How green did were Ana and met? We actually did pretty good--thanks to some progressive company policies that might surprise you....
Okay, now I can talk about the presents I bought Ana for her birthday. She loved them last night.
But I am afraid I wasn't a very green shopper. Well, let's see how green is Charles David? I bought Ana a fabulous orange purse, which she loved, and brown boots for some new tight jeans. The purse--I have no idea what it is made of. Maybe I should have gone to www.ecostiletto.com to find a fabulous green purse. But I have three kids. I needed to shop NOW. I had time. I loved shopping for her, I have to admit. That must be love--or else total lust.
Besides, one can't do everything by mail order. Sometimes you have to see the flow, the colors, up close. I had to shop for her birthday and actually see things. I know I live here in a big city but finding eco purses is just about impossible--especially where we live out here in the mountains.
I mean, we do buy them. She loves her all-natural ones from Costa Rica and Guatemala, and maybe I should have bought one from the Bhutan shop in town, but I wanted to doll her up, and so we had to go fashionista. I emailed Charles David and asked them about their environmental policy.
Here's what I wrote to Teresa Kanode at Charles David
Hi Teresa
I just bought my fiance a lovely orange purse and boots made in Italy at your boutique. Do you have any environmental policies regarding materials used and manufacturing practices? Would love to know.
Very truly yours
Dave
I will let you know.
Next was Nordstrom where I found a beautiful clinging formal Calvin Klein gown, soft orange and pink, and then an orange clutch, and another strapless pink dress. The gown was very sexy, and the orange is a good color for her. I learned that Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation owns Calvin Klein, and although only starting, the parent company is definitely moving in the right direction.
I began going through their environmental policies guide, and they have their work cut out for them.Here's a little background from Wikipedia: Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation (NYSE: PVH) is an American apparel company, and the world's largest shirt company. It owns brands such as Calvin Klein, Van Heusen, Izod, Arrow, Bass and licenses brands such as Geoffrey Beene, BCBG Max Azria, Chaps, Sean John, Kenneth Cole New York, JOE Joseph Abboud and MICHAEL Michael Kors. Phillips-Van Heusen has several sourcing facilities worldwide. These facilities are located in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, China, Honduras, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Mongolia, Singapore, Thailand and Taiwan.[1] The corporation employs over 12,000 people worldwide.
Yet, they are working with a number of suppliers to ensure as much as possible they are using sustainable woods and paper, for example, that is Forest Stewardship Certified, which is great. That's the highest standard. Additional environmentally conscious initiatives undertaken by PVH include:
• Renovating the 10th floor of their New York City corporate headquarters and applying for LEED certification, a nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings
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Publishing a periodic newsletter to communicate progress on organizational and associate efforts
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Raising recycling rates dramatically from 29% of total waste being recycled to 76% now being recycled
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Making 30% recycled content paper the standard for printing and copying
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Reducingd energy usage and CO2 emissions
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Significantly increasing the use of Green Seal chemicals for office cleaning and maintenance
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Reducing the purchase and use of plastic water bottles by nearly 50%
to be continued
Ana says:
Total lust!!! It entitles you to a few things . . . ;-)
March 8th, 2010 at 4:50 PM