Yummy Gelato, Kaight’s Men & Vegan Psychic Powers!

Chocolate-Covered Strawberry, a la Blackwell's Organic

Blackwell’s Organic Gelato and Sorbetto is pretty damn good. My favorites are definitely the strawberry and the chocolate (and combining them! Wow). For those of us who like full, rich flavor (none of that watered-down, way-too-sugary crap), Blackwell’s is perfect. The strawberry tastes like amazingly fresh, satisfying strawberries! The chocolate is dark, smooth, dense, and sophisticated. Check out their full range at blackwellsorganic.com.

Check out the new menswear at our friend KAIGHT SHOP for some organic denim by the ethically handsome “Good Society” and some of the hard-to-find eco-friendly Tom’s (the ones without the toxic dead cow insoles, duh…).

Does going vegan give you psychic powers? For those of you who consider yourselves spiritual or into “energy”, and you still eat meat and dairy, you’ll definitely want to read this interesting article. The article was so interesrting, that according to Ecorazzi, Brandon Routh’s (Superman) character in Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World will be a rocker with “vegan psychic powers”. I know some ladies(and gents) who wonder if he’s single…?

Getting All Huffy & Shoes by the Gram

1. Getting All Huffy About It:

Photograph by Phillip Toledano – Vanity Fair ‘Green Issue’ 2008

Right before Earth Day, Todd Paglia, Executive Director of Forest Ethics, a forest protection organization, blogged about the hypocricies of Vanity Fair and other copycat magazines’ so-called ‘green’ issues in the Huffington Post. Vanity Fair is printed on paper from clearcut forests. None of its 12 issues per year are ‘green.’ In his editor’s letter, Graydon Carter laments the lack of stage time some of our largest looming challenges — global warming, the true costs of the US’s energy-ineptitude — have received in our current presidential race. While he goes on to say that those topics get their due in the subsequent pages, he conveniently neglects to mention another problem: the fact that every year, the magazine industry destroys an area the size of Rocky Mountain National Park — at an average of one tree per second — to print its 12 billion magazines. Read more…

Want an easy way to help protect endangered forests? Petition for a “Do Not Mail” Registry.

2. Gram Shoes

I wish these were organic, but at least they’re not leather! These hot shoes are as sophisticated as they are bad-ass. I spoke to their super-friendly and helpful US agent (BRNDNU, also associated with Good Society) to find out about their labor policies and ecological footprint. I was informed over the telephone that Gram is made in China by a Japanese owned and staffed factory. They are paid living wages, so no sweatshops. The fabrics are from England, and the design headquarters are in Sweden. Their new range is entirely nylon & denim, but in the past they’ve used leather, suede, and lambskin. Buy them at Mauve.

Sling & Stone in a Good Society

When a group of Seattle professionals left their high-power jobs to change the world with “the most luxurious and best-fitting jeans”, they had no idea what they were getting Themselves into. Sling & Stones jeans are made from American-grown organic cotton. The pocket lining is organic, fair-trade Peruvian cotton. Their supplier programs in Peru help poor farmers, who previously were forced to grow cocaine, generate electricity for the nearby villages, and donate proceeds back into the local communities. Fair Trade ensures workers are paid enough to care for their families, put food on the table, and send their children to school. In addition, Sling & Stones provides doctors, subsidized housing, and living wages to their factory workers. If you don’t think they are doing enough, a percentage of Sling & Stones’ profits will be used to immunize villagers in Peru, fight teen suicide in Japan, and build an orphanage and youth rehabilitation center in India. Organic Jeans! Who knew?

Why Organic Jeans? Each year cotton producers around the world use nearly $2.6 billion worth of pesticides — more than 10% of the world’s pesticides and nearly 25% of the world’s insecticides. If all of our cotton clothing was organic, we could cut global insecticide usage by a quarter! This is staggering.

Cut: Daniel (Slim Fit) Denim: S&S Staple Japanese Organic Supima Denim

Cut: Daniel (Slim Fit) Denim: Natural Indigo Dyed S&S Staple Japanese Organic Supima Selvege Denim

Click HERE to find out where to purchase a pair.

Sling & Stone is also a participant in Good Society:

“Good Society is a loosely connected organic movement driving global change. The core value of this movement is the belief that in all things we must love, will, and do good. The Good Society label takes fashion beyond useless, and often-destructive pretense by presenting an affordably priced, forward thinking collection that is fully sustainable – both ecologically and socially. The label centers around its collection of fairly traded 100% organic denim with clean styling and a fit that ensures it will be the pair you wear to look good and feel great. Please visit www.goodsociety.org for more information.”

DB’s Etiquette Recommendation: If you care about ecology, animals, or other people – conventional cotton is your sworn enemy. If you are not familiar with the GLOBAL CATASTROPHE that is conventional cotton, click HERE and watch the video at the bottom.