Sustainable Stuff: Apolis Activism, Miguel Adrover & Hessnatur

Green technology and socially conscious living being hip is nothing new. These ideas have been fueling the sales of Priuses and their celebrity owners, along with their houses, their nightclubs, and often, their art. So why would it come as any surprise that it's trending in fashion? And sure, hemp clothing and sustainable shirts have been around for a while--American Apparel's been doing this kind of thing forever--but now's when they're hitting high tide. Two recent examples? The Apolis Activism Philanthropist Briefcase, and the Miguel Adrover-designed shirt Whole Foods is slinging.

Apolis Activism‘s a company founded by three brothers—Raan, Shea, and Stenn Parton—whose aim it is to make high fashion products that not only sell, but that locally generate positive gross income for parts of the world that need it. This income creates jobs, helps support an infrastructure for education, and does all the other things wonderful things putting money in places it normally isn’t can do for parts of the world we don’t read about--or involve ourselves in--enough. Take for example their Philanthropist Briefcase (pictured above): they’re teaming up with Ugandan cotton efforts, classic American style (the Seattle-based C.C. Filson Company), and turning out a product to sell, say, at local boutiques in Wisconson, where style items don’t normally see the light of day outside of ordering from big box retailers. The entire process is circular, and benefits people all over the world in a way that only helps contribute—and distinctly avoid causing suffering or damage—to the world. All of which goes without saying: it’s a hot briefcase, and it sold out its entire stock last season. You can pre-order it here. 

Moving on to those big-box retailers: Whole Foods--despite being embroiled in a recent scandal over some of their CEO’s inflammatory remarks about health care--tries to make this country a little healthier, and a little happier while doing it. Yeah, sure: it’s just another big shiny brand, but you have to at least admire some of the efforts taken by them to promote better living. Remember the I AM NOT A PLASTIC BAG bag Whole Foods released a while back? It was so popular, it inspired knockoffs. And here they are again, rolling out yet another socially conscious product that’s probably going to take off in the same way: Hessnatur—a leading purveyor of organic cotton around the world, who abide by “Fair Wear” practices—is releasing a women’s shirt via Whole Foods, designed by fashion icon Miguel Adrover. The shirt (pictured) was manufactured locally in Bangladesh under humane conditions with fair wages, and some of the proceeds go directly to Hessnatur’s scholarships at the Grameen Shikkha Project, that works to “eradicate poverty through education.”

Sure, this is simplifying the situation, but really, how can you not? Despite cutting corners to make a buck for the globalized economy, more and more designers are going to find themselves with lower profits if they don’t start making a conscious effort to contribute to our global soceity, instead of taking away from it. All they have to do is—like the aforementioned brands—produce a solid product along with it. Trickier than it sounds, but exponentially more admirable throughout.