Where you see trash, Italian designers Alessandro Garlandini and Stefano Castiglioni, and made by ilVespaiosees, their creative workshop.  Their “Scacchie-Re” (pictured above), is a chess set created from recycled Whirlpool knobs and components.  Below are a few additional examples of their designs made from recycled materials.

(above) A modular display for a hairdresser’s salon made out of recycled, honeycomb cardboard.

(above) Recycled movie poster chair.

(above) Bags made from recycled ad banners from the 2008 Varese Road Cycling World Championships.

On the heels of NYC’s Fashion Week, the GreenShows, and Nolcha runway events last week, there was a green Catwalk Event of another sort the other day in honor of a new kitty litter called, Yesterday’s News.  Four of today’s top sustainable designers – Bahar Shahpar, Anthony Lilore, Lara Miller and Samantha Pleet stepped up to the sustainable challenge:  Create a runway-worthy fashion item from yesterday’s news – old newspapers.

The designs will be auctioned off (9/22-9/29) and you can bid on them if you like…proceeds will be donated to each designer’s favorite green charity, including:  Trees for the Future, Riverkeeper, The Land Connection and Kiva.

Also up for auction are three award-winning handbags designed by “non-professional” designers. These Best in Show Sustainable handbags were brought to life by Elias Abadi, president and head designer of Nahui Ollin handbags. Coincidentally, one of these winners, Dr Deborah Ekstrom is a friend of a friend of mine.  There were hundreds of entries submitted and Dr. Deborah Ekstrom snagged a top spot for her handbag creation.  Cool.  Visit dogooderchallenge.com/ for bidding info and all the links you probably were hoping for in this post.

For all you kitty cat lovers, Purina’s new kitty litter is non-toxic, made in part from old newspapers and sawdust. Just curious – which is your favorite — the trench coat, top, or one of the kicky dresses?

There were 10 eco designers featured at the GreenShows last week…in case you missed them, here are our exclusive videos highlighting 4 runway shows featuring fair trade, sustainable style for spring/summer ’11:  Luis Valenzuela, JoAnn Berman, Ashton Michael Black Label, and Samantha Pleet.

Here’s to a fabulous, first weekend of fall!

Where do cars get the worst gas mileage and do the most harm to the atmosphere?  Cities.  Urban automobile travel sucks up fuel and spews out CO2 – and the sin is compounded when a lonely individual person is tooling around town in their Escalade.

One solution for short distance solo travel – grab a bike, e-bike, or electric scooter.  The only emissions generated by an e-bike are from the power plant that creates the electricity used to charge its battery (coal-fired power plants present a dilemma).

To serve this market, Suzuki and Sanyo have hooked-up to create the e-Let’s – an electric scooter prototype which will begin road testing in Japan shortly.  The e-Let’s will fully charge from a standard wall outlet in about 4 hours, and has a top speed of just under 20mph.  You can scoot-around for about an hour on a charge. Perfect for short commutes and quick errands.

We particularly like the nifty looking basket on the front of the bike for storing cocoa, iPads, fresh produce and crayons & such.

source: globalsuzuki.com

Liquidation Sale, 50% off Storewide — all ladies apparel is organic and Fair Trade made; 5% of profits go to worthy charities; free shipping – better hurry!

(above, clockwise L to R) organic bamboo and organic cotton knit scarf on sale now reduced from $26 to $13.  Indigenous Designs’ Tango Jacket petites, certified organic cotton, either neutral or black; now $42. Sleep Tank in organic cotton & spandex, now $18.  Eco undies in solids or Brackley Print, now $7.50/each. … Lots more smart stuff @ fashionandearth.com