sustainable style foundation*

Marrying the concept of organic, local food with fashion, I Heart Organic is supporting healthy local food and spreading a little sustainable fashion at the same time. They're distributing sweatshop-free, 100% organic American Apparel t-shirts around the Bay Area at festivals, farmer's markets and on their MySpace site. 10% of all net profits to education and local organic farms, and they're just getting started; their site will launch full-on in summer 2007 as a portal and an education tool for all local Bay Area organic businesses and organizations in the city. [I Heart Organic] & [I Heart Organic MySpace] via [Green Options

A directory, coupon book and educational resource all in one, the Green Zebra guide is San Francisco's guide to living a little more sustainably. It includes dozens of environmentally-conscious and community-oriented businesses, and offers deals on their products and services. Inside, you'll find 250 exclusive offers from organic restaurants and markets, eco-friendly retailers, spas, independent bookstores, bike shops, museums and more, so there’s something for just about everyone. [Green Zebra]

They call their radical new approach "Consumer Powered Conservationsm". Founded in San Francisco in 1997, Wildlife Works are the world's first business designed from the ground up around a consumer brand that stands for wildlife conservation. Their promise to every customer is that they use the proceeds from product sales to save endangered and threatened wildlife around the globe. You're wearing the brand that says you won't sit quietly by while the last wild things in the last wild places disappear forever.[Wildlife Works]

These limited-editions t-shirts are made of organic cotton and hand dyed in San Francisco. By their second season, Mark & Andrew had their creations in major-city boutiques all over the world. Sophisticated, charming and fun, you will no doubt enjoy the unique designs on Turk+Taylor shirts, also available in long-sleeve and hooded sweatshirt versions. [Turk+Taylor]

Based in Santa Rosa, this company has been employee-owned and operated since it was founded in 1994. Their mission is to provide training, sustainable employment and fair wages for impoverished artisans located primarily in the highlands of Peru & Ecuador. All of their goods for men, women, and children are made by the hands and hearts of artisans in many types of communities throughout the globe. [Indigenous Designs]

A company that celebrates all people and their ancient antiquity, they design hand made, limited run pieces, that are unique and fashionable. All of Deity Aton’s clothing contains at least 98% organic cotton. They also have hand-made 18 karat gold jewelry and organic oil soaps. [Deity Aton]

The purpose of this great company is to lead the resale fashion industry, provide a livelihood for its employees, a fair return to its owners, and achieve sustainable profitability by being the most beneficial place for its customers to buy, sell, and trade new and recycled clothing. Buffalo Exchange is unique because clothing and accessories are bought, sold and traded directly with store customers. [Buffalo Exchange]

Designed by SF artist/designer Gustavo Alcantar, Swirlspace's conscious hempwear is sustainable from the material (comfy, not scratchy hemp) to the eco-friendly dyes and hand screenprinting. Their designs and groovy attitude are helping make hemp more hip (and less hippie) while raising awareness about sustainable fashion and fair labor. [Swirlspace]

Creating provocative designs from themes in the news, Headline Shirts are all designed, stitched, printed and washed sweat-shop free on either American Apparel or The Apparel Agent shirts. Most of their shirts are printed with water-based ink; in addition to designing clothing, they also contribute a portion of each sale to progressive nonprofits. [Headline Shirts]

A strong supporter of breast cancer and children's causes especially in the Bay Area, Margaret O'Leary's bamboo silk and hemp/silk blended knitwear and fashions look good and do good. With boutiques in New York and Seattle as well as San Francisco, her upscale apparel and accessories is available all around the country. Her luxurious knitwear and unique sportswear is as stylish as it is comfortable. [Margaret O'Leary]

Featuring kids' and women's 100% organic cotton t-shirts, each shirt by Speak Clothing features an American Sign Language hand symbol. A fun and creative introduction to this unique style of communication, a percentage of each sale will go directly to a program that benefits children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Words like "play", "laugh", "run" and "breathe" are silk-screened; the shirts can be found in San Fran and at SSF pal 3r Living in NYC. [Speak Clothing]

Meaning fish scales in Portuguese, Escama bags are made from recycled aluminum can tabs, giving the appearance similar to the scales of a fish. The bags are handmade by two women’s cooperatives located in economically depressed ‘satellite cities’ of Brasília, Brazil; inside each bag is a card with the name of the artist who crocheted the piece. The bags are available in boutiques and stores from New York to Los Angeles to San Francisco and Seattle, and many place in between. [Escama]

With stores up and down the west coast and as far east as Chicago, Crossroads Trading Co. recycles contemporary fashion from the community and passes the savings along to you. They'll also take your gently used clothes and give you cash for 'em (provided they aren't full of moth balls and someone will still want to wear them after you). [Crossroads Trading Co.]

Made from what amounts to industry waste (end of runs and small scraps), Fabuloid's San-Francisco designers make the clothes with a vintage flair right there in the city by the Bay. When you buy a shirt or skirt from them, you're buying directly from the designer, promoting local economies, eliminating shipping and other environmentally-harmful practices, and getting a well-made, fabulous garment. [Fabuloid]

With a storefront and online shop based in San Francisco, OTSU opened in 2002 with the intention of providing sweatshop-free and vegan goods. They're dedicated to supporting a small-scale, d.i.y. economy; some of the things you'll find at OTSU are one-of-a-kind accessories, handmade mini-comics, cute vegan bags, exclusive OTSU artist t-shirts, Little Otsu print products, a large selection of vegan cookbooks, as well as some sweatshop-free vegan shoes and belts. [OTSU]