Get Ready for a Greener Winter

Greenery may fade in the wintertime, but that doesn’t mean your ‘green’ lifestyle has to wither away too. Yes, the chilly season can bring higher power bills and other lofty expenses, but with a few simple adjustments you can shoo out the cold weather and keep your wallet full.

For one, replace or clean your furnace filters monthly; grimy filters constrict air- flow and increase energy costs. Also, reverse the direction of your fans. It’s a little known fact that when rotating clockwise, ceiling fans actually make a room warmer. Hot air rises and is circulated back into the room, which could cut your heating costs 10 percent. Look for the reverse button on the top of your fan.

Drafts lower the temperature of your home and increase the cost of your heating bill.  In fact, they account for 30 percent of your total energy use.  Swing by the handy store and pick up a window insulation kit. For a few dollars, you’ll safeguard your home with easy-to install buffers.  Also, try covering up nasty draft passages with “draft snakes.” Roll a colorful towel and place it under your door to prevent winds from creeping through.

Lastly, bundle up. Rethink lounging in your undies and throw on a warm, thick sweater while relaxing at home. Layering gives you an additional 4 degrees of warmth. Each additional degree on your thermostat adds 3 percent to your heating bill, so investing in a warm sweater might be well worth it.  Worth 180 dollars a year, to be exact.

“7″ Deadly Green Sins…

It doesn’t take much effort to ‘green’ up your lifestyle. Some of the smallest green faux pas cost the planet more than you think. Listed below are some of the most shocking ecological offenses you probably commit daily and didn’t even know it.

1. Pass on the paper. The individual American uses about six napkins per day, about 2,200 standard two-ply napkins every year. Using just one less paper towel a day could save a billion pounds of napkins from landfills per year.
2. Choose Tap. Not only is tap water is cheaper, it may be actually safer to drink; the FDA more closely regulates tap than bottled water. And of course, opting for tap instead of the bottled variety spares our mother earth; over 60 million bottles of water are thrown away each day.
3. Recharge and reuse. Rechargeable batteries are cost efficient and eco-friendly. The average American throws away eight batteries per year, about 179,000 per year. And batteries not only clog up landfills, but eek tons of toxic wastes like mercury and lead. One rechargeable battery can substitute one thousand disposable ones over a lifetime.
4. Health care reform everyone can agree on. Unplugging phone chargers and computers that aren’t in use could collectively save $100 million a year. That’s enough money to ensure every child in California receives health care.
5. Flush less. Each toilet flush takes about 4.5 gallons of water. That’s as much water as the average person in Africa uses in an entire day, bathing, cooking and drinking. 
6. Ditch the Discs. Most computer software can be legally downloaded over the Internet. About 30 billion CD’s are sold each year- enough to wrap around the earth. Switch to iTunes, and you’ll save money too. The average CD costs $15 dollars at the store compared to the $10 version found online.
7. Wash Warm, Rinse Cold. Setting your washer cycle to a warm wash and cold rinse could save 90 percent of the energy used than when used with a hot-hot cycle.

A “Welcome” Is In Order

It is a pleasure to introduce the newest addition to the team, Fashion Coordinator and Intern, Elizabeth Allen. As a Florida State University student, Elizabeth has been studying Fashion Merchandising for the past three and a half years and has chosen INDIE to fulfill her internship requirement before graduating in December. Elizabeth was known at Florida State for directing Tallahassee’s largest and longest-running fashion show and now she brings her talent for organization and leadership to the offices of INDIE. She has been working on social media networking, product development, and running events since the onset of her new role on October 21^st.  We are thrilled to have such a bright and enthusiastic member join the INDIE team and look forward to fully utilizing her fashion industry knowledge and sensibility.

Fun Facts:

When Elizabeth is not working she enjoys thrifting for unique finds and cooking up vegan treats.

Elizabeth is a huge David Bowie fan and shares an uncommon trait with him: heterochromia, which is having two different colored irises!

INDIE Visits Sage

Early this morning, INDIE stepped into the Halloween costume-clad conference room of Sage North America to be recognized for our recent win of their Small Business Start-Up Contest. Sage North America, a company engaged in the development, distribution and support of business management software, has graciously given INDIE $20,000 and $4,000 worth of software. We were able to observe the company commend excelling employees as a towering grim reaper passed out prizes. After Indie was presented to the group, a Halloween costume contest ensued, which was won by the “social (media) butterfly”. Thank you Sage for such a warm reception.

Pictured Below: Lawton is interviewed by a costumed Doug Meyer, Chief Customer Officer for Sage. Ellen as the “social (media) butterfly”

INDIE PEACE wins Grand Prize in National Business Competition held by SAGE North America!!! WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The INDIE PEACE team wants to thank all its amazing supporters for voting in the MyBizCounts contest. Without your unwavering loyalty, INDIE PEACE wouldn’t be where it is today. Thanks to YOUR votes and Sage’s generosity, we are closer than ever to launching our “go green” message worldwide. Words can’t express our gratitude.

INDIE Wins British Airways Competition

INDIE was chosen as a winner of the Face-to-Face business competition and is excited for the opportunity to fly ANYWHERE Internationally for the next 30 days through British Airways. We have chosen London and Stockholm as our destinations and look forward to what INDIE will encounter in these two very eco-progressive cities. The journey begins September 14^th, 2009!

STAY TUNED FOR UPDATES!!!

INDIE PEACE Pushes Beyond

The INDIE PEACE team wants to congratulate its co-founder, Lawton Ursrey, on his featured interview on the popular advice website for aspiring entreprenuers, PushingBeyond.com.

In his ten-minute interview, Ursrey discusses what it takes to make it in the cut-throat fashion business and his ongoing rise to the top in the eco-clothing world.  Ursrey also tells his ‘three-pronged’ strategy for creating a great advisory board.

To access the full length interview, go to www.pushingbeyond.com/2009/08/lawtonursrey/

INDIE PEACE Featured in the AJC!

Atlanta designers offer sustainable fashion By Alison Abbey

For the AJC

http://www.accessatlanta.com/fashion-style/atlanta-designers-offer-sustainable-114156.html

FULL ARTICLE:

Atlanta designers are at the forefront of a sustainable trend.

For some, words “eco-friendly fashion” are more likely to conjure up images of hippies and hemp than haute couture. But with a growing national interest in going green, a slew of Atlanta’s most fashionable designers are sending sustainable pieces down the runways.

Take for instance, Indie Peace. This super-chic line of organic T-shirts was founded locally by Lawton Ursrey and John Van De Wiel in 2007, and has quickly become a staple in the wardrobes of fashionable Atlantans looking to decrease their carbon footprint. Utilizing local certified organic cotton, recycled polyester, low-impact dyes and water-based prints, Indie Peace has been an eco-responsible line from day one.

“There are mounds of scientific evidence about what our choices as humans have done to this planet,” says Ursrey. “With all of that information, how can one not want to go green? We are simply choosing to be part of the cure verses part of the disease.”

Indie Peace, which is available nationally at Nordstrom and locally at Bill Hallman (for location information, visit www.indiepeace.com), plans to offer more products for men and women in the coming months. “Each day, there is an opportunity to be more green and support this movement,” says Ursrey. “Our goal is to move into all types of products and become an eco-brand that represents this lifestyle.”

Also taking the environmental high road are Atlanta-based jewelry designers Mark Edge and Kathleen Plate.

For his Ecovintage collection, Edge transforms found items, such as wood, chain and vintage charms, into works of wearable art. Edge says using recycled materials is not only great for the environment, but influences the vintage-feel of his pieces.

“It feels good and authentic to recycle something…to keep a few things from going to the dump,” he says, adding, “[each] item influences the direction I go with the design.”

Edge’s work, which is available locally at boutiques like The Mercantile in Brookhaven, Sandpiper in Vinings, Peridot in Buckhead, and on his own Web site www.markedge.com, has become so popular that he plans to launch a men’s line for the fall.

Thirteen years ago when Plate started her Smart Glass line, which utilizes recycled glass bottles, she wasn’t looking to save the world. “I started using bottles not necessarily to be eco, but because they were pretty and plentiful,” she says. “I think it’s important to do what you do with the greatest good always in mind: I like to make beautiful jewelry, and I like it even more that it adds to the greater good rather than subtracts from it.”

But Plate, whose designs are available at www.smartglassjewelry.com and have been featured at LA’s Fashion Week, says going green isn’t always easy. “My palette is limited by what bottles I can find,” she explains. “Sometimes people don’t realize that eco-friendly products often have a long process of creation.”

Ursrey agrees that sustainable design has its pitfalls.

“Because of the ‘green factor,’ we have a more constrained palette to work from — it’s a more challenging puzzle — but for us, it’s the only way.”

Nationally, earth-conscious designers struggle with similar roadblocks. But Deidre O’Boyle, one half of eco-chic designing duo She-bible (www.shebible.com), says those roadblocks can be inspiring.

“As far as design limitations, sometimes those barriers are good because they narrow our focus,” she explains. “Think of a Project Runway assignment: Sometimes when the sky is the limit it’s more paralyzing.”

For O’Boyle and her business partner Stacy Rodgers, designing for an eco-savvy customer was born out of their shared interest in helping others. O’Boyle previously worked for an organization called Sweatshop Watch, which monitors the garment industry’s labor practices. The experience made O’Boyle a stickler when it came to her own line.

“I was very focused on fair labor standards when we began production,” she says. “Once we established relationships with great factories, we realized we should be pursuing organic materials because of conventional cotton’s impact on the environment. We encouraged [the mills] to test out organic yarns and we took the plunge together.” An Atlanta native and a veteran of eco-conscious design, high fashion designer Linda Loudermilk has been creating sustainable collections for six years. Her passion for the earth and her eye for beauty have made her an authority on green fashions—not to mention, a favorite of eco-activist Laura Turner Seydel.

Loudermilk’s collections, however, were not always eco-friendly. Though an international success on the runways, Loudermilk felt guilty about producing fashions, as she puts it, “without soul,” so she threw herself into researching a way to make clothing that was both beautiful and sustainable. “I’ve spent over $10 million on research and development,” she says. “I’ve tried my best to take risks.”

It’s the risk, she believes, that keeps other high fashion designers from following her lead.

“As inevitable as change is, it still freaks most of us out,” Loudermilk says. “A lot of people don’t want to believe this movement is mandatory. The risk feels high to them.”

For Loudermilk, and eco-conscious designers like her, those risks are worth it.

“Any artist’s dreams are met by fear. It manifests itself differently in us all and it’s what sets people apart from contributing and making change. From living dreams. It’s a stormy give and take that creates a product authentically unique.”

Buy Green

These eco-chic boutiques are helping Atlanta shoppers save the world…one purchase at a time.

ecoEMPORIUM

A one stop shop for earth-friendly, organic and non-toxic products.

1000 Marietta St. NW #114, Atlanta; 404-875-5224; www.theecoemporium.com

Green Pomegranate

Adorable fashions for girls from newborn to eight years old, each piece is hand-tailored from recycled cottons, vintage linens and antique materials.

1002 Virginia Ave. Atlanta; 404-885-9511; www.agreenpomegranate.com

Beehive Co-Op

This mix-and-match shop offers local designers the chance to showcase their designs and foster community amongst themselves. A number of those designers employ eco-friendly and sustainable practices.

1831 Peachtree Road NE, Atlanta; 404-351-1166; www.beehiveco-op.com

Evolve Boutique

This Emory Village shop offers tons of great eco-conscious duds and sustainable threads.

1581 North Decatur Road, Atlanta; 404-474-3244; www.evolve-boutique.com

INDIE PEACE AT www.NOMATIQUE.com

Indie Peace loved being a part of Nomatique (www.nomatique.com) last week in Atlanta, GA. It was great getting to meet our loyal consumers and fashion-obsessed followers. Thanks to everyone who came out to show their support.

5 Simple Reminders on GOING GREEN

These 5 tips will help you in your daily life of going green.

1) Turn off the lights when you leave a room: Lighting is responsible for about a tenth of your energy bill, so by turning off lights you can save money monthly. For further savings, turn off other appliances such as televisions, heaters or fans when leaving a room.

2) Unplug electronics that aren’t being used at the time: Some examples of electronics that you may not realize can save money when unplugged would be coffee makers, phone chargers, toasters, printers, etc.

3) Limit time in the shower and/or hand wash dishes instead of using a dishwasher: Water is one of the most used resources and could probably save you the most money if you use it efficiently. If you must use a dishwasher, try and wait until there is a full load to limit the amount of water usage.

4) Use CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs): CFLs use up only 1/4 of the energy that a regular light bulb does and will last up to 10x longer. While these light bulbs may be more expensive, they save you money in the long run.

5) Buy clothing from an eco-fashion company: Choose an eco-friendly apparel company such as INDIE PEACE to purchase your clothing. Your clothes will be more durable and withstand more washes over time. Check out INDIE as your go to for green apparel @ indiepeace.com and support the cause to go green by voting for INDIE @ contest.mybizcounts.com/vote!