Eco On The Road - Santa Cruz CA

The last two weeks I took a vacation to the beautiful west coast of California and Oregon. It was a pretty amazing trip in so many different ways: gorgeous scenery, beautiful weather, friendly people, happenin' cities, and delicious food. The whole 9 yards. One of the other interesting side effects was that I got to see what the west coast has to offer when it comes to eco-friendly fashion.

Santa Cruz, CA
I didn't get a chance to shop in LA (though I'm sure I missed out on some amazing vintage shopping) so the first town I took time to shop in was Santa Cruz. The downtown really surprised me with a slew of vintage and antique shops. There was plenty of eco-friendly shopping to be had, however my favorite two stores I want to highlight specifically:

Eco Goods was a shop with only eco-friendly items in it. It was pretty great. They had everything from clothes, to shoes, to bags, to accessories, all of which were either organic, recycled or non-toxic. The clothes seemed a step up from the hippie-ish threads of a store like the Hempest, but not quite creative enough to for me to consider them fashion forward. There were some nice simple items (like a black jersey dress), but at a price tag of over $100, it was to simple for me to want to spend my money on it.

Idle Hands was.the.coolest.store.ever.seriously. My sister and I walked by the doors before they opened, mesmerized by the pretty dresses and cowboy boots in the windows. We made sure to go back after breakfast once they were open. Once inside, it was even better. There was a wide array of really interesting clothing, graphic t-shirts, jewelery and shoes. Most of the styles seemed to be either bohemian or western inspired, but all very fashionable and different. I could have stayed in there for hours.

And now here is the coolest thing about Idle Hands... everyone who works in the store is an artist/designer, and also sells their items in the store! So the woman who made a particular row of graphic t-shirts and clothing was working behind the counter. When my sister bought a necklace she was told, "if you have any problems with it just come back on a Thursday and the girl who made it will be working." Such an amazing concept! I love supporting local designers and the way this business worked and the quality of the merchandise was really inspiring.

My road trip was off to a great eco-friendly fashion start! Check back later this week for posts about what I did in San Francisco and Portland!