As "Carbon Neutral" gains popularity with savvy green consumers, fashion designers take the reigns.

Clothing production often involves shipping – of materials to the manufacturer, and of the finished product to the consumer.
Shipping means the release of greenhouse gases. How can you find out what impact your clothing has had on the environment?
 
René Geneva Design (aka Faernyn's Grove) has a new program to show the customer the footprint of each item of clothing. It’s called the Fashionably Neutral Carbon Program™, and its design is simple and clear:
 
Each item is assigned a carbon value or ‘CV’.  This number is calculated by combining various factors, including the textile's origin, the country of manufacture and the final destination; it indicates the approximate amount, in tons, of CO2 invested in each design.
 
But René Geneva Design takes it one step further. In order to reduce their impact on the environment, they are working with programs such as Earthpledge, who help the "climate conscious understand, rethink, reduce and offset their
carbon footprint" (earthpledge.org). For each carbon value, there is a corresponding dollar amount that is donated to organizations that offset greenhouse gases.
 
“Sustainability is our number one priority,” says Geneva, who has been working with organic textiles and fair trade labor since the decade old company’s enlightenment to the green textile movement in 2004. “We feel it is worth it to work with fair trade sewing co-operatives overseas – but we have to be mindful of the impact that has on the environment, too.”

This month alone, Geneva switched to a bio-diesel company car and replaced their webhosting with "green web hosting". Her four year old attends an eco-minded pre-school. "Enough isn't enough for us," says René. "I want our customers to fully realize and trust that we are doing every thing in our power to be as responsible as possible."
 
Many of René Geneva’s designs are made in the USA and the company is a proud member of Co-op America. Garments manufactured elsewhere are produced as close to the source as possible; hemp from China is made into beautiful clothes with China’s ethical labor initiatives, organic cotton jersey items are made in Nicaragua with certified fair trade labor and silk from India will soon be manufactured with ethical labor standards in India.
 
Geneva’s original designs, as well as the Fashionably Neutral Carbon Program ™,  will be featured at the WWDMagic event in Las Vegas, August 27-30, 2007.