Go Green Go – Philip Lim

We’re big fans of Philip Lim and he’s launched a new line of eco-clothes that’s selling at Barney’s called Go Green Go. Click the photo to see the line. Here’s an article from Elle.com in 2008 about the cutting edge designer and how he became green. For him, it was all about the polar bears.

green team

POLAR EXPRESS

Phillip Lim launches a new green line to fight global warming

by Whitney Vargas, April 28, 2008
www.Elle.com

Every activist has a defining moment when he can no longer ignore the world’s larger problems. For Al Gore, it was losing the 2000 election to George Bush, prompting him to refocus his career on the environment. For Phillip Lim, it was polar bears. Last year, while at home in his airy New York apartment, the designer caught a National Geographic special on the arctic prowlers and vowed to himself then to start his own organic line in order to reduce his company’s footprint. “At one time they were these elusive characters, living in this mythic world, as kings of the castle,” Lim says. “Now they’re hunting in junkyards, like scavengers.” The next day, while walking to work carrying his lunch in a recycled brown paper shopping bag—his carryall of choice—and thinking about how he’d contributed to global warming and the depletion of resources in the North Pole, Lim began laying the groundwork for Go Green Go, a 10-piece collection of bib-front tanks, cropped pants, and tunic dresses, all made with natural cottons (lined in organic silk) and bearing his signature relaxed silhouette. “I’d been thinking about doing this collection for a while, and suddenly it just felt right,” he says. In addition to forgoing dye on the sustainable materials, he had each item washed with tennis balls “to beat up fabrics” for a worn-in look. “When I think of organic, I think of natural beiges and something pure and innocent,” Lim says, noting how he also added sophisticated details such as pleating and covered buttons, which were finished by hand to cut down on machine use. “I don’t want women to be able to tell the line is green, so when they notice later, they’ll realize how easy it is to incorporate environmentally friendly fashion into their style.” As for Lim, he plans next to unroll Go Green Go for his men’s and children’s lines. Meanwhile, he’s instated a company recycling plan for plastic garment bags—“It’s a shame going through 1,000 plastic bags; actually, it’s kind of sickening”—and has designed a $20 canvas grocery tote (inspired by his personal brown bagging) that comes with a playful note reading, “Smile, you have just reduced your carbon footprint.” (100 percent of the proceeds go to Al Gore’s Climate Project.) “I know it’s not going to change overnight,” Lim says of the environment, “but at least I can try to reduce what I’ve done.”

HELP OUT! To aid in the fight against global warming and melting polar ice caps (disintegrating at a rate three times faster than they were five years ago), plant a tree. A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime. theclimateproject.org