It's Not Easy Being Green

As Kermit the Frog sang: "It's not easy being green." But it's getting a lot easier. Especially with the appearance of Happyfrog.ca, an online directory of sustainable, green businesses in British Columbia.

At Happyfrog.ca you can register, and add new sustainable/green listings, or rate and review existing ones.

I've spent a long time collecting a directory of various green/natural/sustainable businesses in the lowermainland and online. And a lot of times, it's not that easy to find what exactly I'm looking for. To finally have a directory like this, and one that is local-- well, I just can't explain how incredibly excited I am. Happy even. (Happy like a happy hopping green frog)

Adventuring Down Main st: Twigg & Hottie

I love finding stores that sell local designer's clothes/jewelry. Twigg & Hottie at 3671 Main Street Offers one-of-a-kind/small run designs with prices that reflect that. While a lot of their clothes are priced a bit in the highend, there are lots of their clothes that are quite reasonable. Shirts upwards of $60-80, and a few hats for $45-50.

Very small, busy store. When I was in there, lots of people were flowing in and out of the store. I did look at a few tags, for what fabrics the designers were using, many were recycled fabrics or some just said "made from eco-friendly materials", but didn't specify if it was recycled or organic or what. I may have just missed another tag, but the ones that were easily accessible didn't say.

Finally! Organic, Sustainable & Local Clothing!

I have yet to find a place in Vancouver that has a better selection of organic and sustainable clothing from a variety of brands than Organix in granville island.

Am so glad they finally moved to a larger space in Granville island, now located at 1524 Duranleau Street- with lots more products. (I just picked up a nice recycled Wool Jacket for winter by Grace & Cello, a no-sweat shop canadian company based out of Montreal-- am SUPER pleased with)

Always a great experience walking into Organix: friendly, helpful atmosphere.

Large selection of Sustainable/Organic fabrics: Organic Cotton, Soy, Hemp, Bamboo clothing (my fav!) and beautiful Bamboo Towels by Shoo-Foo!- extremely soft, and absorbent- (Can use one towel for two people!) I've picked up two bath towels, and a few hand and face clothes and been very happy with. I purchased the undyed natural coloured towels, but they also have black tea dyed, a dark blue, and light green coloured version.

Devil May Wear: Very Cool Local Clothing

Devil May Wear is slightly hidden off of main street amongst lots of the trendy main street clothing stores. They have a sign sitting out, so make sure to look for it when passing by, and definitely go inside!

They have an online shop on etsy.com, (a site for handmade products) so if you can't make it to their store at 198 E21st ave, some of their products are available there.

Their store is very cute and small, packed full of local designers clothing and some sustainable fabrics. They have some very soft bamboo tights in multiple colours, which I've been eyeing up but haven't yet bought. I was really amazed by the amount of clothing there was in that small of a space, but it was all well layed out so was easy to navigate, however doesn't take much for the store to be pretty crowded.

Bamboogle

So, Google just upped their coolness by at least +10 points. Their online store now offers organic cotton and bamboo products. Personally, I'm eyeing up this Bamboo T-shirt!