LOS ANGELES - In the past two years, it seems just about everyone is jumping on the eco-bandwagon.
From manufacturers to retailers, more and more corporations are finally seeing the need to get right with Mother Earth. Faeries Dance has taken it one step further and has been doing so before it became cool.
Founder Adrienne Catone has been specializing in earth-friendly fashion for nearly four years. Her company's intimate apparel offerings are crafted of bamboo leaves, discarded soy bean casings and even reclaimed pine needles. Additionally, the fabrics used in Faeries Dance apparel are all colored with low-impact dyes.
The idea came to Catone five years ago while pondering her career path.
"I felt inspired to do something that was positive for the environment and made a list of all the things that seemed interesting as possible new careers," she told AVN Novelty Business. "I left the list sit, looked at it, pondered it and meditated on it for three months. The eco-fashion business stood out as the best option."
FaeriesDance.com launched on July 22, 2005, with 67 offerings, none of which were of the intimate apparel variety, but Catone says it was always part of the game plan.
"I really liked the idea of intimates, but they weren't easy to find," she explained. "After about a year, I found my first eco-intimates line. It was a simple line of organic cotton panties and loungewear that remain best sellers to this day."
Never one to slow down and get comfortable after experiencing a bit of success, Catone set out to grow her line. She took the next few months to attend eco-fashion-specific industry shows as well as lingerie shows.
"I started making overseas contacts," she said. "I started to realize that Europeans were actually ahead of us in production and design of eco-friendly lingerie."
Today, FaeriesDance.com boasts a product line of nearly 400 SKUs with almost 100 of them being intimate apparel and lounge wear. Catone adds new items to her inventory on a monthly basis.
"Overall, our best-selling item remains our basic wireless bra in organic cotton," she says. "However, we get a fair amount of positive feedback on the wide variety of pretty and sexy bras offered in sustainable fabrics. We even have men's underwear choices in organic cotton and bamboo."
Some of the newer and more bizarre products in the Faeries Dance line include its Pine Tree Lingerie line, made in France from recycled White Pine tree trimmings.
"The fabric has a velvety feel, like brushed cotton with a touch of spandex added for a nice stretch and easy maintenance," Catone said. "It's sexy, unique and it's the only padded bra we've ever found in an eco-friendly material. It's also void of uncomfortable underwire. Our lingerie made of soy bean casings, which would otherwise be discarded during the tofu manufacturing process have also raised an eyebrow or two."
Catone plans on continuing to raise eyebrows in 2009 with many new products on the horizon, including an expansion of its sexy swimwear line.
"While lingerie is always at the top of our list, we're specifically concentrating on widening our swimwear collection," she said. "Right now we're working on bikinis made from bamboo, recycled plastic bottles and perhaps even from hemp! We're also looking to expand our line of dresses. Every woman needs something pretty to wear over top of all that over top of all that stunning lingerie!"
For more information about Catone's line of earth-friendly fashions, visit FaeriesDance.com or call (310) 530-0377.
