase, Buffalo Exchange will donate 5 cents to one of three rotating charities. With this option, you won’t have to worry about the cosmic consequences.

Accept it. You’re not Mario Batali. And no matter how much bad gnocchi you make, you never will be. Thus you are not allowed to wear Crocs in public. Not now. Not ever. Not even the recycled ones from Whole Foods.

BEAUTY

Read labels. If you don’t recognize an ingredient in a product, type it into the search engine at cosmeticsdatabase.com. This site, powered by the Environmental Working Group, rates products on a numeric scale, judging the chemical levels in each product by pairing the ingredients in more than 25,000 products against 50 definitive toxicity and regulatory databases.

Various products, Juju Salon & Organics

Lather, rinse, repeat no more. Julie Ebner owns Juju Salon & Organics, a quaint spot in South Philly where you can get nontoxic organic hair color (this means you, moms-to-be) as well as other natural beauty procedures. A bottle of Nurture My Body, her recommended organic shampoo, is pricey, but she maintains one bottle should last several months. “If the instructions say to use only a dime-sized portion, do that,” she says. “There’s a reason it says that. I even tell my clients to water it down sometimes.”

Mix and match. When originally choosing products, Ebner decided that instead of repping one particular brand, she’d design her store to be like her own closet: a mix of items she truly loved without loyalty to one specific brand. She wanted to sell products that were completely clean and healthy, meaning they had to be natural and chemical-free and sold in recycled containers. Some of her favorites include Suncoat’s sugar-based eyeliner; concealer and eyeshadow by Nvey Eco; locally made Aromabliss lip and eye cream; and Zoya nontoxic nail polish.

Wash it off. Any card-carrying Noxzema lover will tell you the first step in skin care is to keep it clean. But the bummer with Noxzema and so many other cleansers is that the harsh chemicals leave your face smelling like a high school science project. Juju carries a chemical-free natural facial cleanser by Suki and eye refresher by Starflower Essentials. They’ll leave your skin feeling and smelling fresher than chem class.

CLOTHING AND ACCESSORIES

Organic jeans, Arcadia Boutique

Remember: Location, location, location. Ali McCloud, owner of Arcadia Boutique—Philly’s only distinctively labeled eco-friendly shop—pays special attention to where her products are made. “An organic cotton T-shirt that was made in China and shipped to California and then flown to New York and then driven to Philadelphia isn’t really very green,” she says. “Recently, I’ve been trying to find clothing made as close to home as possible.”

Buy basics. There’s no shame in not being able to transform your wardrobe overnight. Start small and add pieces as you need or can afford them. A great first step is to invest in a pair of organic jeans. Arcadia carries several brands, including the darker, dressier Del Forte and the more casual Monkee Genes.

Be a shopaholic. As with jewelry, there are plenty of local places that aren’t completely eco-friendly, but carry the occasional organic brand of clothing or accessories.

Recycled windbreaker skirt, Art Star

We love the She-bible line, which uses bamboo and organic cotton to create simply silhouetted dresses and tops and is available at Grasshopper. Art Star has fun skirts made from recycled windbreakers, and Delicious Boutique and Corseterie carries English Retreads, a line of purses made from reclaimed truck inner tubes.

THRIFTY

Buffalo Exchange
1713 Chestnut St.
215.557.9850
www.buffaloexchange.com

Previously owned shoes, Buffalo Exchange

Circle Thrift
2007 Frankford Ave.
215.423.5060
www.circlethrift.com

Green Street Consignment Shop
700 South St.
215.733.9261
www.greenestreetconsignment.com

Philadelphia AIDS Thrift
514 Bainbridge St.
215.922.3186

(ALMOST) TOTALLY GREEN

Arcadia Boutique
819 N. Second St.
215.667.8121
www.arcadiaboutique.com

Essene Market and Cafe
719 S. Fourth St.
215.922.1146
www.essenemarket.com

Eviama Life Spa
262 S. 16th St.
215.545.3344
www.eviama.com

Juju Salon & Organics
716 S. Fourth St.
215.238.6080
www.jujusalon.com

Whole Foods Market
2001 Pennsylvania Ave.
215.557.0015
929 South St.
215.733.9788
www.wholefoods.com

SOMETIMES GREEN

Art Star
1030 N. Second St.
215.238.1557

Black Cat Gift Shop
3424 Sansom St.
215.386.6664

English Retreads purses, Delicious Boutique and Corseterie

Delicious Boutique and Corseterie
1040 N. American St.
215.413.0375

Grasshopper
727 Walnut St.
215.925.3959
www.grasshopperprojects.com

Ten Thousand Villages
1122 Walnut St.
215.574.2008

Vagabond Boutique
37 N. Third St.
267.671.0737
www.vagabondboutique.com