Fashion - Lela Designs

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We admire Lela Designs for choosing to make its "eco-luxury" line of lifestyle clothing using environmentally-friendly fabrics like bamboo, organic cotton and recycled PET soda bottles.

Not only are these fabrics good for the planet, we can also testify first-hand (at least about bamboo and organic cotton) that they feel great on the skin.

We also love the fact that Lela donates a portion of each sale to Camfed (The Campaign for Female Eduation), one of our favorite nonprofits, dedicated to fighting poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa by educating girls.

85% of Lela's Fall 2008 designs incorporate eco-friendly or certified organic cotton fabrics. Many of these feminine, sophisticated and sporty designs are very flattering to athletic figures. (Some of the top golfers in the LPGA wear Lela Designs outfits on the course.)

Manufactured in Canada, Lela Designs clothing seems to be high quality with cute details like fair trade sterling silver zip pulls and rhinestone buttons. The crystal LELA logo adds a touch of glam. We had a chance to look at the 94% organic cotton Bahati Polo firsthand and found the fit and finish to both be impressive.

Kudos to Lela Designs for creating a sexy yet functional collection of green clothing. We do wish that the prices (tops $70-120, bottoms $90-130, jackets $110-250) were a bit more affordable, but then again, it's better from both a style and environmental perspective to have a few beautiful pieces of clothing rather than an overstuffed closet.

Where to buy:
Visit this Store Locator webpage for information on stores in Canada and the U.S. that carry Lela Designs clothing. Prefer to buy online? Lela Designs is scheduled to launch the e-commerce portion of its website tomorrow.