A few folks have asked me for some ideas for green holiday gifts this year, so I’ve decided to spend some time blogging about this, just in case someone at the North Pole is reading my blog and wants to send a few of these gifts my way.
As you may know, I like simple and polished eco-fashion and eco-design, so my aethetic preferences might not align with most people’s “green” tastes. That said, here are some eco-friendly coveted items that I’d love to get under my Christmas tree:
1) WeWood wooden watch: $119. it’s 100% natural wood, no toxic chemicals. 100% awesome.
http://we-wood.us/collections/best-seller/products/wewood-crono-beige
2) Keds by Loomstate: $110 (other styles available too). Made of organic cotton and recycled rubber.
http://www.keds.com/store/SiteController/keds/productdetails?productId=5-172240&icid=HPKICKER_101122_LoomstateBoot
3) Organic lemon tree: $95. I think I want this because I had a kumquat tree in college.
http://www.vivaterra.com/garden/plants/organic-meyer-lemon-topiary.html
4) Jewelry!
State necklace: $39. They don’t have Tennessee (booo!) but they have Washington State. Made from recycled sheets of metal.
http://www.krisnations.com/kn/pages/necklaces/nstates.html
Stackable rings: $440. Made from recycled gold. Delicate, simple, and beeyootiful.
http://www.christinemighion.com/details.php?proid=28
And of course, you can find some wonderful, sustainable products at Spun Sustainable Collective, ranging from wooden jewelry, greeting cards to organic dresses (http://spuncollective.blogspot.com).
I’ll add more products as I find them. Happy holidays! And happy shopping!
This fall/winter season I’ve been working on figuring out how to best reach my target market(s) the most cost-effective way possible. Back when I worked in marketing at Singapore Airlines, we created very targeted marketing plans for their 2 core markets– the ethnic markets (specifically Indians) flying coach, and elite business people flying first or business class. Although Singapore Airlines is a large company, it is super thrifty and they do their market segmentation old school, by skimming revenue data and using their gut instinct– no fancy software required. This is closer to how a start-up business would do marketing, but pretty much the opposite of how Microsoft does it.
It’s been interesting trying to test out different publicity vehicles for my product line, everything from local mom websites, to national gay email newsletters. The biggest downside for getting press mentions is that the advertising and sponsorship vultures come out of the woodwork and try to contact you. And it’s not just the small guys either– when the Village Voice and Macworld contacted me asking me to buy a full page ad, I politely declined. And then giggled.
Um, maybe next year 
In this season’s Project Runway, most of the designers dogged the contestant Michael Costello because they thought he had poor sewing technique, and thought he was extremely unoriginal with his designs. Some even accused him on-air of stealing other people’s designs. In the world of stand up comedy, guys like him are considered hacks. In comedy, many hacks do really well with audiences– they get big laughs and applause breaks because their jokes are predictable, mainstream and accessible. You could argue that the same goes for many of the hacks of fashion– people like them because they are predictable, mainstream and accessible.
As a few of you may know, I spent my late 20s and early 30s performing stand up comedy as a hobby, and from what I could tell the Michael Costellos of comedy are mostly hated because they aren’t considered to be true artists. They get easy laughs and crowds love them, but they aren’t considered to be “comics’ comics”– the comedians that other comedians respect. The same way Michael C was clearly not a “designer’s designer” on Project Runway. The designers that considered themselves more cerebral hated him, and once Michael C got his reputation it was hard for him to shake it. It will be really interesting to see how Michael C’s fashion career develops. Will there be a place for him in the world of fashion?
On the other side of the fashion spectrum, there are people like Lady Gaga, who is revered by many as being the biggest fashion icon this decade. And I just find her style weird and gimmicky. I mean, she wears clothes out of meat: http://www.fashionspy.com/2010/10/15/would-you-wear-a-bacon-dress/
Who would you rather have dress you– Michael Costello or Lady Gaga?
