INNOVATION SPOTLIGHT

Sustainable Fashion & Textiles
Book Review
Bonnie Siefers
Jonäno eco chic collections

Sustainable clothing and eco chic fashion have entered mainstream consumer consciousness with a barrage of recent media attention. But what really is sustainable clothing and is it different from organic clothing?

For textile enthusiasts, Sustainable Fashion & Textiles by Kate Fletcher will be a go to guidebook and reference for those working the growing field of eco textiles. Exploring eco-friendly fabrics and sustainable textile manufacturing processes, the book goes further than ever before by exposing the pressures and long term effects the textile industry places on our environment.

Given the urgent and expanding global debate on sustainability and ethical manufacturing, this book will extend its influence far beyond the traditional textiles and apparel industries. Sustainable Fashion & Textiles offers buyers, policymakers and designers in the textile industry a well laid out journey through sustainable textile manufacturing from seed to sewn. Naturally, Sustainable Fashion & Textiles will be eagerly read throughout the textiles and apparel supply chain.

Improving the textile industries’ sustainability footprint and reducing environmental impact is about more than just choosing organic and recycled materials. It requires a more holistic corporate approach that includes reusing environmentally-friendly packaging, reducing manufacturing and operational waste and pollution, improving building energy efficiency and reducing energy consumption, moving towards the use of renewable energy, improving shipping and transportation efficiencies, and designing durable and long wearing apparel items. As a sustainable designer, I applaud Kate Fletcher for crafting this eye opening look into the world of textiles and presenting great new sustainable options that offer the many benefits of choosing sustainable textiles. Hazzah!

Pittsburgh Technology Council: Launching the Cleantech Network
with DEP Secretary Kathleen McGinty
As the cost of energy continues to have an increasingly greater impact on the business environment in southwestern Pennsylvania, global trends toward the adoption of alternative energy strategies have created an opportunity for our region.
 
As a result, the Council is launching a new industry group, the Cleantech Network, to focus on the needs of regional companies developing or re-tooling products and services that help meet the emerging national need for a stable and sustainable energy and technology infrastructure.
 
Future initiatives will include: Access to Investors, Advocacy, Cost Savings, Education, Networking, Publications and Workforce Education.
 
Help us launch the Cleantech Network with special guest PA Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen McGinty. At this Breakfast Briefing, we will discuss opportunities and programming available in this growing market segment focused on helping regional energy, alternative energy and environmental companies succeed.
 
Cleantech Network sponsored by Catalyst Connection.

Date:        Tuesday, May 13
Time:        7 - 8 a.m.           Registration & Breakfast
                 8 - 9:30 a.m.       Presentation
Venue:      David L. Lawrence Convention Center
Cost:         $40 Member or Catalyst Client | $80 Non-Member
Register:   Online | E-Mail | 412.918.4229

Top 12 Green-IT Users: No. 1 Highmark Inc.
Highmark Inc. spent about $45,000 each month on electricity in its old data center, a 24,000-square-foot, Tier 1 facility in Camp Hill, Pa. The company's new data center, built entirely of recycled building materials and certified as a leader in energy and environmental design by the U.S. Green Building Council, is an 86,000-square-foot, Tier 3 facility with some 28,000 feet of raised flooring. The new data center is three times bigger than the old one, but its electricity costs are the same: $45,000 per month. Thanks to an array of energy- conserving technologies — including server virtualization and next-generation air- and equipment-cooling processes — the medical insurer has not only kept its energy costs in check, but has also expanded operations and increased production since building the data center in 2005.
http://www.computerworld.com/

One-Year Sustainable MBA Program at Duquesne University Ranked 8th in Aspen Institute's Global 100
"In the Beyond Grey Pinstripes survey, success is measured not by how much new MBA graduates earn or how many offers they get, but by how well-prepared they are to guide a company through the complex relationship of business and society, where issues relating to the environment or the well-being of a community can impact a company's performance and reputation," said Judith Samuelson, executive director of the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program. Duquesne implemented the full-time, 1 year MBA program for Sustainability to incorporate the bedrock elements of ethics and fiscal responsibility into a global-minded program with environmental and human capital considered part of a multi-dimensional bottom line.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/mba/sustainability/prweb751114.htm

Pirates Swing for Fences Environmentally
Fans will find 180 recycling containers, including 90 bottle-shaped receptacles, scattered throughout PNC Park to collect some 760,000 plastic bottles and aluminum cans used throughout the season.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08072/864298-85.stm

50 Ways to Green Your Business
Imagine asking today how the Internet affects business. It's an absurd question, like asking how electricity changed business. Asking the same about sustainability, it turns out, is equally absurd. Like the Internet, sustainability spurs innovation in everything, from how you see your business model to whether you see your employees (why not let them work at home more?). Here are our favorite ways companies today are greening up--and saving money and making better widgets in the process.
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/120/50-ways-to-green-your-business.html

Malls getting a little greener
Historically, the retail development industry has been better known for its tendency to lay down acres of asphalt where farm fields once were than for efforts to produce sustainable projects. Meanwhile, some people questioned Sustainable Pittsburgh's decision to focus on a place where teens buy jeans rather than, say, a manufacturer churning out heavy equipment or some other product.Yet there are tens of thousands of malls in the United States and billions of dollars spent in them. And a mall tends to be an imposing presence on the landscape -- a really, really big box as viewed through the satellite images of Google Earth. Robinson's 872,000-square-foot mall alone brings in more than 7 million shoppers annually. And those consumers have started to pay attention to the environmental impact of the places they shop, which has a way of focusing developers' interest.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07182/798278-28.stm

Pittsburgh Targets Green Consumers With New Paint Hues
Pittsburgh Paints is launching a new line of paint hues. The EcoEcho color palettes, part of Pittsburgh Paints’ The Voice of Color program, are designed to echo the growing interest in the ecological/environmental movement.
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2007/10/26/pittsburgh-targets-green-
consumers-with-new-paint-line/

Plextronics Receives Investment from Applied Ventures to Expand Development of Printed Electronics Technology
Plextronics, Inc., a leading innovator of printed electronics technology, announced today that it has received a strategic investment by Applied Ventures, LLC, the venture capital arm of Applied Materials, Inc. The investment will help Plextronics continue to expand its product development and manufacturing capabilities, as well as increase its investment in sales and marketing activities.
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/
NETU09306112007-1.htm