Earth Speaks brings 'Eco-Couture' out of the virtual world and into New York

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Earth Speaks brings 'Eco-Couture' out of the virtual world and into New York

NEW YORK, BROOKLYN, Apr. 11 -/E-Wire/-- Internet Eco-Couture pioneer and first-ever Bioneer award winner Earth Speaks is expanding from the 'virtual world' into the real world with the opening of its first retail store and a grand opening party and 'eco-fashion show' on Earth Day, April 22nd from 3P.M. to 8P.M. at 139 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn NY. The press, longtime customers and friends are all invited.

From clicks to bricks

Company CEO Samuel Claiborne said that although the company has done well with the internet since it opened its online shopping site in 1995, customers are unable to fully experience the quality of Earth Speaks' high-end, environmentally and socially conscious couture and casual wear through web photos alone. "We felt we had to expand from 'clicks' to 'bricks'", Claiborne said in a recent interview with IMHO. "Some consumers are embracing the internet wholeheartedly, and some are hanging back or are simply disinterested. We don't want to leave them behind."

Claiborne states that typically, a first-time Earth Speaks customer will 'stick a toe in the water' by placing a small order online and then, upon receiving the box, they will often log on immediately to place a large reorder. "That tells us that although we've won awards like the Angel-of-Fashion and others for both content and navigability, we still haven't adequately conveyed our message on the web. Many of our customers can't gauge the true quality and value of our goods from our online presentation. Consequently, we're taking two tacks:

"One is to heavily beef up our website at earthspeaks.com over the next few months with streaming media and live picture technology to give them more detail and content, and implement opt-in mailing lists for web-only specials, automated e-mail 'wish lists' for friends and family, 'two-click' purchasing, etc.

"The other strategy is to start opening brick and mortar stores in order to provide a venue for shoppers to try on the clothing, feel the 'hand' of the fabrics and see our exotic semi-precious stone buttons and matching jewelry up close. We look forward to reaching a broader base of consumer with our retail store." Earth Speaks is also considering several potential strategic partnerships in order to open more stores nationwide.

'An American Dream come true' for Chief Designer Bi Li

Bi Li grew up dirt poor in Wenzhou, China, with an outhouse and outdoor communal water pump. When she immigrated to the United States she knew no English, yet just a few short years later, while supporting herself as a waitress, she graduated Cum Laude from Hunter College in New York City with a degree in Mathematics and became a U.S. citizen.

Shortly after that, she got a job working a sewing machine in a Garment District factory. Showing unusual initiative and intelligence, she was recruited by the owner to be the head of Quality Control. Then, when he retired, he helped her purchase the factory from him. In a few short years she'd moved from abject poverty to running her own clothing factory in the heart of New York City. While making clothes for some of the biggest names in the business, she also had her own small line 'Li Bi' in various boutiques and department stores throughout the US.

Eco-Couture: A new kind of fashion is born

But Ms. Li grew tired of manufacturing 'cookie cutter' designs in synthetic fabrics. The work wasn't challenging or aesthetically fulfilling. She felt that the apparel business had lost its soul, and she was determined to create exciting clothing that was fashionable, durable and sophisticated enough to compete with the finest couture houses in the world, all with organic textiles and without any synthetic ingredients. Mr. Claiborne, who had done both corporate graphics and systems programming for the garment industry for years, wanted to do all that while maintaining rigid ethical practices.

When they met and fell in love, they decided to create a company that practiced environmentally and socially responsible design and manufacture of women's clothing. Ms. Li's research revealed that almost all of the 'eco-clothing' on the market was poorly designed, tailored and constructed, created mostly by small 'mom and pop' shops that lacked the technical expertise she'd learned in the 'Trial-by-Fire' world of the Garment District. And most of it wasn't suitable for either a power lunch or a night at the opera. And so, Earth speaks and its concept of 'Eco-Couture' was born.

"We've pioneered true high-fashion couture and casual wear clothing that's elegant, dramatic and witty, yet also respects the environment and worker's rights, and, seven years later we're still the leader. In addition, since we control the entire manufacturing cycle, our prices are often lower than the competition's, even though our natural fabrics cost much more than synthetics and our garment dying is both time consuming and expensive," Ms Li said recently in the same interview.

Mr. Claiborne and Ms. Li will be available for interview in-person at the grand opening event.

Please feel free to call for directions to the store.

Samuel Claiborne, CEO - [REDACTED-EMAIL]; Bi Li, Chief Designer - [REDACTED-EMAIL]; Earth Speaks - 69 Columbia Street, Brooklyn NY 11201, Corporate Offices: (718) 694-8338 - Store: (866) E-Speaks, [REDACTED-EMAIL]

http://www.earthspeaks.com

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