Fashionable embraces sustainable

Since in-your-face luxury is now without a doubt passé, designers everywhere are making eco-friendly glamorous – indulgence with a clear conscience to lift ones spirits in this crazy world. Conscious consumers still want chic design, but also something that will decrease their carbon footprint; and they’re demanding that the goods they buy be made in ways that do not harm the environment or the workers who make them.

In 2008, we came across an incredibly cool invention: a messenger bag outfitted with a small, flexible solar panel, an HBLED light, a rechargeable battery pack, and a USB port. Called the Flap Bag, (short for “Flexible Light and Power”) it was the brainchild of the brilliant architect Sheila Kennedy, who directs the Portable Light Project, a non-profit initiative that provides solar textile kits to empower the world’s poorest people who do not have access to electricity. Designers at Diane von Furstenberg, Tommy Hilfiger, Loomstate, Loeffler Randall, Lutz & Patmos, Rogan, Vena Cava, and Zero + Maria Cornejo worked with Kennedy and project leader Charles Garcia, creating the eight amazing solar bags seen here, on Elle.com