By Lindsey Norris

Eco-chic doesn’t mean hemp muumuus. A growing cadre of designers are using environmentally friendly fabrics in their collections. Hello bamboo denim and boardroom-worthy vegetable cashmere!

You won’t find a single scrap of leather or fur in the workshops of Montreal-based matt & nat . Their bags and wallets are vegan, winning a Proggy Award from PETA in 2005 for the best cruelty-free handbag collection.

Shoes from Fluevog leave light footprints. The Vancouver-based company has a line with natural gum rubber soles, held together by water-based adhesives. The sell? “No animals were harmed, nor even thought of in a negative manner, during the production of this shoe.”

For office duds your co-workers will never know are organic, try Montreal’s Grace & Cello . We like the wrap dress made of bamboo and their 100% organic cotton twill pencil skirt.

If schmoozing is part of your job, you probably golf. Vancouver-based Lela Designs are tailored to help you tee off in eco-style. A portion of every sale from each garment goes to the Campaign for Female Education, which helps women in rural Africa.

Shiny Bazura Bags , stitched by a women’s cooperative in the Philippines, are made from foil juice containers that would otherwise be sent to the landfill. Also, check out the sweet-as-candy handbags from Miami’s Ecoist , patched together from misprinted snack bags, soda labels and candy wrappers. Still shopping at the mall? Levi’s makes a line of eco-denim; just look for the green stitching on the back pockets.

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