eco-chic design

eco-chic skincare from New Zealand that’s carbon neutral

During my last vacation in Germany I discovered a store in Cologne specializing in natural and organic beauty products. The brand that caught my eye thanks to the beautiful packaging was New Zealand based Snowberry. I had never seen it in NYC before and was really smitten by the gorgeous paper cut art designed by London artist Rob Ryan. It turned out that the eco-chic packaging is made of biodegradable and recycled materials. Little did I know that a business trip would take me to Auckland shortly after. Of course, I picked up some samples at Smith & Caughey.

Snowberry was founded by Soraya Hendesi and is the first New Zealand beauty company to achieve carboNZero certification for every product. This means that every carbon generating activity is offset through carbon reducing projects such as forest regeneration or wind power generation. Snowberry is not certified ‘natural’ or ‘organic’ but contains no petrochemicals, sulphates, artificial coloring, silicones or glycols. Its mission is to achieve a highly functional anti-aging skincare line that’s as natural as can be. Therefore it contains some ingredients that are not available from organic sources. The eco-chic beauty products incorporate a unique natural preservative system instead of parabens. It’s based on a mix of herbal extracts including Totarol from New Zealand’s rainforest. Currently I’m testing Snowberry’s lite day cream and night cream. Please leave a comment or send me a tweet if you want to hear how it goes. One thing is for sure: it’s the most beautiful packaging on the beauty market I've seen.

tread lightly this spring with eco-friendly footwear

Shoes just like jeans I need to try on before purchasing. That’s why I like that Naturalizer carries Naya’s selection of eco-friendly shoes. To be honest I was not aware of the toxic effects of chrome-tanned leather until my studies in sustainable design. Not only is the chrome-tanning process unhealthy for the eco-system but also humans. Instead Naya offers vegetable-tanned shoes that combine style and sustainability. The word “naya” means renewal and their eco-friendly collection is a great way to kick off the new season.

Naya’s designs reflect their commitment to the environment through material selection and process. Their eco-chic shoes use vegetable-tanned leathers and natural or recycled content fabrics. Even the footbeds contain natural cork and the heels are made of the renewable resource bamboo. Naya looks at the full life-cycle of their eco-chic shoes by ensuring that the boxes are made with 80% recycled paper pulp, soy-based inks and water-based glue. I personally always opt out of boxes to save space and natural resources. But reusable shoe bags I love and theirs are made with recycled PET. Many of Naya’s designs take inspiration from nature such as the Natural Leaf collection. My favorite new styles are the Halima Slides and Alpine Sandals. Both are made with vegetable-tanned leather and the Alpine sandal has a recycled cork outsole with a bamboo heel. The cute designs are a perfect incentive to leave a lighter eco-footprint this spring.