Edun, in Essence

Another rainy day in Portland. And however sad the lack of summer sun may be, it at least makes me a little smug about the outcome of my most recent sustainable splurge dilemma: some weeks ago, a pair of Edun jeans won out over a crème cap-sleeve mini-dress by Bahar Shahpar at my new favorite boutique. (See my post on Arboretum at http://mindfulfinery.blogspot.com/2007/07/edenic-edun-ic-bliss.html. Did I mention that they offer all sorts of reading material on sustainable fashion design for you to peruse while admiring both your companion’s try-ons and the antique sewing machines, typewriters and suitcases that constitute the store’s decor. I’m not endorsed, I promise—maybe just a little in love.) My rainy walks today were pleasant enough clad in my new pants, but there’s no way I could have rocked the mini dress without some serious tights (which wasn’t so appealing in the supremely muggy weather).

To be honest, I only vaguely knew the name “Edun” before my purchase. I suppose I was under the impression that the company’s focus was primarily on ecological sustainability, and I ran with the idea that my new jeans were made of 100% organic cotton (and even told a few people so). Slap on my wrist for assuming that sustainable and organic are interchangeable— lesson learned. Only about forty-two percent of the cotton used in Edun products is organic. (See edunonline.com/live/facts.asp for more Edun factoids of this nature.) Edun’s focus, instead, is on spurring economically sustainable systems and promoting social sustainability around the globe, and is in the process of implementing a “Corporate Social Responsibility strategy.”

The company, established in 2005, is now produced in Peru, Tunisia, Kenya, India, Mauritius and Madagascar and overseen by independent non-profit “Verite” (verite.org) that ensures “safe, fair and legal” working conditions in an effort to “humanize” the global workforce. I read somewhere (and tsk tsk me, but I can’t remember exactly where) a description of Edun’s clothes as “earthy,” which took me aback. While the descriptions proferred by the company itself may invoke a ‘nature idiom’ in its titling of colors and citations of inspiration, I doubt a sense of “earthiness” (or even “naturalness”) would come to mind for most people when presented with the yellow trench, bright white men’s suit or women’s denim set from the S/S 06 collection.



The subsequent season offers quite a distinct look, but the sleek, dark, urban mood of AW06 is nowhere closer to “earthy.”



To digress now into the material pleasures of a well-appointed closet (not to imply that I have one, but rather that it’s something I eternally strive for), and the joy of these new jeans in particular, I’d venture to suggest that they’re the most darn flexible (and I mean that in the sense of stylistically, but neither are they by any means stiff) pants I’ve posessed in some time. They’re successful with cowboy boots, thong sandals, flats (both dressy and casual). They make me feel better about wearing sneakers (which I may now permanently call trainers, just to get over the juvenile associations I have with the American phrase), and they dress up quite easily with a pair of heels. I may now make it my mission to find a pair of shoes with which they don’t work.

One last detail: the inside of Edun jeans are inscribed with text, printed in a pretty, rolling script. Maybe I’m weired, but there’s something I love about being in the middle of getting dressed and stopping to read “We see only death, the free animal” written on the inside of my pants.