The beginning of the school year is creeping up quick. Many of us Future Know-It-Alls will be heading to (or back to) college in the next couple of weeks. This year, why not get everything you need, and help save the Earth as well? Here’s a list of the hottest new eco-trendy items that you can either buy or make yourself!

First on your list: School Supplies.
GreenEarthOfficeSupply.com has absolutely everything you could possibly need. They offer Recycled Denim Pencils, Biodegradable Cornstarch Pens, Remanufactured Inkjet Cartridges, and Ergonomic Computer Accessories. You can even get some free stuff from their website like soybean crayons and a banana-paper rainforest journal.

Carry it all in these eco-trendy backpacks and Satchels. Ecolution’s hip and trendy Hemp Hiking Satchel is waterproof and sturdy enough to carry your pencils, iPhone, or some small books and a journal. Comes in four fab colors.

Need to carry more than just a couple pencils? Hempys’Hemp Deluxe Backpack is made from recycled cotton and a soda bottle lining, and is completely durable so you can carry all those heavy books you’re going to get this year.

Juice Bags by Reware are a thing of the future with solar panels on the outside that can charge your laptop in between classes, or while you get your work done in the park. Juice Bags makes backpacks, messenger bags and other super sacks in a very wide variety of colors.

Are you a do-it-yourselfer? Go to Threadbanger.com to find out how you can make your own notebooks, pencil cases, and even a backpack out of Dad’s old blazer. (Just make sure it’s one that your Mom hates.)

Thirsty?
Don’t waste oil and plastic by using one of those 30 billion plastic water bottles that are consumed and thrown away every year – that is sooo 20th century! Instead get a water bottle that’s not only biodegradable, but also compostable. Belu, a socially and environmentally friendly company makes just that. Demand it on your campus and put a major dent in your college’s carbon footprint.

Dress to the nine’s (or 3R’s)
All Saints offers an environmentally conscious, high fashion clothing line for men and women. Made for the fashionably daring as well as the more conservative crowd.

Attitude Clothing offers Gothic, Punk, Sk8r and Rockabilly threads for less carbon. This is a UK site, but it offers some of our favorite USA brands like ZooYork and DC Shoes.

Secret Sales is no secret, in fact you can tell all your friends if you want to. With deep discounts on high-end fashion and design labels such as UMA, Versace, Criminal Damage, Laguana and Elvis & Jesus, this is probably one of the most fun and Earth-friendly ways to hit the campus in style.

Other hot-spots for environmentally friendly gear:

• ShotDeadInTheHead.com for tee shirts, bags and other stuff.
• ProgressiveKid.com has tons more back to school supplies, plus some other stuff too including cutesy bath time sets.
• Nickel-free, platinum and sterling silver jewelry by GabrielXXO
• Ladies can look and feel their best because Lancôme is a strong supporter of CarbonFund.org.
• GoCarbonFree.com offers everything you could possibly think of to help you reduce your carbon footprint. Whether you need to decorate your dorm, dress for the party, or type your notes down quick, GoCarbonFree has your gear. Plus, you can earn “Carbon Credits” for everything you buy to put towards more carbon friendly stuff!

I find myself wondering about contemporary art sometimes. Not so often, but every once in a while a little old-fashioned voice pops into my head–especially when I’m looking at a video installation or a conceptual piece–and suggests I could pull off something similar, bury it under enough pseudo-theory about the nature of space/blankness, and call it groundbreaking. It’s a bullshit idea, of course: just the same kind of conservative ‘verification process’ that wanted to be sure Picasso could paint detailed, measured, classical scenes before accepting the artistic merit of his more innovative work.

My silly ideas are sent even further down the river when contemporary artists are given the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities in a different medium, especially a traditional one with well-established boundaries. Ubiquitous American retailer The Gap has gone and done just that, commissioning 13 former winners of the Whitney Biennial to design a range of limited edition t-shirts.

H&M has been doing a similar thing for a while now, pulling in top fashion designers and having them create low-cost/high-fashion lines for the store, but Gap’s project is different–each designer isn’t from the fashion world, but actually a contemporary artist for whom clothes aren’t the norm.

Although most of the shirts seem to be sold out by now, they offer us a great look at the kind of art world genre-hopping we don’t normally see. While some artists seem born for at least some kind of t-shirt design (think the visual blasts and surface-is-everything aesthetic of Jeff Koons), others give me pause, or set me wondering how they can possibly translate any of their major themes to a t-shirt. Rirkrit Tiravanija’s exploration of the ’social role of the artist’ works great in a gallery, but splashed across your chest?

Flipping through the New Yorker recently and seeing the individual ads for each shirt, I was really taken aback by how successfully Gap and the artists have pulled this off. Mixing high concept art with a whitebread American clothes shop shouldn’t have worked, but it did. For a few weeks in May, it was possible to hit any big mall in any suburb in America and get a $30 t-shirt that would normally be sold in a select few Paris/NYC/London shops for ten times the price.

Share your thoughts on the shirts–have you seen better stuff on Threadless, or has each artist’s talent been successfully transposed? Leave your comments!

There are a dozen good reasons to see Matteo Garrone’s new film Gomorra, currently in competition at the Cannes film festival and just-released to Italian theatres last week. Bursting with the energy of City of God and aiming for the scope of 2002’s Traffic but within an Italian context, the film (based on Roberto Saviano’s best-selling book) is at turns frightening, thrilling, and depressing–a serious look at what appears a hopeless situation in the southern port city of Naples.

The sparkling energy on display is never too flashy or stylized–at times its documentary feel really does trick you into the feeling you’re watching something real, and with good reason–the book’s author, Roberto Saviano, had to seek police protection after the release of his book, in which he chronicled Naples’ Comorra (the Neapolitan version of the Cosa Nostra) as an insider. Filming in the authentic housing projects of Naples’ depressed periphery didn’t hurt, either.

Telling 5 interlocking stories in a Neapolitan dialect that can be difficult even for Italians (the version I saw was subtitled in ’standard’ Italian), Gomorra does a wonderful job of showing the messy situation at the bottom end of several Italian ‘industries’–fashion, garbage disposal, and drug-dealing, to name a few. Telling a series of interlocked stories is the only way to really explain anything about the Comorra, as the globalized, back-slapping nature of all the business dealings, above-ground and otherwise, is the film’s biggest point.

The fashion angle alone makes the film relevant: arguing that we are all somehow affected by the counterfeit fashion industry, no matter where or who we are, Gomorra reveals a whole host of ills. In the world of Italian fashion, as in Italian politics, finance, and to a large degree, Italian ’society’ itself, the line between what’s authentic and what’s not is often blurred beyond recognition. As Alexander Stille, one of the best English-language journalists writing on Italy, pointed out recently:

Despite the violation of their trademarks, the big fashion houses have been surprisingly slow to protest. Saviano suggests shrewdly that copying the brand may have actually served the interests of the big-name clothing makers. Saviano writes: “The garments they turned out were not inferior and didn’t disgrace the brands’ quality or design image. Not only did the clans not create any symbolic competition with the designer labels, they actually helped promote products whose market price made them prohibitive to the general public. In short, the clans were promoting the brand.” [...] to many, the indignities and corruption imposed by the illegal system are so widely accepted as to seem “natural.”

The film captures this divide (or lack of it) with pinpoint accuracy; although an English-subtitled version is likely some months away, Saviano’s book is widely available in translation. Anyone interested in understanding a little about the chaotic, perilous manufacturing that backs up some of the world’s top design would do well to pick it up, and to eagerly watch for the release of Garrone’s film.

Notice every time you do your dry cleaning, each piece of your clothing is returned atop a wire hanger?. Convenient, Yes - Eco-friendly, No. About 3.5 billion hangers escape from US closets each year, ending up in already overflowing landfills. Stretched out end to end, that’s roughly enough wire to travel to the Moon and back - twice. Startling, considering they take over 100 years to decompose.

We had the chance to chat with Josh Cohen (pictured, left), hailing from Melbourne, Australia - whom with his buddies Christian Ferrante and Ash Singam (pictured, right) have created a rather clever alternative. Green Hanger made from 100% recycled paper completely replaces the antiquated (and eco-ghastly) wire hanger.

In short, eco-conscious companies (and consumers) who care about what their threads are hanging on, can now make the choice to go green. A brilliant concept, in a changing world - we just had to talk to to these guys.

Tell us about Green Hanger, how did it start?

Green Hangers started by helping a few mates move and having a discussion on what to do with all the remaining wire hangers. After some research and development, we found an alternative which wasn’t eco friendly but made our version completely eco friendly by eliminating print, glue or any bonding agents as well as being environmentally led not advertising led.

Coat hangers? It’s a rather obscure product to re-invent - is there any particular affinity with the product? (Anyone in the dry cleaning business maybe?)

Traditionally coat hangers have just been a commodity and expense, now with Green Hanger we have the power to promote a cause and create awareness around a big issue. In OZ 77 million hangers end up in landfill - the Green Hanger seeks to reduce this. Also the dry cleaning industry is inherently a “dirty” industry with bad chemicals and practices. The Green Hanger goes towards promoting a greener industry and moving one step forward to becoming a better overall industry.

How important do you think “Green Marketing” is today?

I think its very important as long as the people and practices behind the organizations are true to their beliefs and don’t use the “environment” as a great way to make money while not practicing what they preach. Since everything has to be certified, accredited and assessed from all aspects of production, distribution and manufacture, it is important that companies look at the whole picture not just one component to hang their whole hat on.

What is a Green Hanger made of?

Green Hangers are made from 100% recycled and recyclable cardboard from post consumer waste.

Any plans on selling advertising on the facade?

We are against any forms of printing on our hangers as the inks and printing process ads another level of management and environmental concerns to manage. The other hanger companies promote that they have a recycled hanger but forget that most of them glue another sheet of paper to the front then print with ink all over the front. Plus who wants an add for a new Disney flick or type of new coffee by Nescafe in your wardrobe.

What type of customer buys a Green Hanger?

A customer that sees the potential in making a difference and willing to try something new and different in the market. It is hard to think that there is a cardboard alternative to the wire hanger, but it is stronger and hold more lateral force than a wire one.

How have you let your audience know about the benefits of Green Hanger thus far?

Through our website, word of mouth and face to face discussions at festivals and events.

We see you’re an Australian based company, any plans on marketing Greenhanger offshore?

Through our intensive e-marketing campaign and high google rankings for keywords, we have been able to spread our message wide and far fielding enquires from Canada, US, UK, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand and France. People are very interested in the product and we are in negotiations in setting up distribution arms in the UK and US.

What is the life expectancy of a Green hanger?

We have thouroughly product tested the Green Hanger and in the home they last for along time, upto 6 -12 months, in dry cleaners they have a lower expectancy due to the high turnover.

We love the product, how do we get some for our own home?

To get some go online for the OZ home - we are shortly offering packs of 25 which will be perfect for the home.. Currently for OS clients you will soon see throughout US and UK so stay tuned.

About Green Hanger

The Green Hanger was born in response to the ever-increasing number of wire and plastic hangers ending up in landfill each year. They have produced a fashionable solution to an unfashionable problem and it’s available immediately. When you choose Green Hanger, you are using a product that is attractive, functional and most importantly environmentally sound. It’s the perfect solution for any rag-trade business that wants to operate with minimal impact on the environment.

The vision clear, and the vision strong. Green Hanger is more than just a product, it’s a vehicle with the power to make the fashion industry leaner and greener. It demonstrates a commitment to actively reducing impact on the environment, while helping to educate, promote and reinforce awareness surrounding some of the world’s greatest environmental challenges.

Green Hanger is actively leading the change, providing an alternative choice to existing outdated technology like wire and plastic. Visit Greenhanger.com.au to place an your order. We know what our threads will be hanging on.

There is nothing cooler than a company that strives to not only produce great products, but to keep things local. There is something to be said about an organization that cares enough to realize the unique proposition a locally made product has over its competitors.

Blank, a Canadian company that sells blank T-shirts and clothing made entirely in Quebec. Unbranded and sweatshop-free, just like that of American Apparel.

Founded in 2005, Blank sells a range of clothing items and accessories for men, women and children with the goal of creating Quebec jobs and promoting local talent. Everything from fabric manufacture to dyeing, cutting and sewing is performed in Quebec, and through Blank’s wholesale services retailers can even customize items with the colours, fabrics and formats of their choice. The company operates two stores in Montreal, both of which also serve as locales of production — an interior architecture that includes large windows toward the rear of the store allows for customers to see the clothes being made. Brilliant.

Whereas almost 18,000 garment jobs were lost between 2003 and 2004 in Quebec, according to the province’s Institut de la Statistique, Blank’s sales doubled in 2006, allowing it to open its second store. Which just goes to show that the opportunities still abound for locally made goods. It’s not just still made locally—it also manages to remain profitable.

A couple of weeks back we wrote about custom kicks, and the trend of sneaker customization; though it seems Robert B. Martin Jr. is taking it to another level.

Growing up he found himself delving into his motherss safe and using her jewerly and diamonds to freshen up his kicks. He would take the jewerly from her and put it around the laces of his sneakers to create a unique pair of ‘bling’ kicks.

As time passed the fashion he created became more popular. Jump down the line a few years and Robert’s design style has now turned into a full blown sneaker accessory company namely Kickbars.

Kickbars are diamond plated bars specifically designed to lace through your shoelaces to create a custom style. Though many of his customers are wearing their Kickbars around their wrist or neck. The idea is patented by Robert and Kickbars and the actual bar itself comes in opulent 24K White Gold, either in a pave or invisable setting. You can also pick from an assortment of gems or colors to match your style.

All the diamonds are round cut though with different weights. The co also offers a Jr. Kickbar at a weight of 13grams, encrusted with 38 diamonds to a total of 1.5 carats. The original Kickbar is 18grams, made with 54 diamonds and is 2.0 carats.

The bars, which he says are made with conflict-free diamonds, are easily transferred from your Air Force Ones onto bracelets and necklaces. KickBars start at $6,500, but Martin says, “They can go all the way up to $5 million a shoe.”

Customizing is rather hot at the moment. Everything seems to be customized; from pimped cars to retro furniture. This major trend is especially popular in footwear, with some really special designs being produced and sold online. Customizing your own kicks (shoes) seems to be a way of stepping out of the crowd, of showing your personality; off the shelf designs just don’t say enough.

Just about every sneaker brand of late has found a way to put street art into their products; rain boots have never been in such demand; and the customizing festivals and exhibitions being held all over the world; are a serious force to be reckoned with.

Enter “Custom Kicks” a publication showcasing the work of 150 artists and illustrators including Skwak, Steven Harrington, Chuck Anderson, Mike Perry, Boris Hoppek, Jeremyville, Emil Kozak, Jon Burgerman and many many more all whom have been invited to show/create customized shoes, the book not only appeals to sneaker freaks, fashion fetishists and trend watchers, but also to the graphic-design and art audience. The text examines the trend and asks: how did it start? What materials do the artists use? There are also tips and tricks on how to create your very own unique shoes.

About the Authors: Kim Smits and Matthijs Maat of MAKI Design

MAKI is a boutique design and illustration studio based in Groningen, The Netherlands, run by Kim Smits and Matthijs Maat. Besides customizing their own sneakers, MAKI work for a variety of clients including magazines and many t-shirt companies around the world. In 2007 their first childrens book will be in stores as well as their own shoes and a childrens clothing line.

The move to produce & promote sustainable products, has fast become a unique selling proposition for brands the world over (and so it should). However, for one swiss bag producer the notion of sustainability and leveraging their brand from that fact, is nothing new.

Freitag has been producing designer bags made from recycled truck tarpaulins and seat belts for 14 years, originally created by two brothers: Markus and Daniel Freitag; the product line has caught the attention of young individualists the world over.

The brand has been managed internally, since the late ’90s, hiring managers internally to take care of sales distribution and marketing. The Freitag brothers have always had excellent instincts, surrounding themselves with people whose ideals and skills complement their own - and who put their hearts and souls into beating the drum for the Freitag philosophy. They comment: “As with most new businesses, growth during our first seven years was creative - and a bit chaotic,” says Streuli of the then young company. “Inquiries came in from abroad, and we did our best to respond to them. What was good about this non-strategy was that we achieved a high degree of awareness incredibly quickly.”

This non-strategic growth also had its drawbacks, according to Markus & Daniel: Freitag bags started turning up in shops that did the company’s image more harm than good, explains Braunschmidt. If it was to get back to its original values, there had to be a rethink in the marketing department. “Our customers are discriminating, engaged individuals of all ages, interested not just in the product but also in its quality and history,” says Braunschmidt. “So we carefully analyzed our distribution channels, only supplying shops that met certain criteria. They had to stock the right brands, and they needed motivated sales staff with a talent for advising customers. Freitag products, because they are made from recycled materials, look old even when they’re new, and that needs explaining.” Retailers alone can create brand charisma purely by the way the products are displayed. This is shown by the example of Italy, where Freitag bags, with their used-look, rub shoulders with brands like Gucci and Prada. Freitag’s most persuasive marketing tool remains the product itself.

One of the major coups for the company was when the curators of the Museum of Modern Art in New York noticed the genius of the environmentally correct, distinctive designs of Freitag and featured one of its bags in its design gallery when it reopened in 2004.

“We don’t spend a cent on classical advertising. We restrict ourselves to events, point-of-sale activities and sales support,” says Braunschmidt of the company’s marketing strategy. “Online marketing is becoming more and more important too, and quite a lot of people only make purchases on the Web site, and not in stores. We therefore apply stringent efficiency criteria to any marketing activity we consider.” Whatever marketing measure the company decides on, it always sticks faithfully to the Freitag credo: loving attention to detail. For example, a photograph is taken of every bag produced, then attached to it with a description of how that particular model came about.

Freitag Brothers History

In 1993 Markus and Daniel Freitag, both graphic designers, were looking for a suitable material for their bag designs. Inspired by the heavy-goods traffic thundering past their Zurich apartment overlooking the autobahn, they made a bag from old truck tarps, bicycle-tire inner tubes and seat belts, thus triggering a new trend in the world of handbags. They sewed the first models in their living room. Today the bags come into being just down the road, in the 2,800-square-meter workshop of what used to be the Maag gearwheel factory in the former industrial sector of the city, which now is a trendy quarter with a vibrant nightlife. Today, about 50 designs are made at this factory. In addition to the three Freitag flagship shops in Zurich, Davos and Hamburg, the products are on sale in over 350 shops worldwide.

The niche opportunities still to be discovered online never cease to amaze us here at Cartel, though one specific site that definitley went around our office the past week is that of Shoetube, a new video-sharing site for those obsessed with shoes; launched about two weeks ago by Massachusetts-based Powderhouse Productions, Shoetube aims to use online video and social community to connect women through their passion for shoes.

The free site features original video programs, user-generated videos and photos, and sponsor-created content, along with professionally written blogs, forums and articles on fashion news and trends. Among the site’s regular video programs, for example, are Behind the Boot, which provides access to the makers and shakers of the shoe world; Real or Deal, a studio show daring viewers to guess which shoes are from high-end designers and which are knockoffs; and Walk on By, in which Shoetube.tv hosts ask passersby nationwide, “Where’d you get those shoes?”.

In development is a Boutiques section, which will showcase videos and photos, blogs, contests, polls, and shoe deals from shoe companies the world over. Shoetube provides sponsors with promotional opportunities through video ad overlays, boutique microsites, banners, contests and polling efforts. Through a collaboration with Nine West, for example, Shoetube is helping to promote the shoe brand’s 30th anniversary and the launch of its fall 2008 boot line; to celebrate Shoetube’s launch, meanwhile, shoe brand daniblack is offering a USD 1,000 sweepstakes prize to a Shoetube.tv registrant.

Whether you’re a die hard Manolo freak, or live in your Tod’s, this site is a must!

A few weeks ago we stumbled accross a neat site selling some of the hottest T’s online; namely Rumplo a t-shirt-specific site that helps consumers find the coolest t-shirts from independent makers around the world.

“Rumplo’s mission is to make it easy for everyone to find their new Favorite T-shirts, and to give designers and tee shops great tools to promote and share their killer work.” they state on their site.

Brooklyn, NY-based Rumplo aims to make it easy to browse, search and subscribe to artist-produced tees. Users can scour categories such as typography, color, slogan, photography or gradient (in addition to the more obvious “new” and “most popular”), and Rumplo serves up a selection of matching submitted shirts from independent producers.

What’s unique about their site, is that designers, stores and registered users can all participate in submitting links to t-shirts they love, and users can subscribe via RSS to their favorite designers, tags or topics; with the ability for users to leave comments on each of the Tees, along with making it a “fave.”