The Green Fashion Challenge

When you hear the words "eco fashion" what image comes to mind? Cameron Diaz in an $11,975 dollar organic dress on the cover of Vogue? Some message on a canvas tote? Maybe nothing at all?

Unlike other facets of the Green movement- organic food, beauty products, home supplies - eco fashion hasn't made a big a splash in the public consciousness. It's not as talked about or obsessed over. It's the Green movement's reclusive aunt.

There isn't much diligence or attention to what eco fashion even means."I went to Rainbow the other day to get my friend a cheap gift," says Cary Curran, an actress living in New York, "and they had green shirts with glittered letters that said 'Green is the new black.' I don't even know if it was organic cotton."

The insiders have had enough. "Walk down the street, in the city, 2 out of 10 women will have a canvas tote with some kind of green message on it, like the "I'm not a plastic bag' thing," says Molly Garretson who founded Project Earth Day, an annual fashion show and student design competition in its 4th year. "Yes the message is getting broader and spreading, but it's getting kitschy."

Mottainainy Purple Shibori Shirt, $230: When taking your eco-vacation, it's best to wear something that didn't poison a river in China while it was being made. Purple shibori shirt is hand dyed cotton from Japan, plackets on sleeves. See Mottainainy. com

About Mottainai: The name (pronounced moe tie nie) is an old Japanese saying that roughly translates to "what a waste." Japanese kids were told to finish their rice or the Mottainai ghost would come.These clothes are shockingly fresh, slick and wearable and are for globally aware guys who know that if we don't change our habits, a much scarier ghost is going to come.

This all may be about to change .The United Nations declared 2009 the International Year of the Natural Fibres and Stella McCartney was listed as one of Times 100 most influencial people for her work creating cruelty-free ,high fashion clothing.

Meanwhile,out in the fashion trenches,manyeco-conscious designers are starting to find their voices.Mociun and Bahar Shahpar make gorgeous sophisticated clothes for women who can afford to wear them.

Popomomo's simple, adorable dresses and shirting are artsy in a Zooey Deschanel kind of way. Mottainie's slick, put together men's clothing would appeal to cool choosy youth who wear Y-3 or APC. And, in the bright, eye-popping, work of UK-based Junky Styling, Eco fashion may finally have its Vivienne Westwood-a design collective that is giving sustainable clothing a noticeably different, innovative look that looks more like a cultural movement than a simple trend. Still, its not like the garment industry is uniformly enthusiastic. Like any corporate beast, (see meat industry, health care industry) it is slow to change, especially when it involves lower profits. Just a glance at the boom in cheaper textile production in China is an indication that there is still a ruthless bottom line