The Sustainability Across America Tour is a journey to bring the eco-movement to the people in a grassroots, human kind of way.

I’m Laura Jones, a writer armed with my curiosity, my laptop and a VW van. I’m traveling around the USA to deliver this movement from the ethereal marketing-wash to the you, the people. This is a mission to connect the dots between the movers and the shakers in this emerging economy and developing philosophy, to share the wisdom of the pioneers and to crowd-source inspiration with the powers of …

Tags: Cradle To Cradle , Eco Working Group , Laura Jones , Outdoor Industry Association , REI , SUST , Sustainability Across America , Sustainable Product Index , Wal-Mart

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Wal-Mart is taking big steps to give a measurable definition as to how green their products are with an initiative to put eco-labels on everything in their stores worldwide, from t-shirts to bicycles.

The idea is to give products a simple, standard rating that allows everyday shoppers to determine at a glance how sustainable a product is, similar to a nutritional label on food.

Understandably, this is a huge endeavor and many wonder if the megachain will be able to accomplish it. If it succeeds, this will change the future of retail …

Tags: Coral Rose , Eco Innovations , Energy Star label , fair trade , Footprint Chronicles , Green Index , green rating system , Love Earth Jewelry , Nike Considered , Sustainability Consortium , Sustainable Action Leadership , Wal-Mart

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Day 1

Many of us struggle with the ethical questions raised when eco-clothing gets cozy with mega-corporations like Wal-Mart, Target or Payless.

I stumbled across an article praising Norma Kamali for her work with casual and career clothing for women for Wal-Mart. While she’s doing organic tees for the retail giant right now, not all of her clothing is from sustainable fabrics.

Why not go all organic?

Kamali considers designing at a different price point (according to her site) perhaps “the most exciting opportunity of her career,” and a chance to promote women’s “self-esteem”. …

Tags: Coral Rose , Eco Innovations , Future Fashion White Pages , Norma Kamali , organic cotton , Wal-Mart

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The more I talk with designers, the more I want you to know what they’re thinking. Here’s some insight.

I recently asked nine various shades of green designers what they thought about the question:

“Does collaborating with big names like Target, Kohl’s or Wal-Mart sound enticing to you?”

Heyne Bogut: I think in order to make that work you need to have a very packaged and defined product that can be understood and categorized quickly and easily. I’m always up for a challenge …

Tags: AK Vintage , Alison Kelly , aster and sage , cmarchuska , Dahl , Harper Della-Piana , Heyne Bogut , Kohl'e , Mociun , mothlove , souchi , Target , Wal-Mart

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