Dean is a little shop in Los Angeles’s trendy Silverlake neighborhood that fashions buttery-soft leather accessories with an offhand, not-trying-too-hard style.

Our hearts raced when we saw these. Made by hand from vintage leather jackets, these recycled leather bags come in three sizes, from wallet to clutch.

Dean has a good eye for high-quality leather in rich colors from olive green to burgundy that just gets better and softer with use.

Wallets With Removable Wrist Strap, $38 to $88 from DeanAccessories.com.

The Sartorialist‘s Scott Schuman is one of fashion’s most interesting upstarts at work today — a former executive at Bergdorf Goodman, he now travels the globe and to snap photos of people on the street looking impossibly chic.

Giving credit where it’s due, he gives a nod to his predecessors with a review of the book Elegance: The Seeberger Brothers and the Birth of Fashion Photography, a collection of photographs from early 20th century Paris.

He writes:

Someday, 100 years from now, I hope some young person will flip through a book of my images and feel the way I felt looking at these photos.

Running a blog is a daily job that requires immediate action. I love that challenge but it is equally important to me that these images last and hopefully reflect a little bit of this moment in time for future generations.

I don’t worry if what I do is art — but it is a document. A book like this makes me proud that I might be able to continue that tradition.

The same hope could easily apply to how you build your closet. It’s amazing to us how many of these timeless looks are still wearable today, and it reminds us to keep an eye to the future.

The Sartorialist has a gallery tour that may stop in your city. His photos are currently on display in New York City at Danziger Projects.

GreenLivingIdeas.com has a handy guide to making your clothes last longer.

In addition to some laundry tips, the blog recommends throwing parties to trade the clothes you’re tired of with your buds. We thought this idea was pretty genius:

Throw a clothes swapping party with friends.  You and your friends are guaranteed a fabulous time when you gather together for a night of fun and friendship. You can serve food and drinks while selling your clothes for a dollar.  Whatever you make from the party can be donated to a charity and the remaining clothes can be given to your favorite thrift shop.

If you already borrow clothes from your girlfriends, it sounds like a great way to inject some life into your closet for next to nothing.

Martin + Osa has only recently appeared on our radar, and while they’re more known for their high-quality basics, they’ve also introduced some eco-options into the mix.

This oversize wrap is perfection. At nearly two feet wide and 80 inches long, it’s big enough to keep you cozy during a long flight or looped around your neck throughout the transition into fall.

It’s made from a blend of rayon and sustainable bamboo, which is ultra soft and breathable.

Martin + Osa offers free shipping and free returns, so it’s low risk if you’ve never tried the brand before. And there’s nothing like a sale: Enter code 63299191 at checkout to save an additional 20 percent.

Echo Solid Bamboo Wrap Scarf, $24.95 at MartinAndOsa.com.

“The three Rs — recycle, reduce, reuse — can use two more: repair and reject.”

– actress Daryl Hannah to the crowd at Green Frontier Fest, currently ongoing in Denver. Take those old clothes in for alterations today!

A lot of what we hear about ethical fashion has to do with where our clothes come from — eco-friendly materials, labor conditions, carbon emissions in transport, waste in production. But what about the other end of the story?

According to a 2002 New York Times article, approximately 2.5 billion pounds of used clothing  are donated to charity in America each year.

Obviously, thrift shops and shelters can only take so much; what happens to the rest?

George Packer, author of the NYT article, explains:

This is where the trail grows tricky, for what had been charitable suddenly crosses a line that tax law and moral convention think inviolable — it turns commercial, and no one likes to talk very much about what happens next. A whiff of secrecy and even shame still clings to the used-clothing trade… The used-clothing firms are mostly family-owned, and the general feeling seems to be that the less the public knows, the better.

Long story short, much of the clothing we give away makes its way to people in impoverished countries. But there are at least two major criticisms of this practice: (1) that people are making money off of what most people consider charity, and (2) that used clothing floods the market, making it difficult for local seamstresses to sell their garments. Packer came down in favor of used clothing (called “pepe” overseas), concluding that “Africans want it,” and “it gives them dignity and choice.”

Writer Joanne McNeil addresses these issues in Reason magazine this month:

[A] little industry is better than none. Those rags for sale on the streets of Port-au-Prince might pave the way for more trade and opportunity.

What do you think?

Editors’ note: The McNeil article is based on a new documentary on the used clothing trade in Haiti called Secondhand (Pepe). A friend just loaned us a copy (available for purchase at Etsy), so stay tuned for more on this!

(Photo from McNeil’s blog, TomorrowMuseum.com)

Nora Caliguri, who you may remember from the first season of Project Runway, and Rachelyn Porter, a Chanel alum, have been hard at work nailing all of the most glamorous trends for Larsen Gray’s fall collection.

You’ll find ombré evening gowns, ruffled cocktail dresses, and Hervé Leger-inspired banded miniskirts throughout their offerings this season.

Plus the duo has revealed a flair for working with organic cotton jersey, sustainable silk, and recycled wool, which puts them way ahead of the curve. Everything is stitched together in New York City as well.

This body-conscious organic jersey pencil skirt is our top pick. It manages to be demure enough for a day at the office but packs enough sex appeal for a night out at the club.

And Shopbop is having a once-in-a-blue moon code: Enter BOPFORFALL to save $25 on a $150 purchase, $50 on $300, $100 on $500, or $250 off a $1,000 total.

Larsen Gray Ultra High Waist Skirt Ponte Skirt, $238 at Shopbop.com.

Everyone has at least one fashion obsession. For Madison, it’s shoes; for me it’s definitely bags.

And we’re majorly impressed with how Ecoist literally transforms one person’s trash into another’s treasure. Where else can you get clutches and satchels made from recycled newspapers, movie billboards, or soda can tabs?

We are particularly intrigued by the bags woven from candy wrappers. These slim totes are made by hand in Mexico and Peru with fair-trade practices. They come in a variety of colors and styles — we like this one for lugging around files and magazines.

Candy Wrapper Collection Slim Portfolio in Silver, $128 at Ecoist.com.

The Daily Green has a thought-provoking article today about how terrible plastic hangers are for the environment.

You’ve seen these hangers in every Old Navy, Target, and Marshalls in the world made from flimsy plastic and low-grade metal. When the cashier rings up your purchase, she tosses the hanger in a box behind the counter where you presume it will be used again.

Wrong.

The majority of the time, those hangers end up in municipal landfills — to the tune of 8 billion every year.

The reason has to do with overseas production. Clothing manufacturers across the world ship those garments with the hanger already inserted to make stocking the racks easier, and they can’t be reused because every shirt and pair of pants already has a hanger attached. Because these companies are paid up front for each item of clothing (hanger included), the incentive is to use the cheapest hangers they can find — and that usually means they’re made from some variety of polystyrene, polycarbonate, K-resin, or polypropylene.

There is no one international standard, and multiple manufacturers make clothes for every store. So once those hangers make their way into the bin, they cannot be sorted by plastic type. In fact, most recycling centers won’t accept hanger donations because of the difficulty in sorting them.

Into the landfills they go, where these low-grade plastics leach lethal chemicals into the soil and water for the next 800 years or more.

Lucky magazine’s September issue profiled Ladita, a little shop in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood that packs a big eco-fashion wallop.

Owner Christine Kay scours the country for stylish and eco-friendly picks in women’s fashion, beauty products, and gifts.

Looking for fair-trade Mongolian cashmere wraps from Stewart + Brown? Or a flattering strapless shirred sundress from Toggery, made from 100 percent organic supima cotton? Ladita has what you’re looking for.

Also be sure to check out the shop’s upcoming special events (posted online), which aim to create a community feel among ethical shoppers. One night this month, customers were treated to an organic wine tasting and hors d’oeurves, complete with a shopping discount of 10 percent off everything in the store.

Ladita, 827 Cortland Avenue, San Francisco, California.