South End stores become environmentally conscious

By Kate Klinck

It’s a clothing boutique, but the shelves are full of skateboards and soda can tabs.

Fair trade artists in Brazil re-used the aluminum tabs by sewing them together to create an Escama Studio handbag. Another company, Beck(y), uses pieces of old, worn-out skateboards to construct small purses without straps, which are called clutches.

“We’ve always had an eye out for earth-friendly products,” said Storey Hieronymus Hauk, owner of Turtle, a boutique on Tremont Street. “If we have to choose between non-earth-friendly and earth-friendly, we’ll always choose earth-friendly.”

As more people desire to improve the environment, South End stores are increasingly catering to consumers’ demands by selling products such as the handbags at Turtle, t-shirts made from recycled cotton, and Levi’s jeans that have buttons and zippers made from recycled metal.

Eve Belfer-Ahern, 33, a customer at Turtle, said she buys pieces from the Prairie Underground line sold at Turtle because their clothing is made in Seattle from re-used material.

“They’re a cottage industry too, which means people take materials home, sew it and get paid by the piece,” Ahern said. “I also won’t buy anything made in China. I like to buy things made in countries with good environmental laws.”

Parlor, a boutique on Washington Street, sells several clothing lines made from sustainable fibers, organic cotton, recycled or re-used materials, none of which are produced in sweat shops. One line created in 2005, Alternate Apparel, is a T-shirt line designed by shop owners Nilda Martin and Kelly Warner. It is made with recycled cotton and then the images are screened on the shirts by local artists.

Martin said she has seen the demand in the South End this year for environmentally friendly products.

“The South End is a cutting edge neighborhood,” she said. “These people are ahead of the curve—it’s cool and chic to be green. They care about the community and what is good for animals and people. It’s the ethic of the neighborhood.”

Organic cotton is one material used to make products sold in other South End stores such as Motley, a boutique on Tremont Street. For an item to be considered organic, it must be certified by the United States Department of Agriculture. To be certified, the product must meet standards that prove it was produced by using feed or fertilizer from plants or animals that has not been touched by chemically formulated fertilizers, growth stimulants, antibiotics or pesticides.

Motley sells Levi’s Eco-Friendly jeans that are made with organic cotton, organic dyes, and zippers and buttons made from recycled metal. Doug Palardy, owner of Motley, said he decided to sell the jeans in May 2008.


“It seemed like a fun concept,” Palardy said. “And everyone was talking eco, green, earth-friendly this past year, so why not.”

One thing Palardy refuses to sell is bamboo products.

“The process to turn bamboo into weave-able fibers is highly toxic,” he said. “The chemicals used to break down the bamboo are horrible for the environment and groundwater. People forget that cotton is renewable, just as trees are, and just because bamboo grows fast, doesn't mean it the friendly replacement for other materials and fibers.”

James Lionette, owner of Lionette’s Market on Tremont Street, said not all of his products are organically certified, but they are all clean and sustainable.

“Not adulterated, no messing around, no ridiculous use of pesticides, no factories,” Lionette said. “Clean is a much healthier word. Organic is just a marketing term for Wal-Mart and Whole Foods.”