2004 OSSA Awards

Ruben Aronin, Rebecca Luke
Suzanne Donnegan, Sean Schmidt

Musical Guest Keaton Simons

2004 Afterglow Poster

The Outstanding Sustainable Style Achievement (OSSA) Awards recognize outstanding social and environmental efforts across the many and diverse style and design industries that help us all “look fabulous, live well and do good”. The OSSAs are designed to showcase the amount and breadth of sustainability efforts underway in style industries, as well as foster cross-industry awareness and inspiration. They are one of the few places where stylemakers, community organizations, businesses and government come together to celebrate the many ways we can make positive change in the world as we express ourselves in our individual style choices. Above all, the OSSAs provide incredible role models for us all to look up to.

The awards are presented as a part of SSF’s “recognition and inspiration” program area, designed to highlight the best in sustainable style and showcase the positive power of making more sustainable lifestyle choices.

The 1st annual Outstanding Sustainable Style Achievement (OSSA) Awards were held at the Gibson/Baldwin Showroom in Beverly Hills on April 14, 2004. The event was hosted by Sharon Lawrence, Emmy nominated actress best known for her role in NYPD Blue. Performing for the private event was Maverick Records recording artist and singer/songwriter, Keaton Simons.

Gibson CEO Rob Senn, Esai Morales, Sharon Lawrence

Gibson CEO Rob Senn with Esai Morales and Sharon Lawrence.

For the 2004 OSSA Awards launch, we chose to announce honorable mentions in each of the eight OSSA Award categories rather than individual winners in order for our consituents to become for familiar with the cencept and vision of the awards. In addition, we announced plans to launch several premier awards including the Style and Substance Award in honor of Audrey Hepburn, the Vision and Innovation Award, the Youth Vision Award and the Outstanding Public Expression Award. Other awards announced at the OSSAs included Pop Sustainability’s PopIcon Awards and the TREEty Awards which were the outcome of a collaboration between San Francisco based New Leaf Paper and The Breast Cancer Fund.

[2004 Honorees]

Communications & Communication Design

Palm Springs Life Magazine for their article “love, style and charity”
Ms. Magazine for switching to process chlorine free paper
Ready Made Magazine for making reusing stuff ‘cool’
AIGA for their San Francisco conference, CompostModern
Organic Style Magazine for demonstrating the stylish side of organic living

Designed Environments

The California SolFest for making solar living fun and feasible to everybody
Natural Home Magazine for showcasing eco living at its best
IKEA for choosing to not use toxic flame retardant in their furniture
Mithun Architects for their ongoing leadership in green building
Bill McDonough for his visionary leadership in sustainable development and design

Fashion & Beauty

American Apparel for being sweatshop free and promoting local economies
Aveda for their ongoing commitment to biological and cultural diversity
Angella Lindvall for starting the Collage Foundation
Giorgio Armani for continuing to use hemp throughout his collections
Cutter & Buck for their use of organic cotton and signing SA8000.

Entertainment

Gibson Guitar for using Smartwood in their instruments
Uncle Kracker for his intergenerational video with Dobie Gray for the remake of “Drift Away”
Black Eyed Peas for their song “Where is the love”
The Style Network for their show “A Second Look”
Dave Matthews Band and Pearl Jam for their climate neutral tour<

Food & Restaurant

Whole Foods Markets for taking healthy food mainstream
Clif & Luna bars for going organic
Starbucks for their annual Corporate Social Responsibility Report
Nigella Lawson for her green powered kitchen
Chez Panisse (Alice Waters) for pioneering organic restaurants

Industrial Design & Consumer Products

Moscardino’s Spork for making an everyday product stylish and sustainable
Method cleaning products for making environmentally friendly housecleaning products stylish
Toyota for introducing a very hip new Prius
Honda for giving us the option of hybrid Civics
Herman Miller for making furniture utterly stylish and sustainable

Sports

EcoGolf for developing biodegradable tees and water soluble golf balls
The International Olympic Committee for adding environment as the third platform of Olympicism
Nike for increasing their use of organic cotton and phasing out PVC
The NBA for supporting UNICEF’s “Trick or Treat for UNICEF” program
Zumiez for supporting Boarding for Breast Cancer and offering sustainable products such as bamboo skateboards and vegan shoes in their stores

Travel and Transportation

jetBlue for their continuing commitment to environmental responsiblity
The Sheraton Rittenhouse Square for being the first ‘ecosmart’ hotel in the US
Delta song for serving organic food
Earthwatch for offering opportunities to study biological and cultural diversity
UPS for having the largest fleet of compressed natural gas vehicles

[award partners]