The Big Green Apple

I finally got the excuse I was looking for to head back to the big apple. Angela Lindvall, fashion model, actress and founder of Collage Foundation hosted a fundraiser and Fashion Week postparty with fellow organic style guru Danny Seo. It was great catching up and we conspired a bit on future projects. I also got a chance to talk to Angela's huband William quite a bit. Originally from South Africa and a professional diver, William's got a lot of great stories.

I also got a chance to catch up with other SSF-NY steering committee members Kim Heismann from PopSustainability and Mary Gelhar, fashion director of GenArt.

On my way out to the airport I made a pitstop in Brooklyn to check out an awesome new store called The Future Perfect, started by Satellite David Alhadeff. David's concept was to showcase high style accessories, home furnishings and artwork by local designers...what he discovered was that many of the products had great sustainability stories as well including coffee tables from salvaged wood, table runners from Donna Karan scraps and redesigned dishware.

photos: The Future Perfect store, Scrapile

Margaret, Margaret, Margaret!

My last day in NY was a busy one before my flight at 6:00pm. I started the day with a meeting with Margaret Lydecker, local organizer of Greendrinks. It was a random hookup via the Greendrinks website but it turned out Margaret was way into all kinds of sustainable style issues. Her core work at Robin Reigi is around industrial design materials for architects and interior designers so she showed me all sorts of great new sustainable materials available these days, including a flooring that incorporates recycled bottles from Brooklyn. WAY cool!

Next it was off to a meeting with a company that is far and away the leader in the beauty industry regarding social and environmental responsibility. Then off to lunch at Counter a new vegetarian/organic restaurant and bar in the East Village to have lunch with Caron Atlas, an expert on sustainability, particularly cultural, indicators. Yet another yummie lunch. Finally...zoomed off to the airport...such a NY moment.

From Mary Gelhar to Greyston

On my way to meet with Mary Gelhar of GEN ART I ran across the Chelsea Whole Foods Market. Wow, what a place AND oasis in the bustling big apple. Afterwords I was off to learn more about the Greyston Foundation in Yonkers, NY. Famous for their Greyston Bakery founded on budhist principles, the bakery also happens to bake the brownies for Ben & Jerry's ice cream. These days the Greyston Foundation has gotten into all sorts of social and environmental projects including sustainable real estate development. Karen Tumelty gave an awesome tour of their work around town and it was an awesome experience to see what a smaller town could do once given the right inspiration.

Next I was off to visit Leslie Hoffman, Executive Director of Earthpledge. They too are doing some incredible projects in the big city including rooftop gardening, waste=fuel and education around sustainable farming.

I finished off the long day at a Green Ground Zero meeting that took place at the offices of Pop Sustainability. A really exciting opportunity to get green building in probably what will soon be one of the most visible developent projects in the world. Pop Sustainability is doing some REALLY cool stuff so I'm excited to follow up with them as well.

Wise Win

I escaped the very hot and humid afternoon with some apparel industry folks at the Hudson Hotel, one of Ian Schrager's masterpieces with incredible gardens and other earthy touches. I later had dinner with Winifred Armstrong tonight. Win is an ecological economist with Columbia University's SIPA. She had a TON of great environmental and sustainability education contacts and took me on a wonderful walk into Central Park where I met the local egret and duck celebrities.

Finished off with a great dinner at the Organic Grill.

From Aveda to Zegna

Finally made it to one of the rare organic restaurants in NY last night. Herban Kitchen turned out to be quite a nice place. A little on the pricey side but then I AM in NY and it is ORGANIC so I guess I should expect as much. The food (I had the turkey meatloaf) was very tasty so I hope to go back and try a few more items. There's also an AVEDA store nearby.

Started today by watching the Celia Cruz processional. An amazing singer, an amazing life and a quintessential NY moment for me...a major processional and great conversations with the folks next to me. Then made a stop by the Ermenegildo Zegna shop. Absolutely the best clothing you can find for men and they have a surprising environmental background. Then it was off the UN where I got some cool baseball caps that I can - you know me - where backwards for the 'chillin' look. THEN I stumbled upon Dag Hammarskjord Plaza with their beautiful Katherine Hepburn Gardens. OK...this is my favorite place in NY now.

Headed to the Organic Grill in the East Village for Dinner. Tonight it was vegie lasagna - my favorite - and the OG didn't let me down. Had a great organic grean tea rootbeer too. Yummmeeee! Happened to walk past another place I'm going to try on Thursday called Counter. Stay tuned...

Sean in the Big Apple!

That's right sslog fans, Sean is in NEW YORK CITY making some official SSF visits, as well as scouting on my own to seek out what sort of sustainable style options the Big - green/or not so green - Apple might have in store.

Thursday evening started with a bang as I attended GEN ART event called IGNITE showcasing the winners of Heineken's Heineken Honors..."The Beat of Fashion" initiative to support emerging African American and Hispanic designers. The winners: Alonzo Ramos, Cornell Collins, Dulce de Leche ans Sistahs Harlem New York. With cars, water sculptures, several screenings going on, the fashion installation, groovy music and hip New York crowd it was a full-on fashion, film, art and music (live DJ) event. You know how SSF likes these kind of cross-industry events.

Today I finally, after waiting like three months having seen an article on them in the May Vogue (or was it April?), found the store Some Odd Rubies, a Ludlow St. boutique that gives new life to vintage clothing through a bit of 'artistic licence'. Call it vintage, recycled fashion, whatever you like - SSF loves it. One of our favorite mottos is "reduce, reuse, recycled, RESEW" and these guys are all over it. Summer Phoenix and Odessa Whitmore have their hands in things as two of the three partners, but it's obvious the place stands firmly on its own as it was a buzz on an otherwise quiet Sunday afternoon. Ruby, the third partner in the trio, was awesome (especially given that I had pretty much completely lost my voice from partying the night before) and seemed really into SSF. With folks like Some Odd Rubies and Tara Subkoff leading the way, hopefully recycled fashion will continue to take off.