White House Veggie Garden

Check out this fun video on the White House's vegetable garden - organic, healthy food for the first family and staff! Love it!

Born on Earth: our new clothing line samples!

4 out of 5 of our design samples basking in the sunshine

Well everybody, we are almost there! Today feels like Christmas! After working for many months and finalizing countless details and decisions, we finally got our 'close-to-final' eco-clothing samples today for Born on Earth. We have one more design that we are waiting for and then we can move forward manufacturing our unique, fun and fresh, limited-edition totally eco kids line!

We are nearing the finish line to go to manufacturing (which by the way we will video for everyone to see).

The almost official unveiling...

Introducing 'The Bluebird T'

Introducing 'The Birdwatcher T'

Introducing 'The Everest T'

Introducing "The Breathe Free T"

Born on Earth Ts are designed to be unique, hip and artistic and to have a hand-made feel to them. We make them extra special with fun, fresh graphics, creative embellishments, appliques, embroidery and little rhinestones (for girls only of course!). They are made with 100% organic cotton that is buttery soft, and are cut, sewn, dyed, manufactured, embroidered, printed and finished all in the USA right in LA. They were designed by a couple of hot LA designers, and manufactured by people who share our passion for the environment.

Some of the fun details

The samples you see above are not final yet - they are missing some elements like rhinestones on The Birdwatcher T, and we will be tweaking some of the art pieces a bit, but they are close. We are on our way! They should be through production by early June and available mid-June. Please let us know what you think!

Blessings,
Jodi & Julie

Little Green Star

Today I found a fresh fun line for eco-babes...'little green star' - this company makes cute little onesies and Ts for eco-babies. Started by two environmental consultants turned mommies, their goal is to create a line of organic baby clothes that promotes green living. Their designs are fun and fresh, and they are available online and in many retail outlets. One of my favs is 'Nature Lover'...enjoy!


Also FYI I found this fun company through a neat new tool - GenGreenLife.com - a company focused on connecting people with local, green resources.

Happy Earth Day!

Earth Day 2009 :-)
It is estimated that 1 billion people will celebrate Earth Day today, in 175 countries. Earth Day events are happening all over the world - you can find an event near you with the Earth Day Network's event finder.

On Earth Day 2009, as I listen to the many chirping birds outside my window, I feel inspired to be a citizen of this Earth. We are moving towards an new era of consciousness, and I believe that we will come together as global citizens to work towards environmental solutions. I believe in the passion, creativity, ingenuity and hard work of humankind, which I think will help bring forth an exciting era of new thinking and innovative green technology - all spurred by the environmental crisis we are facing and the resulting critical need to think differently.

I am also very excited by the progress we are making with Born on Earth kids clothing. We will launch our new line in about a month, and have carefully figured out how to do just about everything sustainably...from the materials and processes we use, to the way we package, to our hang tags, to creating the clothing from scratch in the USA. It is very fulfilling to be able to create environmentally sustainable, socially just products while enabling green jobs and partners.

Today I also feel very excited about the opportunity for green innovation. Just as we have rethought and innovated through the entire process of creating t-shirts with Born on Earth, there is a vast opportunity to innovate in all aspects of society. In order to become a truly environmentally sustainable society, we need to rethink everything that we do...the way we manufacture, create, consume, eat, transport, build, work, educate, & dispose...we need to rebuild the way the entire system works. This simple fact makes me bullish that we are going to see an enormous amount of green innovation in the coming decade. Organizations like the EPA are working to ignite green innovation, check out what the Director has to say about green technology and innovation.

Grassroots organizations are also organizing people to make a difference. The Earth Day Network (the people who organize Earth Day) launched a new campaign today, called the "Green Generation", which is a two-year initiative that will launch in 2009 and culminate on the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day in 2010. The core philosophy behind this campaign focuses on civic participation and meaningful action. The Green Generation core principles include: a carbon-free future ending our dependency on fossil fuels and based on renewable energy sources; an individual commitment to sustainable and responsible consumption; and the creation of a green economy that helps lift people everywhere from poverty, by transforming the education system around the world and creating millions of green jobs.

According to Earth Day Network,

"the Green Generation includes ordinary people who are engaged in individual and collective activities to improve their health, to improve their schools, to participate in building a solution to urgent national and global issues, such as climate change or the world’s water crises. The Green Generation is open to everyone: people of all ages and all nationalities, consumers who are committed to buying green; community leaders who are focused on greening their communities; parents and teachers who work to provide healthy foods and green schools for their children; those who work in green jobs; academics whose research is focused on innovative products and services; scientists and engineers who develop new green technologies; and governments that seek to implement policies and support research that will build a green economy and healthy population, and the religious community who are committed to a vision of a just, sustainable, green planet. Corporations will play a key leadership role in the Green Generation campaign, particularly those that recognize that their future success is tied to sustainable products and socially just endeavors."

You can join the Green Generation here.

I love being a part of Born on Earth because we are creating consumer products and jobs that are both environmentally sustainable and socially just. Hooray for the Green Generation!!!

Preserve Everyday

Today I found a very cool company who fuses hot design with sustainability....they are called Preserve, and they make everyday stuff that works great, looks cool and is from 100% recycled materials. They also manufacture all of their products in the USA and the products are designed to stay out of landfills when they are finished.

I am a particular fan of the Preserve Jr. toothbrush, a great option for kids age 2-8. Each toothbrush supports the National Wildlife Federation's mission to protect our wildlife, and each toothbrush highlights different endangered species.

They also have great tableware and other kitchen items (mixing bowls, cutting boards, food storage, colanders, measuring cups, etc.)...all BPA free and 100% recycled.

EcoMom - Sustain Yourself with this Website

There is a great website out there for eco-moms to connect, shop, think green and take action, called aptly, EcoMom. This site, is several things in one - a social networking site for 'ecomoms,' an eco lifestyle brand, a green news media channel, and a website promoting sustainable living - all inspired by the power of women! It's really chock full of all kinds of eco-info and is worth checking out. The creator of EcoMom, Kimberly Danek Pinkson, founded in conjunction the Eco-Mom Alliance, a not for profit organization, with the belief that women as a network, possess the ability to instigate change in the world and to help create a shift towards sustainability. I am totally inspired by this belief; one of the core foundations and inspirations for our company, Born on Earth, is to help create positive change for the environment as working eco-mamas, or what we have dubbed, 'Ecomomprenuers,' by creating a sustainable and environmentally friendly business.

By the way, not only does EcoMom have an inspiring raison d'etre, they also (on the fluffier side) :) are selling some cute Eco duds. EcoMom is selling these really sweet-lookin' jeans in their EcoMom Market, and I think I need a pair:

J Brand Green Label Low Rise Pencil Leg in Woodstock

How cute are those! Really, something for all the aspiring eco-moms out there. Check it out!

Eco-Mowing for a healthy you and a healthy planet

Today I learned a new term: ecomow. According to ecomowers.com, the term 'ecomow' means: 'to mow without gas, and without noise, just a naturally clean cut.' I became intrigued...as I read more, I was horrified to realize that today's gas mowers emit as much hourly pollution as 11 cars! And the riding mower is even worse - 34 cars! YIKES.Never fear! Ecomowers.com is here! They provide a simple solution - they offer a number of modern push mowers you can chose from like the RazorCut pictured below (not your grandmother's old mower). And to top it all off - by using an ecomower, you burn over 400 calories each time you mow your lawn. I'm going to have to think hard about switching to ecomowing...beautifying my lawn while getting fit using a safe, quiet and eco-friendly ecomower. Win, win, win.

Desert Escape - Girls Weekend in Palm Springs

Poolside view from the new Ace Hotel in Palm Springs

Jodi and I and our best pal escaped to the desert last weekend, for a much needed girls weekend to Palm Springs! It was nice to get away from our busy day-to day lives and find time for inspiration, to relax by the pool - with nothing to do!, and share some laughs you can only have with your best girl pals.

We stayed at the brand new Ace Hotel, a hotel chain originating in Seattle, which is charmingly offbeat and hip, staffed by a most boisterous and happy crew. (Shout out to Rachel, Mo and Alex - you guys are the best!)

The Girls hanging by the pool, in distinct colors of black, red and white:

Jules

Mel - our dear friend and inspiration...three is a charm.

Some things of note:

The unique sun shades used by the ultra cool Ace Hotel

Organic red wine , brought by Jules, is rumored to have less of an 'impact,' yet remained only one out of many drink options! :)

The organic fare served by the Ace was a serious bonus, as well as their use of 'eco-friendly packaging.'

Cute feet are a must on vaca. This is Mel's - lookin' good!

Jules & Jode jaunt around town on cute cruisers courtesy of the fabulous Ace.

Jode & Jules capture a playful moment in a self-portrait. Girls weekend = fun and smiles.

Born on Earth Kids - our mompreneur journey part 2

Our new Hang-Tags

In addition to finalizing our brand, logo, hang-tags, etc., over the last few months it has also been really inspiring to finalize the actual products. There is quite a degree of complexity involved in creating a T-Shirt from scratch...you have to create a design, make a pattern, make a sample, fit the sample, change the pattern, dye/wash the sample, approve the final sample, source the material, design and product hang-tags, and then you move into production (which involves many pieces too...dying, cutting, sewing, printing, embellishing, washing, etc.). We are learning so much, and have found apparel creation to be a wonderfully creative and expressive process. Here are a few things we've been working on recently:
Finalized Patterns and Completed Samples: Working with Kelly from KellyB couture, finalized our fits, patterns and samples. My daughter Tessie and Julie's son Jake were our adorable if slightly reluctant fit models.

our fit model Mr. Everest

Picked the Color Palette for our line: We are going with a beautiful palette of pink, lavender, light blue and slate grey for our Spring/Summer line...so many beautiful colors to chose from...Finalized our Dye/Wash Technique: We looked at a bunch of different techniques to acheive a unique, vintage-esque style. Everything from tye-die (too 70s for us), to dip-dye, to mineral wash, to brush dye.

Evaluating different dye and wash techniques

Sourced our Organic Materials: We were able to source luxurious, super soft 100% organic cotton right in LA. All of our work will be 100% based in USA, and 100% organic. I love the feel of our cotton.organic cotton plant

Designed our Hang Tags: Hang-tags are an important part in expressing your brand in the apparel world. We love our new hang-tags (the top of this post). Hope you do too!

Born on Earth Kids - our mompreneur journey

I promised that I'd periodically share our journey of becoming mompreneur kids fashion designers. So far this journey has been wonderfully creative, inspiring and exciting. jules and I are also finding that we love to work together and compliment each other very well (lucky us), and most importantly that we both love being fashion designers! So far so good.

Over the next few posts I'll share with you what we've been up to for the past few months, starting today...here's what we've been up to:
1. Created our new brand!

We are so excited to unveil our new brand. We worked with our wonderful designer Lyndsay to create a distinctive mark that blends nature and couture. We wanted something that is free and expressive, fun and playful. We are very happy with our new Born on Earth brand and hope you love it as much as we do - please share your thoughts with us.

2. Finished our Spring/Summer 2009 collection! we worked long and hard with our miraculous apparel designer Kiira to end up with a collection for Spring/Summer 2009 that we are really proud of. I'm not going to spoil the surprise yet by posting the finished photos , but I'll give you a sneak peak of one of the appliques on one of the girls shirts...hope you like it!

detail of one Spring/Summer 2009 girls shirt

Lots more has been happening and I'll share what we've been working on with patterns, samples, manufacturing, material sourcing, and hang-tag creation in my next few posts. Stay tuned!