There are no parabens, petrolatums or phthalates. No sulfates or synthetic colors. 

So it's somewhat of a surprise that natural personal care products, which trumpet the ingredients they don't include far more than the ingredients that they do, often cost a lot more than traditional ones.

The new In-Kind line is designed to change that perception. Developed by  national food and drug retailer Safeway, In-Kind recently introduced 30 products that use natural ingredients, such as grapefruit and mint extracts and coconut and rosemary oils.

Items range from body washes and shampoos to facial cleansers and soaps. They cost $3.99 to $12.99, which is at least 20% less expensive than comparable brands, said Joe Ennen, Safeway's senior vice president of consumer brands.

The goal, Ennen said, was to take an aspirational product category and make it more affordable -- "to deliver department-store quality at grocery-store prices."

Available at Safeway, Vons, Pavilions, Dominick's and other stores in the Safeway chain, each product is 90%-95% natural, meaning it doesn't contain petrochemicals, pesticides and other ingredients that may irritate skin or damage the environment.

-- Susan Carpenter

Photo: In-Kind natural personal care products. Credit: Safeway

They cut and color, wash and rinse -- and send hundreds of gallons of soapy water down the drain each day. Now the  270 students at the new Paul Mitchell the School in Costa Mesa send the wastewater generated from their classwork to a filtration system that purifies 500 gallons of spent water daily and reuses it to flush the school's toilets. 

"We have all sorts of green initiatives in place, but this is the biggest and coolest thing we're doing," said Cynthia Butler, director of the 14,700-square-foot campus that opened last month in the SoCo Shopping Center.

In addition to repurposing the wastewater from its wash sinks and laundry room with a gray water recycling system, Butler said the new school runs a recycling program that benefits a reforestry campaign and also uses less energy-intensive LED lighting to reduce CO2 emissions.

Designed by Gray Water Recycling Systems in Redondo Beach, the school's gray water system is the first to be used at a Paul Mitchell school. It is designed to divert 400,000 gallons of wastewater each year from the sewer, and, as a result, to reduce the need to import fresh water for toilet flushing.

Once the city of Costa Mesa approves the quality of its treated gray water, the school hopes to use its excess gray water to irrigate the shopping center grounds.

According to Buzz Boettcher, who designed the gray water system, the wastewater from the school's wash sinks and laundry room is filtered with silica, anthracite coal and activated carbon. It is then disinfected with UV light and a copper ionization process that kills algae and bacteria without the use of chemicals. The hair products used at the school, Butler says, are all biodegradable.

-- Susan Carpenter

Photo: Carlos Chavez / Los Angeles Times

Buyers of the 2012 Ford Focus will receive two pairs of blue jeans in the deal. The jeans just won't be wearable. They'll be recycled and shredded into the car's carpet backing and sound-absorption materials, saving 4 pounds of virgin cotton with each vehicle.

"The good news is these jeans didn't end up in a landfill, nor did we use the water, fertilizer and land to grow [new] cotton," said Carrie Majeske, product sustainability manager for Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn, Mich.

While the denim is post-industrial, rather than post-consumer, waste, i.e. it was never sold in stores or worn, it is being repurposed rather than scrapped. Specific denim manufacturers were not disclosed.

Already, Ford incorporates recycled soda bottles and milk jugs into plastics used in its cars, as well as post-consumer recycled carpeting that is turned into automotive parts.

"We’re looking to use things that would otherwise be wasted," Majeske said. "One of our key goals is to use more recycled or renewable materials without compromising performance or durability."

If production numbers for last year's Focus are any indication, Ford will be saving more than 3.4 million pounds of denim from the landfill next year alone.

Perhaps the automaker will come up with a solution for even more fashion castoffs. If only jeggings could be recycled into stereo speakers.

-- Susan Carpenter

Photo: Ford Motor Co.

It takes an average of 2,866 gallons of water to make a single pair of jeans, factoring in the growing of the cotton, as well as its bleaching, dyeing and finishing, according to the Water Footprint Network, a Dutch nonprofit. Once those jeans make their way onto someone’s body, they use up thousands of gallons more in repeated washings.

Recognizing the water intensity of its products, Levi Strauss announced a new line of Water<Less jeans Thursday. The collection, available in January, will include more than a dozen classic styles, including 501, 511 and 514 jeans. Each pair will be finished with an average of 28% less water, or about 3 gallons less per pair.

By spring 2011, more than 1.5 million pairs of Levi’s will be manufactured using the Water<Less method, adding up to a water savings of 4.16 million gallons.

According to Erik Joule, senior vice president of merchandising and design for the Levi’s brand, “We challenged ourselves to operate at the intersection of style and sustainability... We’re excited about the results we’ve achieved so far, and we know we can make an even bigger impact by applying this innovative thinking to other aspects of our production process.”

The finishing process for jeans typically involves three to 10  washing cycles. Levi’s Water<Less jeans reduce the number of wash cycles and also remove the water from its stone wash.

Earlier this year, Levi’s began including care tags on its products, providing customers with information on how to reduce the environmental impact of their clothes. Its Care Tag for Our Planet program suggests washing clothes less, washing them in cold water, line drying and donating old clothes to Goodwill.

-- Susan Carpenter

Photo: A pair of Levi's new Water<Less jeans, a line manufactured using 28% less water -- which saves about 3 gallons of water per pair. Credit: Levi Strauss & Co.

 

Resident Image stylist and market editor Melissa Magsaysay soothes your sartorial woes in the weekly Your Stylist blog column

 
For the past couple of years, I’ve been trying to stick to buying and wearing eco-friendly clothing and accessories. So far I’ve had no trouble finding cute clothes that work for everyday, work etc. ... But I have several weddings to attend this fall/winter, plus I know there will be holiday office parties during the end of November and December. I need some nice cocktail-style dresses and want to try and stick to my eco-friendly ways. I know vintage clothing is obviously eco-friendly, but that requires a lot of looking around and digging that I’m just not into. Are there any lines that make more formal, eco-friendly dresses that aren’t just one-offs? Thanks, KM, San Diego

Kudos to you for making such an effort to stick to wearing eco-friendly fashion!  With lines such as Loomstate and John Patrick Organic, wearing adorable, eco-friendly jeans, T’s and casual dresses is a breeze.  Finding more formal pieces can be a big challenge, but there is hope.

Actress Olivia Munn recently wore an eco-friendly frock on the red carpet while attending the Environmental Media Awards. The black halter  cocktail dress with a little peek-a-boo at the chest is from a line called Alexx Jae & Milk, which uses overstock fabric from high-end designers. Garments are all locally made and any fabric dying is done with natural dyes. The dress retails for $336 and is available at Milk boutique in L.A. The whole Alexx Jae & Milk line is made from these overstock fabrics, so this dress is no fluke. You could probably find a few options that would work for you and your upcoming events.

A website called www.beklina.com has a nice selection of eco-friendly designers who are making gorgeous dresses. A few that I found to have very cute and somewhat formal items are Lina Rennell and Prairie Underground. They both use organic materials and eco-friendly practices in the production of their clothing. Rennell’s triangle print dress ($340, left) is 100% organic wool cotton crepe and handmade in Northern California. The Seattle-based Prairie Underground has the garnet red fringe dress ($180, above) made from 100% organic cotton that would look great dressed up with vintage gold necklaces and bangles.

For a more minimal and modern look, a Brooklyn-based line called Dress Reform also uses natural and organic materials when making clean, solid-colored separates. The look here is maybe a bit less formal than what you’re looking for, but when jazzed up with some bold statement jewelry and killer heels, the result is just as stylish as any cute cocktail dress.

Good luck with your eco-friendly wardrobe. Try starting with the designer options above and you should have no problem finding stylish and formal eco-conscious fashion.

Send your style queries to melissa.magsaysay@latimes.com

-- Melissa Magsaysay

Photos: (Top) Olivia Munn at the 2010 Environmental Media awards, wearing Alexx Jae & Milk. Credit: WireImage  (Middle) Prairie Underground fringe dress at www.beklina.com   (Bottom) Lina Rennell triangle print dress at www.beklina.com

Back when Apple's iPad was first announced, I told you about Scottevest and how its travel vests were roomy enough to accommodate the new tablet. Today comes word of a suit that can stow it in style -- although in a slightly different way.

My sister-in-law forwarded me an Unplggd post about the one-of-a-kind $250 "upcycled" suit totes sold through a designer, curator and purveyor of limited-edition art products called Poketo, and made from 100% re-purposed men's suits and dress shirts, with handles cut from old leather couches.

"We started carrying the totes for Earth Day -- it didn't actually have anything to do with the iPad," said Angie Myung, co-owner and co-founder of Los Angeles-based Poketo. "But after Apartment Therapy's Unplggd wrote about it and said it would make a perfect carrying case for the iPad, we realized it was, so we took some new photos that kind of show it being used that way." Myung estimates they've sold close to 100 of the bags -- some to other stores, some directly through their website -- since they started carrying them in April.

Dozens of seasoned shoppers and famously environmentally conscious celebs, including Emmanuelle Chriqui, Amy Smart and Perrey Reeves gathered at Milk boutique on 3rd Street Tuesday night to celebrate Milk owner Bari Milken and her friend and fashion designer Alexx Levin’s new line of recycled fabric clothing simply called Alexx Jae & Milk.

The two source overstock fabric in downtown L.A. to create their line of contemporary pieces, which for their summer and fall 2010 line include mainly solid basics such as drapey v-neck T-shirts, strapless maxi dresses, kicky mini-dresses and high-waist skirts. Every item is manufactured locally, so no outsourcing for zippers, hardware or labor, which in addition to recycling fabric, reduces their carbon footprint.

“The buttons are made from coconut, and our labels are printed with soy-based dye,” said Milken who was bouncing around mingling with her friends and loyal customers in a pink and black graphic print strapless mini-dress from her own line.

Chriqui, the event’s hostess, wore a more subdued piece from the duo’s collection, a short black dress with side cutouts called “the futuristic cut out dress,” which she paired with Jimmy Choo's fringy Tita clutch. It was the epitome of a sexy little number and banishes the notion that eco-friendly fashion has to be frumpy.

The line retails for $60 to $350 and is sold at Milk

-- Melissa Magsaysay

Photo: Emmanuelle Chriqui, left, Jamie Lynn Siegler, Alexx Levin, Bari Milken, Perrey Reeves and Amy Smart at the launch of Alexx Jae & Milk. Credit: WireImage

We've mentioned Ecoist before -- it's a Miami-based company that turns old magazines, candy wrappers and soda-can pull tabs into handmade totes, handbags, and coin purses -- but there's something about its recently announced partnership with Frito-Lay North America that makes us chuckle.

The licensing deal with the snack-food subsidiary of PepsiCo means Ecoist will be turning unusable or obsolete packaging from Lays, Cheetos, Fritos, Tostitos and Sunchips into an assorted variety of items including purses, clutches and place mats.

But the best of the munch bunch has got to be the potato chip bowl -- which, according to the description,  is hand-woven from 260 "upcycled" Lays potato chip bags that would otherwise be destined for the dump.

Now if only Ecoist could help us do something about upcycling the extra material we find forming about our middle after snarfing down 260 bags of Lays potato chips, we'd really have the loop closed.

-- Adam Tschorn

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Photos: At top left, a sunflower baguette handmade from unchip snack-food packaging, $49. At top right, a clutch made from Tostito bags, $28. Bottom, a chip bowl made from 260 waste-bound Lay's potato chip bags, $40. All part of Ecoist's new Frito-Lay collection available at ecoist.com. Credit: Ecoist

H&M has gone green. The Swedish fast-fashion chain launched its first-ever 100% sustainable clothing collection in stores Thursday.

The Garden Collection is made from "environmentally adapted materials," including organic cotton and linen and recycled polyester, and features 80 different clothing pieces and 10 accessories – all priced less than $59.95.

Fittingly, the line is blooming with floral looks, using both subtle and bold prints. There are short, swingy dresses in simple white and cream fabrics, as well as florals; easy-fitting jackets -- a long anorak and boxy blazer -- in taupe and brown; and a show-stopping strapless cocktail dress (featuring ruched flowers on the skirt) in lipstick red.

The cottons and linens used in the collection were grown without the use of hazardous chemicals, and the recycled polyesters were made from PET-bottles and textile waste (preexisting fabric).

In short, it's a stylish, cheery Spring collection you can get behind without an ounce of guilt.

To view the entire line, go to hm.com.

-- Emili Vesilind

Follow All the Rage on Facebook and Twitter.

Photos: A dress, $19.95, from H&M's Garden Collection. Credit: H&M

I loathe taking my clothes to the dry cleaner. It’s part laziness and part frustration with all the wire hangers, static-y plastic covering and crumpled tissue paper stuffed into sleeves. I ask them nicely to ease up on the materials used to “protect” my clothing - that I’ll take my chances with bird droppings, puddle splashes or rain when toting the stuff from the dry-clean counter to my car, but they’re generally too busy to accommodate my request.

So imagine my delight when I stumbled upon Green Garmento -- a convertible bag that is a hanging garment bag, duffle and hamper. I sling the fabric bag over a door knob (you can also hang it over a wood frame like a real hamper), throwing items to be dry cleaned in it throughout the week, the bag cinches at one end and you can throw the long strap over your body to carry. When bringing it to the dry cleaner, simply take your stuff out the bag, convert it into a garment bag and ask them to please hang your clean clothes back in there, eliminating all the plastic and paper waste. 

It creates less garbage and saves the time and stress of unwrapping each piece of clothing from the confines of the sticky plastic and useless tissue paper.

Each bag is $9.99, holds 12 to 15 garments (hanging) and is available at www.thegreengarmento.com

-- Melissa Magsaysay

Photo: Green Garmento bag in two of its three forms. Photo credit: Green Garmento

Greening a lifestyle doesn't have to mean sacrificing style, with resources such as EcoStiletto.com pointing the way to the latest vegan pumps, paraben-free makeup and lead-free lipsticks.

Rachel Sarnoff, a beauty editor, launched EcoStiletto a year ago, aiming to reach the woman who's trying to "stiletto-size your carbon footprint and change the world, one small step at a time." That is, make the journey to green in Louboutins and Chanel nail varnish. Sarnoff says that the site, with a newsletter that now has 33,000 subscribers, only advises -- highlighting products to buy and ones to avoid -- and never lectures.

"I don't want people to feel guilty about what they're doing but excited about what they can do," she says.

On Tuesday, EcoStiletto.com invites the public to drop by its first-anniversary fete and browse through a selection of eco-friendly fashions, beauty products and footwear, such as Greenbees shoes.

Greenbees, founded by Bakersfield cousins Irene Clancy and Janel Garcia, imports boots, sandals and saddle shoes from their family-owned factory in Leon, Mexico. The footwear is crafted from leather tanned without heavy metals or formaldehyde, and soled using recycled tire rubber. (Clancy says that one used tire can make four pairs of shoes.)

As you may have heard, many women want a piece of First Lady Michelle Obama's wardrobe. Now Pitzer College alum Nancy Judd has found a way to create feminine looks from the street style of the Obamas' pre-White House days --  territory that was largely unmined until now.

So does a built-in "recycle and reuse" theme that would resonate with our 44th commander in chief.  Muchnic says "the eye-popping dress" is a product of Judd's Recycle Runway company "that aims to transform waste into a valuable resource."

This ensemble, as well as other trash-to-treasure looks, is part of a one-day exhibition Saturday at Pitzer's Nichols Gallery in Claremont. Hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

-- Whitney Friedlander

Obama cocktail dress, from dumpster to fashion runway 

Pictures: A rundown of Barack Obama merchandise

Pictures: Michelle Obama, fashion icon

Designers with a 'green' vision

Follow the Image section on Twitter


Photo: Nancy Judd modeling the "Obama cocktail dress." Credit: Pitzer College