Eco Gift Expo: Green shopping's easier, still rather crunchy

Maybe it's still not easy being green, but shopping green is becoming much easier -- and very popular -- judging by the big turnout at the Eco Gift Expo today.

My friend Summer and I dropped by around 1 p.m., paid the $10 admission, declined the free Whole Foods tote bags that were being given out (we brought our own) -- and fought the crowd to make a beeline to the food court for a spicy eggplant-tofu stir-fry from Organic to Go.

Then we started browsing. Eco Gift Expo is actually a lot like the Green Festival in San Francisco -- sans the cool speakers. There was booth after booth of people selling everything from hemp T-shirts to soy candles to shea butter -- ranging from die-hard green companies to less-committed ones making dubiously green claims.

Best edible item: Theo Chocolate's 3400 Phinney bars. I loved the Coconut Curry Milk Chocolate bar in particular -- a mix of unexpected spices mixed with chocolate -- and organic and fair trade certified to boot. Theo also offers beautiful boxed chocolates.

Some of my fave booths were the stationery stores -- partly because I still haven't bought holiday cards yet. Verde Paperie, a boutique that's brought together some really smart-looking cards (right) with modern designs, stood out.

Then there were the paper shops with detailed, inspiring stories: Mr. Ellie Pooh offers whimsical journals and scrapbooks and other goods, made mostly of elephant dung. That's right, elephant dung. Using this stuff, which is mostly raw cellulose, is part of an effort to improve human-elephant relations in Sri Lanka, where elephants are being killed as they're forced to share limited space with the growing human population.

Banyan Paper also makes gorgeous fair trade journals (above) with imprints of leaves on the pages, as well as intricate cards made from handmade recycled paper created by orphans in Rwanda.

Summer ended up buying a pair of Ethletic olive green, low-top shoes, which are fair trade sneakers from Autonomie Project made with a rubber sole that is produced with FSC-certified all natural and sustainable latex.

While it was great seeing all these eco-conscious companies collected in one place, I still wanted more variety. What eco-shopping has no shortage of: reusable tote bags, T-shirts (organic cotton, bamboo, soy -- take your pick), yoga clothes and mats, crunchy-looking hemp clothing, and lots and lots of jewelry, made of everything from rain-forest nuts to recycled silver. There are also plenty of items I can only catagorize under "weird hippie stuff." You know, all the crystals and incense and these strange sculptural things (example left) from Shambhala Meditation.

What's still tough to find: Business-friendly, more dressed-up eco-clothes and shoes. Yes, a few booths did offer some less casual stuff. Juleselin Clothing, for example, had some well-designed coats (though I'm not sure why these 100% cotton coats used only 70% organic cotton). But in general, the pickings were slim. Maybe we'll see more of these practical things at the next Eco Gift Expo.

One more thing the Expo needs: bike valet or at least more bike racks. Many in Santa Monica biked over, and bikes had to be awkwardly tied to pretty much every odd stationary object around the Civic Center.

Eco Gift Expo continues tomorrow, Dec. 15, 2007, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Comments

[bert]

Siel: I totally agree that there should be more "Business-friendly, more dressed up eco-clothes and shoes." I expected to see something other than yoga clothing. I was also telling my friends I felt a bit "corporate" walking around the eco gift exchange, even in my green vintage jacket.

[Kiki Kane]

Thanks for the love! We love to meet like minded chocolate lovers wherever we can find them. Come by the factory for the tour if you're ever in Seattle!

Best,
Kiki

[Siel]

Thanks for the invite, Kiki --

bert -- It's actually not that hard to find more dressed up eco stuff online now -- but for some reason they tend not to come to the eco expos.... Not sure why....

[bert]

thx, Siel, I'll look online...and hope that next year the selection is more broad.

[Jenn Breckenridge]

Siel-Thanks so much for the great article! it's so great to hear honest feedback on the event. It'll definitely help us with '08.