Aveda Sets a Green Example for Fashion Week

Evan Miller, Aveda's director of new and environmental media

Photo: Margaret Teich

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For the fifth year, natural cosmetics company Aveda has been working to green up New York Fashion Week. On September 4th Aveda threw a party to kick-off the week, and to commence their Caps Recycling Program.

The party also marked Aveda's 30th anniversary, and production of a new limited edition bottle for the company's first and longest running product: the Vintage Clove Shampoo. It was created in 1978 by company founder Horst Rechelbacker.

"Although the majority of Aveda's business comes from consumers, we also cater to hair and makeup professionals," explained Evan Miller, Aveda's director of New and Environmental Media. "By being involved [in fashion week] we can be sexy and fashionable." Evan added, "Most of the professional grade items used [in the industry] are not natural. Hairsprays have alcohol and synthetic waxes, as well as other petroleum-based ingredients, but we've achieved a professional level of performance in an eco-friendly way."

A big fan of Aveda, fashion designer and winner of last season's Project Runway, Christian V. Siriano attended the event, pointing out that his "favorite product is the Air Control Hairspray." When asked if he's interested in eco-friendly fashion materials, Christian said that he's still learning about "green" manufacturing options, since he's new to the fashion industry. He added that he has discovered some great bamboo knits that may be included in his next collection.

Also in attendance was the Malamed family, invited by Aveda for their dedicated support of the Caps Recycling Program. Lisa Malamed had read an article about the project in Shape Magazine in spring 2008, and was inspired to help. She went to her son Max's third-grade teacher to talk about getting the classrooms involved in collecting bottle caps. "I think it's really important to show kids positive ways in which they can make an impact in their world, and to set an example that they can follow themselves," said Lisa. Malamed began speaking to classes, and her son Jacob, then in sixth grade, emailed his 300+ classmates, letting them know about the harm to animals and the environment that caps cause, and describing which kind they should bring. A collection program was started and the Malamed family sent the caps to Aveda. "It was fun looking at all of these caps that came through our front door. We collected 14,000 caps in two months and we still get them!" said Lisa's son Jacob. The kids were rewarded with extra recess and an ice-cream party at the end of the year.

At the event in New York, the Malameds got to meet John Delfausse, who founded the Caps program as VP of Package Development for Aveda. Delfausse had originally hoped that caps could be recycled out of those retrieved from the ocean, but discovered that these materials are too degraded by the sea water. Then bottle caps were collected by Aveda staff and sent to the recycler for testing. The plastic Aveda will recycle into new caps is a rigid polypropylene, which will be various shades of gray due to the recycling process.

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