If you are anything like me, I had you at shoes!  Shoes have to be one of my most favorite things.  I've got no idea why at all.  It does seem to be genetic though as I've passed the trait onto my preschool aged daughter!

I was ecstatic when the Espadrille Store sent me a pair of these shoes.  They are completely eco-friendly.  The sole of the shoe is made of jute and natural rubber.  The colorful canvas is organically grown cotton.  You can't get much greener than that.  The shoes that they sent me were even green!  Pistachio is the name of the color.  They are perfect for spring and make other colors (especially denim) really pop.

The shoes are really comfortable and can be worn for extended periods of time.  I thought these would be best worn as my "back yard shoes" that I could just slip on and off while chasing the dog and kids.  However, I was happily mistaken!  They are much too cute and comfortable to only wear in the backyard!

I would highly recommend ordering a size up on these shoes as they fit a little small.  The shoes I ordered are very tight although I'm sure that the organic cotton canvas will stretch over time and they'll end up being just perfect.  Their sizing chart will help you to get the right size for your feet.  I probably should have checked it out before picking my size!!

This site has a ton of great colors and styles available for every member of the family.  They have some really cute patterns like these gingham checked espadrilles that are more of the slip on variety with a heel.  These ones are brand spanking new to the site and I just might have to order them!  They'd be perfect for summer picnics and walks to the park.

These shoes are also popular with men and come in a variety of colors to suit them including khaki, navy, black and brown.  They even have kids sizes!!  Absolutely adorable.  I love it when my daughter and I can have "twinsies" by wearing the same thing.  Super dorky, I know but if you're going to do it, you might as well do it before elementary school starts and they will still let you!

These Lola Pamplona style shoes with the lace up ribbon are super sleek and eco-chic and are another one of my faves.  Do you need some celebrity clout to back these shoes up?  No problem!  Espadrilles were favorites of Salvador Dali, Grace Kelly, Sophia Lauren, Jack Nicholson and Michael Douglas!

Casual eco-friendly style that can't be beat.  These shoes are handmade in Spain using the same traditions and tools that have been used for generations.  This style of shoe has been around for over 4000 years!!  Go to the Espadrilles Store today and purchase a pair at a surprisingly low price.  Want an even better price??  Enter the promotional code: promotional code: ALPARGATA for a 15% discount on all regular priced products!!

Are you ready for the Giveaway???  The Espadrille Store has generously offered up one pair of espadrilles from their "Sewn in White" line.  This giveaway is open only to residents of Canada and the USA.  Please submit a separate comment for each entry as seen below.  A winner will be chosen with a random number generator on March 22, 2010.  Good luck and thanks to the Espadrille Store for this great giveaway!!

To Enter (One Time Only):   Leave a comment on this post about which color of sewn in white espadrilles you would pick if you won.

Bonus Entries:

• *What is the name of the town where these shoes are made?
• *Name another product (besides shoes) that is sold on this site.
• *Follow Green Colored Glasses on Twitter and ReTweet this giveaway RT @Green Colored Glasses Giveaway - Eco-Friendly Espadrille Shoes (you can Tweet this once a day for Extra Entries)
• *Become a Fan of Green Colored Glasses on Facebook
• *Blog about this giveaway with a link to this post
• *Suscribe to Green Colored Glasses by RRS Feed

**I was provided a pair of these espadrilles for review purposes.  All of the information and opinions found in this post are my own.**

Celebrate International Women's Day (and get your shop on!) with a great company named  Same Sky.  This company employs HIV positive survivors of the Rwandan genocide in 1994.  During this atrocity, more than a quarter of a million women were raped.  70% of those ended up contracting the HIV virus and were left to fend for themselves with husbands tortured and killed.  That means approximately 175,000 were left impoverished and sick.  Many didn't have the skills required to dig themselves out of the poverty, rebuild their families and communities. 

Same Sky is a trade-not-aid initiative that gives women their power back.  Their employees earn 10 times the amount that the average Sub-Saharan woman earns.  This enables them to provide food, healthcare and education to their entire families.  Here's a quote from the site: "Economically empower a woman - you change her, her family, her community, her country and eventually the social and economic fabric of the entire world."

The artisans employed here crochet together hand blown glass beads to form some incredibly beautiful bracelets.  Each bracelet is hand crocheted and even has the name of the woman who crafted the bracelet on it.  All of the proceeds from the sale of these bracelets are reinvested back into the company.  This means that they can employ and empower even more women and expand into other regions.

The bracelets are available in 19 different colors and they even have some suggested color combinations for wearing multiple bracelets at the same time.  The combination shown in this picture is called Sahara Sunset.  Absolutely gorgeous and very reminiscent of natural sunsets fading into the night.

Celebrities such as Barbara Walters, Meryl Streep, Halle Berry, Katie Couric and Chelsea Clinton have all been spotted wearing these stunning bracelets.  These would make a great women's day gift for any woman, regardless of where on earth she is situated.  The name of the company, Same Sky, is a big reminder of the challenges that women face all around the world and how women can be empowered by pulling together on a global scale.

Happy Women's Day!!

Looking for something a little different to put in Easter baskets this year for bigger kids??  How about some solar power toys?  They come in a robotic kit that you can work on together and are run completely from the solar panels on their back.  The grashopper toy jitters around as though scared out of it's mind and the frog jumps along like a frog would.  Both are pretty cool and both are from Helios Solar Toys.

They've got a pretty big range of solar powered toys -- cars, racetracks, a duck, robotic kits, keychains, and even a cable car!  These are some great educational toys that can help to expand your kids minds, have tons of fun and learn about alternate power sources.  These would be especially good for homeschooled children doing a module on solar energy.  Definitely hands on learning and fun at the same time.  I wouldn't mind getting a few of these myself!

Kind of ironic to write about green eye glasses on a blog called Green Colored Glasses, right?  It's amazing to me the range of products that are emerging onto the market for eco-conscious shoppers.  The optical field of products is no exception.

With a little research, it's possible to find several different brands of environmentally friendly eye glasses.  There are even some like the ones pictured here that are manufactured without the use of screws, hinges or soldering at all.  This really cuts down on the environmental impact of both manufacturing and recycling these kind of glasses.  Both the frames and the lenses are made partially from recycled materials and the entire pair is recyclable when you're done with them.

There are other kinds of eco-friendly glasses that are made with recycled plastics and recycled stainless steel.  Some companies will even plant a tree for each pair purchased!  There are many companies that are involed in the 1% for the earth idea too where one percent of the company's profits are donated to environmental charities.

Several optical companies include a mail in package to recycle the eyeglasses when you are done with them.  However, I've always donated my used glasses to be sent to developing countries overseas.  That way, the glasses go to people who need them.  I know that shipping glasses overseas is a questionable practice on a global scale with the environmental footprint of shipping being quite large.  But with the cost of eye glasses sometimes equaling up to 3 months pay for people, it would seem to me to be worth it!

My point here is to be conscious of every purchase you make and every item that you get rid of.  There seems to be environmentally friendlier options for everything you can think of.  Even items that are an absolute necessity such as eye glasses.

There's a new type of credit card in the design world called Live Checking.  It's a credit card that actually keeps a running tally of how much credit you have used which might help people manage spiraling debt problems.  This is a huge problem right now during the recession.  There are lots of people living completely off of credit right now because of the poor economy and sagging job market.  Even for those of us who are employed, it can be easy to miscalculate your spending.

The eco-friendly part of the design itself is the solar panel on the right hand side of the card.  This panel collects the power necessary to keep the card powered up when needed.  This card could also potentially really help people cut down on the amount of waste they are steadily consuming.  Perhaps people will think twice about buying disposable products or cheap junk that they don't need because they know how much they've already spent and how much they owe on this card.  Many people end up with tons of things crowding their house that they don't even need or want!

My favorite part of the design is the ability for the card to light up around the edges to let you know at a moment's glance whether you are above your credit limit or not.  If the light is blue, you are still within your credit limit.  If the light is red, you are over your limit.  I also think it's cool that the colors used for the edges are not green and red.  Green signals "go" and that is not what consumers should be doing when using their cards.

This design is by Jin-young Yoon, Wook-sun Oh, Young-ho Lee & Jun-kyo Lee.

Well, if you have the imagination and skill of Etsy crafter Screaming Chee Toes, it will look like this fantastically giant plarn rug.  Plarn is a type of yarn made out of plastic grocery bags.  This is upcycling in it's truest form -- taking something of absolutely no value and transforming it into something with an inherently high value!

I can't begin to imagine how many hours were spent crocheting this gorgeous rug which can both indoors and outdoors.  Hundreds of yards of yarn was also woven into the design.  The resulting rug aptly entitled Living Large measures in at 5 x 7 feet!

This rug is more than just planet friendly though, it's also foot friendly!  One would imagine that the repurposed plastic bags would be crunchy or crinkly under the feet but the crafter says that it is soft and tender on the toes.

Imagine how fantastic this rug would look in a main entranceway.  The rug naturally creates static which helps to trap dust.  This could make for a much tidier front entranceway!  I think it would look especially amazing in an outdoor living space.  Many people are bringing outdoor living to a whole new level with couches, reclining chairs and chimineas to help set up the perfect conversation and relaxation area outside.  A rug like this would really help to define the space and give it even more of a living like you're indoors outdoors kind of feel.

This crafter has a range of these rugs in different styles, colors and sizes to suit every need.  Definitely worth grabbing your organic fair trade coffee and poking through.  Happy shopping!!

This has to be the cutest little sling back chair for kids that I've ever seen!  I'm definitely tempted to order it.  It's made by Next which is apparently going out of business which makes these chair a limited time offer.  Heritage Kids where I spotted them are selling whatever they have left and when they're done, that is it!

The sides of the chair are made of recycled wood and coated with a non-toxic water based paint.  The sling of the chair and the cushion are made of organic cotton that is machine washable.  This is extremely important in a kids chair!!

The fun colors of these chairs (originally available in green, purple, pink and orange) are definitely a reminder that spring is (hopefully) just around the corner!!  I can just imagine my little diva girl kicking back in this chair with her star shaped sunglasses on and an ice cold lemonade in her hand!!

And the winner is......

Comment Number 35! 

 My family friendly tip is to use cloth diapers! It saves money and space in landfills!

I was sent a 4 pack of these cute Skoy cloths to review.  They are meant to be a replacement for papertowels, dishcloths and sponges while being far more attractive alternatives that are earth friendly.  I expected them to be cute and I knew about their eco-friendly properties so what I was really amazed with was their performance.  I decided to put them to the test.

I performed a little science experiment to see how much water these cloths could really absorb.  I added a colorant (margarita mix!) to 2/3 a cup of water as shown in the picture and then dumped the contents out onto a plate.  I set the Skoy cloth over top of the water and it soaked it all up immediately!  My husband, aka lovely assistant, was shocked at how quickly it was all soaked up.  In fact, the top right hand corner was still a little dry as you can tell from the picture if you look really close.  I think it could have held even a bit more water!  And it was all soaked up in about 10 seconds or so.

I know that my awesome "experiment" is very reminiscent of the microfiber infommercials that we've all watched on long nights plagued by insomnia.  However, the Skoy cloth is better than the Sham Wow or it's comparasions for a variety of reasons.  First and most importantly is that the Skoy is much better for the environment than a microfiber cloth.  It is made of a mixture of cotton and cellulose found in wood so it's quickly biodegradable with nothing nasty left behind.  In fact, studies have shown that the Skoy is virtually gone in 5 weeks in a compost and 16 weeks in a landfill.  The microfiber cloths are completely synthetic while the Skoy is made of natural ingredients and water based dyes.

Another big bonus with the Skoy cloth is that is more absorbent than microfiber cloths.  This means that it is more effective at cleaning up spills and wiping up messes.  This cloth is so absorbent that it is said to replace 15 rolls of paper towel!  Think of the savings for both your family and the planet.  All of that and it's cute to look at too!  The colors are bright and vibrant and the patterns are fun and remind me of spring which will eventually come.  Won't it??  This isn't something that you'd throw under the sink when the neighbors popped by for coffee because it's ugly to look at.

It's also really easy to clean.  It's machine washable and dryer safe.  If you're looking for a quicker fix, microwave a wet cloth for two minutes to kill any smelly bacteria that may be on it.  The Skoy also just feels better in the hand than a microfiber cloth.  The second that you run it under the tap, it plumps up like a sponge absorbing the water.  There's really no way to describe it, it's just something that you have to feel for yourself.  You can buy the Skoy online at their page if you're in the US, look up one of their many retailers and etailers or even go to Amazon to purchase it.

Skoy has graciously provided two multicolor packs of four of their cloths for a giveaway here at Green Colored Glasses so there will be 2 winners that Skoy will directly ship a 4 pack of cloths to.  This giveaway is open only to residents of the USA.  Please submit a separate comment for each entry as seen below.  Good luck!!

To Enter (One Time Only):   Leave a comment on this post about your favorite color or design of Skoy cloths.

Bonus Entries:

• What does the product name Skoy mean?
• *Follow Green Colored Glasses on Twitter and ReTweet this giveaway RT @Green Colored Glasses Giveaway - Eco-Friendly Skoy Cloths (you can Tweet this once a day for Extra Entries)
• *Become a Fan of Skoy on Facebook
• *Become a Fan of Green Colored Glasses on Facebook
• *Blog about this giveaway with a link to this post
• *Suscribe to Green Colored Glasses by RRS Feed

**I was provided a 4 pack of these cloths by Skoy for review purposes.  All of the information and opinions found in this post are my own.**

I ran into this fantastic shirt today online by a really cool company called Wire and Twine.  It's a very small company that hand prints the shirts they make in a barn.  Yup, a big cool red barn.  Between making shirts, they occassionally go out and bale hay.  Hence the name, wire and twine which are two options to make hay bales.  Awesome company, great graphics and a few green designs.

This one is absolutely my favorite.  It reminds me of two things.  First, I need to get my teenager unplugged and outside more.  He has an Xbox issue from time to time.  Even my preschooler is a bit addicted to her DS (I did not buy it for her!) and the tv.  Second, spring is finally (I hope!) coming!  What a great reminder to parents and kids that nature is the world's best wonderland.  It's a great way for kids to learn and play.  It's healthy, free and always available!  No need to worry about dead batteries either...

These shirts are printed on 100% organic cotton, sweatshop free tees and are available in kids and big kids (adult) sizes.  Absolutely fantastic!!  They have got some other great green shirts available on their site as well including a baby onesie that says I'm a Green Baby Diapered with a Conscience which is a great way to promote cloth diapers as an earth friendly option and a really cool (but not organic) t-shirt that graphically represents 50 ways to help the planet.  This shirt is awesome and I've absolutely got to feature it at one point or another.  It's got some fantastic and easy ways to live a little greener regardless of how busy your schedule is.  Definitely worth checking out!