LABEL boutique - ecofriendly clothing

We expect a lot of our clothing. Or at least, we should. Especially good, pricey, designer stuff. It should make you look good, for one. Good clothing should make the observer notice the wearer, not the worn. And good clothing should also make you feel good. That feeling good comes in a number of forms, from feeling confident about the way you look to feeling ecofriendly and responsible about the choices you're making as a consumer.

Not feeling it with your current brands? Then you really need to check out LABEL. Their line is specific and exclusive, with a total of 10 pieces (plus various colour options) available.  This means that each piece is made with a great deal of consideration and forethought for design, wearability, usability and versatility. Take, for example, the Wrap Dress at left. Made from 93% sustainable bamboo and 7% spandex for stretchability and wearability, this dress will flatter virtually any shape and can be mixed and matched as a wardrobe staple with any number of styles. All of the pieces in the LABEL closet are made that way: LABEL is "a collection of clothing perfectly suited to creative contemporary women looking for room to interpret current trends. LABEL resists the urge to define its wearers, but instead invites the wearer to define the clothing. LABEL reinvents the basics, inspiring and encouraging generous styling and wardrobe play."

All LABEL clothing is made wherever possible with natural, organic, renewable or reclaimed fibers. All pieces are made locally by fairly paid contractors. And this part I love: LABEL minimizes waste by donating all fabric scraps to a local artist who incorporates them into handmade stuffed creatures. Heart!

But even knowing all that awesome eco- and socially-friendly stuff, with styles like this gorgeous, statement-making Cape or this fabulously versatile Cardigan (both made from Tencel - a wood based fiber - and wool) it's obvious that the point with LABEL is really the clothes. Want!

Interested? Check out their online store. And here's a special bonus for ecochick readers: Simply enter the code "ecochick" in the coupon line in your shopping cart when shopping at LABEL and enjoy 20% off your purchase. Now that's smart!

Abby Sprouts: eco-friendly family shopping - discount code and giveaway!

Congratulations to  Food According To Karen who said...
"There are so many things on the website it's hard to pick. However, the Classic Dump Truck By Sprig is adorable. My grandson is at the 'vrrmvrrm' stage and would love the dump truck."  You're getting an organic onesie!


One of these days, I will write a long, boring-to-most post about cloth diapers, slings, sleep sacks and all the other stuff that you get in to when you're trying to be an eco-friendly modern mama. Until then, my short summary on those items is:

1. Cloth diapering is awesome and better (functionally) than disposables. And trust me, I'm as squeamish as you are.
2. The sling saved my life for the first six months.
3. The sleep sack saved my life for the next three months (and counting).

And it's always nice to find a one-stop shop where you can pick up all of these great baby needs and more all under one (virtual) roof. Abby Sprouts is based in Victoria, BC and is your one-stop shop for green, personally-tested baby and mama goods. From their website:

After being frustrated with searching for safe products throughout my pregnancy and for my baby I decided the green family needed a place where the leg work was done for them. I select every product Abby Sprouts sells based on earth friendliness, play factor, enjoyment, quality, and functionality. If it's junk we don't sell it. I'm a true believer in buying less but buying good quality.

From toys to clothes to an excellent selection of cloth diapers (including the favourite around here, Fuzzi Bunz), Abby Sprouts strives to provide a great and easy shopping experience, all while adhering to their own green policies. Check out their website or follow them on Twitter. And once you're ready, use the code "EcoChick" for a 10% discount off everything on the site, including sale items. And shipping is free if you spend over $99. Nice!

And because Steph at Abby Sprouts is awesome, she gave us an adorable Love Peace Organic Cotton Onesie to give away (hooray!) So just scoot on over to Abby Sprouts and tell me what your favourite product is in the comments by Thursday, April 29. Don't forget to leave me a way to contact you (email, blogger profile, whatever works). Giveaway recipient will be selected at random and notified. Good luck and happy green!

Origins Online: Free full-size cleanser with $30 order

There's lots of specials and discounts going on today - Earth Day! One nice one in my inbox was from Origins - get a free full size cleanser with your $30 Online order - just use the appropriate offer code at checkout, shown in the image at left. And, if you purchase any A Perfect World moisturizer until April 30 and Origins will plant a tree on your behalf. Nice!

Eco Baby Buys: Get 'em while you can!

Hey, busy parents. Do you despair of finding eco-friendly yet nice and fun items for your baby at a good price? Eco Baby Buys is here to help.

Eco Baby Buys' purpose in life is to source baby gear that meets their strict criteria - the use of non-toxic materials and dyes; the use of organic and/or recycled textiles and materials; the use of eco-friendly packaging; and a commitment and adherence to the standards of fair-trade - and to bring them to busy moms and dads at wicked prices.

But you have to act fast! Every day at 9 am EST they post a new deal at ecobabybuys.com, and they're always limited quantities so you can only get them til they sell out. Once you place an order, Ecobabybuys takes over, maintaining the eco-friendliness by using recycled boxes and packaging material; printing only when necessary and using efficient printers and recycled unbleached paper; encouraging people to choose to ship their items with the USPS since postmen already go to your house every day, and more.

And what great items do they feature? They've sold great stuff from companies like Go Natural Baby, Kee-Ka, Keptin-Jr and loads more. So make sure you go sign up today so that you don't miss out!

Origins - 25% off Friends and Family offer!

It's Origins Friends and Family discount time again! Simply print off the image at left and take it to your local Origins counter. You can also join their email list or Facebook Fan Page in order to ensure you get these notifications too. Enjoy!

Happy Earth Day - specials galore!

Happy Earth Day, ecochicks! Check out Earth Day.ca to check out what's happening across Canada and in your area. There's also plenty of folks doing fun stuff in stores and on the web for today, so here's a list of what I've found (will update throughout the day when I find new things, so keep checking back):

Aveeno is giving away one of their limited edition Aveeno Envirosax. Unfortunately it's USA only, boo, sorry Canucks!

Origins Online will plant a tree on your behalf with a purchase of their A Perfect World moisturizer. They're also selling Limited Edition Reusable Totes and giving away 4 free samples with any order.

Eco-Handbags.ca is offering a 15% discount on all the gorgeous, funky, ecofriendly items in their shop, today only.

Loblaws stores are giving away free green bins with a minimum $60 purchase til the end of April.

Huggies is giving away a sample of their New Pure and Natural Diapers.

The Daily Green has posted a list of 11 Earth Day Discounts.

More to come - and of course, today's Earth Week Giveaway is up too!

20% off at Soleado Casa!

ecochick's personal choice of household cleaners are the ones from Soleado Casa. Their organic, natural cleaning supplies really, really work. As in, I think I would marry the tub scrub. Er. Well, if it was possible. Or even legal. Anyway, you get my point. This stuff not only works, it smells amazing and is great to use. It almost makes me look forward to cleaning. Almost.

For the month of January, if you enter the code JANSALE as the promotional code at checkout, you will get 20% off your entire order. You could buy the awesome Tub Scrub. Or perhaps a set of four microfiber cleaning cloths. Or you can explore their awesome lines for Mama and Baby, with great products ranging from organic soaps and herbal creams to rash salves and organic baby bath mitts.

You can buy it all online at Soleado Casa.

25% off til November 21 at Origins!

Get some early Christmas shopping done at Origins with their November 25% off offer! Simply use the code ffnov at checkout, and you'll get not only the 25% discount but free shipping. Sah-weet!

Home Depot Holiday Light Exchange - Nov 1 and 2 only!

Two days only, November 1 and 2, you can bring in your old incandescent holiday lights to Home Depot and receive a coupon for 50% off the purchase of a new string of energy-efficient LED lights. Awesome!

Seasonal LED lights use 95% less energy than traditional incandescent lights and will last 7 years longer, so it's a fantastic investment. Home Depot will recycle the old lights and give you up to 5 coupons for 50% off new LED lights. Nice! Check it out, this weekend only.

Origins; 3 Treats Today Only!

3 Treats today only at Origins! Shop online and you can choose a free sample size Mask or Cleanser. Will it be the soothing No Puffery Cooling Mask for Puffy Eyes and the Origins Organics Foaming Face Wash, or perhaps the Plantidote Mega Mushroom Skin Calming Face Mask and the Perfect World Deep Cleanser with White Tea? Who knows, indeed? Head over to Origins and find out. Happy Halloween!

Get 10% off the RootsGreen Collection at Roots!

Roots customers have raised over $300,000 for the Stop Global Warming fund. As a thank you, they are offering 10% off their RootsGreen collection until October 28. Online only, click here for more details!

EcoBrain.com: Green Books for Green Living. And a giveaway!

Random.org says Stisso who said...

Hey! I like to read! I signed up.

Is the lucky winner of this giveaway! Keep your eyes peeled for more cool giveaways from ecochick.


Hey, it's Thursday, it's October, and I'm having a good hair day. Let's run another giveaway! Whee!

ecochick's a geek. I was always the kind of kid who had my nose buried in a book. And I am still that kind of grownup. But books are made of paper, and paper comes from trees, and the planet is changing and our habits are changing and perhaps, just perhaps, the new way of reading books is not paper, but electronic. And especially if you're looking in to reading books about the environment and sustainable living, it seems strange to *not* read the book in the lowest impact way possible. And depending on how you use the book, it might make life easier. For example, cookbooks - I can't be the only one who reads the recipe off the internet from the laptop in the kitchen. (Or can I?)

EcoBrain.com is the only online eBook store focused on the environment and environmentally friendly living. EcoBrain.com offers thousands of titles from top publishers about sustainable living, home and garden, green living, green building and more. EcoBrain even has a great selection of elementary, middle school and academic environmental science material. And, because eBooks don't use paper and ink to produce, or fuel to deliver, you'll be saving yourself money, and making an eco-friendly decision too! And it's so simple. You search, you pay, you download. Instant book gratification.

Right now, if you sign up for a free account, you get a $5 account credit. (Many of EcoBrain books are $5 or less, so this is a great way to get a free book and try out EcoBrain.com with no obligation.) Oh, but that's not all, ecochicks. Comment on this post and you will be entered into a giveaway for a $25 coupon for EcoBrain.com. That's a total of $30. Think of the books you could download with that!

Simply comment on this post by Friday, October 10 to be entered in the giveaway, and tell me what book you'd buy from EcoBrain.com with your $30 credit. Don't worry, I won't hold you to it if you change your mind :)

Free Skin-Calming Plantidote Face Mask at Origins

While supplies last, receive a free sample of Plantidote Mega-Mushroom Skin-Calming Face Mask with any order. Enter Offer Code 09083 at checkout. Now's the time, if you want to try out this cool serum and stock up on some other great Origins products. Check it out at Origins.

Pure Essentials has a special offer for you!

Pure Essentials has extended a very cool offer to you, ecochick reader:

Dear Ecochick,

In honor of your top notch Eco Shopping Blog that we frequent regularly, PURE Essentials for Life is offering your readers $5.00 off any purchase at www.pureshop.ca.

They can order online and enter the voucher code ECOCHICK at checkout to receive the discount. Also, the entire store is on for 30% off until September 30, 2008 and only Ecochick readers will have the opportunity to use the $5.00 discount on top of the already reduced prices!

PURE Essentials is very fond of your blog and this is our way of saying thanks!

Best Wishes!
PURE Essentials for Life

Oh yeah. Add that to FREE Shipping on Purchases of $100 or More Within Canada, and their awesome, wide range of eco-friendly goods, now's the time to stock up, peeps. Thank you to PURE essentials for the awesome offer!

Origins Free Samples and Free Shipping!

Today, September 4 only: Get 4 free samples and free shipping at Origins! Choose from several interesting sample sized products from a few lines, from A Perfect World to Plantidote to Origins Organics. Check it out at Origins.

Sustainable Ottawa

One great thing about the eco-craze is the fact that plenty of people aren't waiting for "someone else" to do something - lots of people are banding together and getting "something" done all by themselves.

One such group is Sustainable Ottawa Community Energy Co-Operative. Set up in 2007, the amazing Sarah, Pam and Rock have created a space for Ottawans to not only find out how to live more eco-friendly, but to also give us a benefit when we spend our dollars on sustainable services (ie. members-only discounts!) The website strives to provide a great range of information, such as tips on how to maintain a healthy lawn and garden or put in solar water heating. In addition, the co-op uses the power of numbers to make it easier for everyone to access ecofriendly goods and services. For example, there are several businesses within Ottawa that are members of the co-op and who give discounts to other members including The Table organic vegetarian restaurant, La Tierra Co-op, ecomama and more.

Membership costs $40 for five years, ie. free, and will get you advantages at many ecofriendly shops, and they're adding more all the time. Depending on what you use it for could pay for itself within weeks. Check it out, Ottawa!

Origins Friends and Family Discount

Origins is holding a Friends and Family event - and since you read ecochick that makes you one of both!

Head on over to Origins.com and enter in Offer Code 0508FF at checkout to receive 25% off your order - and free shipping! Or, click here to download the coupon to shop in store.

If you've been thinking of switching to healthier skin care, this is a great opportunity to check out Origins Organics products, the first full line of prestige skin, body and hair care products to be certified under the consistently stringent standards of the USDA National Organic Program.

Enjoy!

TotalBeauty.com Total Green Sweepstakes

TotalBeauty.com is giving away stuff!

You know how ecochick likes the giveaways. This one is awesome for a few reasons: One, it's a US based website but the contest is open to Canadians (unusual and most excellent!) and secondly, you would not believe the swag.

TotalBeauty.com is a website that allows users to sign up, search and read or add reviews on beauty products - any product you use. It gives you a place to find the real scoop on whether that product is awesome or awful. And by contributing to the reviews on the site, you get the chance to enter the contest and possibly win either the cool daily giveaways or the amazing grand prize - 2008 Saturn Vue™ Hybrid filled with tons of great green and organic beauty products from Origins, Suki, RAW Natural Beauty, and Sephora. To enter:

1. Search for your favorite (or not-so-favorite) beauty products on TotalBeauty.com.

2. Write and submit your review and see if you're an instant winner. They're giving away hundreds of fabulous, Earth Day-inspired daily prizes, including conflict-free diamond jewelry, eco-spa trips and more!

3. Also, each time you write a review, you will be entered to win* the new 2008 Saturn Vue™ Hybrid, filled with tons of great beauty products from Origins, Suki, Sephora and RAW Natural Beauty.

What are you waiting for? Head to TotalBeauty.com now!

Earth Day Discounts

The inbox had a bunch of Earth Day email, some including discounts and specials. Yay!

At Origins, receive a free Peace of Mind On-The-Spot Relief sample plus free shipping, today only.

At GreenFeet, save 20% on your purchase today only, simply enter code ONELOVE during checkout.

I'll post more as they arrive....

UPDATED: Toronto Green Living Show: Ticket giveaway and ticket discount for ecochick readers!

UPDATED: Good news: The awesome folks at the Green Living show have provided us with 3 pairs of tickets to give away to lucky ecochick readers!

If you're going to be in Toronto this weekend and want to attend the Green Living Show, here's what you do: Simply check out the Green Living Show Website and take a look at who's going to be exhibiting, speaking or presenting. Then leave me a comment below and tell me what it is you're most looking forward to seeing at the show. Is it a certain thought-provoking seminar? A specific funky eco-vendor? The options are endless. Just post your pick in the comments by Thursday, April 24 at 12 Noon eastern daylight time and I'll let you know that afternoon if you're one of the lucky ones (just don't forget to leave me your email address).

Even if you don't get the giveaway tickets, you're still eligible to get a great discount. Simply navigate to the Green Living Show website, go to Buy tickets, and enter the coupon code 20JA to get 20% off your admission price. Nice!

This is going to be a really excellent show, with plenty of exhibitors, an Organic Marketplace, and great seminars. Take in the Eco-Chic Exhibitor Fashion Show, listen to Robert Kennedy talk about Sustainability, attend a panel on Sustainable Packaging, and just so much more.

Check it out if you can - you'll be glad you did.