Second Wind Sails is a small company located in Gloucester, MA, the oldest seaport in North America, that creates high quality, functional handbags made from recycled sails. They saw an opportunity in the marketplace to reinvent bags made from recycled sails and create added value for our customers. Their innovative techniques have enabled them to enhance the features of these bags and allows them to compete on quality, functionality, and design. Second Wind Sails represents the restored energy or strength each recycled sail obtains when it is granted its "second wind" in the marketplace as a high quality, functional artisan handbag. As avid outdoor enthusiasts, they are driven by not only their passion for sailing and the great outdoors, but also by honoring a responsibility to reduce waste in the environment by preventing these sails from being put (along with thousands of others) into landfills.

Their Philosophy:

Be Green and "Thread" Lightly by creating high quality, functional handbags that serve a purpose for everyone. Whether you are a world class sailing champion, a member of a coastal community, or someone who cares about doing something good for the environment, everyone can appreciate the history tied to each sail and the efforts being taken to reduce unnecessary waste.

Their Mission:

Recycle: Prevent old, used sails from being thrown away and added to the mass of landfills by forming partnerships with local, national, and international sail makers.

Reduce: Decrease the number of sails that are put into landfills each year and restore the recycled sails by handcrafting them into unique, functional sail accessories.

Reuse: Create a new use for the old sails by transforming them through their unique design into beautiful, durable, functional, and fashionable bags.

An excellent product.

Along with their exceptional line of candles, the SOI Company offers an array of other unique candle accessories, gifts and spa accessories, giving you additional gift choices for those special family members and friends.

SOI Candles are hand-poured using 100%, FDA approved, kosher soy oil and burn cleaner than paraffin-based candles. Available in a variety of sizes, their candles burn about 140 hours (about 40% longer than wax candles), are soot-free and do not emit any harmful toxins (like Benzene) into your home. Unlike wax, soy oil burns coolly at 106º into a reflective pool of soy that always remains warm to the touch and will not burn little hands.

Because SOI Candles are created from natural soy, the melt pool can also be used as a skin moisturizer that can be massaged into any dry or irritated areas. It can also be applied as a soothing remedy to sunburned skin, eczema, psoriasis, and poison oak!

SOI Candles are triple-fragranced with a variety of delightful aromas to match the décor and accentuate the feel of your home. Never overpowering, one SOI Candle can scent a 2500 square foot area.

This is a truly great product!

Easy Ways to Make your Home More Eco-Friendly

We all want to do our part to protect the environment, but without a large paycheck, that can be seem difficult, if not impossible. But doing your part doesn’t have to be hard. Small steps add up to a big difference, you just have to know which ones to take.

Use less water.

Saving water is all about small steps, here are a few that will help save big.

- Shut off the water while you brush your teeth
- Take showers instead of baths
- Only flush the toilet when you need to
- Only run full loads of laundry and dishes
- Buy from sustainable producers. These are farmers, ranchers, and other producers that use techniques that pollute less and use less water. You can do some research online or ask at your local organic market to find these products.

Use less energy.

If you don’t have the money to buy a hybrid car or convert your house to solar power, you can make a big difference with small changes.

- Buy energy efficient appliances. They may be more expensive, but make up for the increased cost in lower energy bills.
- Unplug chargers when you’re not using them. Cell phone and other chargers use up powers even if there’s nothing attached to them.
- Put devices with remotes, like T.V.s, VCRs, and stereos, on a power strip and turn it off when you’re not using them. These devices use a lot of power to run the remote receiver even when the device is off.
- Walk or ride your bike for short trips.
- Buy local products. It takes energy to transport food and other products across the country. Buying local not only supports your local economy, it helps them use less energy.

When it comes to saving energy and water, it’s a great idea to get the kids involved. You can even make it a game. Have them track how much water and electricity everyone is using. You can compete to see who uses the least water. You can often count on your kids to help keep you on track when given the task.

Reuse.

Most of us know the three R’s: reduce, reuse, recycle, but when we work on conserving, we often leave reuse out of the picture. While you can often find tips on how to reuse common products from other people, what you need most is creativity. With a little thought there are many items around your home that can be reused – toilet paper holders can be used to sow seeds for the vegetable patch. And old yogurt containers can be cut into strip to make plant labels. Old food jars can be refilled with homemade foods or can make great impromptu vases.

Use environmentally friendly products. When you go to the grocery store, you probably see more and more “natural” or “eco friendly” products every time. There are generally two big problems with these products: 1. Just because they’re more natural than regular products, doesn’t mean they’re entirely natural. 2, They’re often expensive.

If you want inexpensive, natural, safe products, why not just make them yourself. Vinegar is a great way to clean and disinfect glass and other surfaces. Need to remove stubborn stains? Just add some baking soda to your vinegar cleaner. Some quick searching online will lead you to hundreds of other natural safe home-made cleaning products.

We all knowing that going green means better for the environment, but it’s also better for you. Conserving resources also helps save you money, which is something most of us are happy to live with.

Heather English got the idea for English Retreads when she was floating down Boulder Creek on, you guessed it, an inner tube. “I needed a new handbag but I was a hardcore vegetarian. I wanted something that was fashionable and invincible—but not made from leather,” Heather explains. “I didn’t find what I was looking for, so I went to McGuckin's, [a favorite local hardware store] bought some tools and started my own personal sweatshop—with me doing the sweating.” After friends started asking for a bag just like hers, Heather knew she was on to something and English Retreads hit the road in 2001.

Truck stops in the Boulder area supply Heather with the used inner tubes—each of which probably has more than 60,000 miles on it before it gets reinvented. "Just think of all the places these tubes have been," says Heather. "Now it's your turn to add to their miles and adventures."

Founded on socially and environmentally conscious ideals, English Retreads believes in using only cruelty-free and vegan materials in conjunction with crafty ingenuity. English Retreads founder, Heather English, says her design philosophy is to create classic, one-of-a-kind, hand-crafted accessories that make a high-impact fashion statement and a low impact on the environment.

"Each new design begins with the idea of striving to keep more waste out of the landfill by creating fashionable, yet sturdy items out of recycled materials," Heather says. "And by turning recycling into a bold fashion statement, we at English Retreads can empower consumers with an ecologically sound alternative to animal products without compromising style or durability. It's a win-win situation for everyone. I love designing a unique product that I feel good about, and that people can feel good about buying."

Working with Native Energy, English Retreads is offsetting 100% of the carbon emissions from their manufacturing operations, shipping and employee commutes. At English Retreads is committed to fair treatment of their employees and workers, promoting healthy communities where they do business, preserving the environment, and delivering quality products to the consumer. These commitments have been validated by their approval as a Member of the Green America Business Network™.

ANGeLRoX is very concerned about sustainability and our impact on our planet. They design products that are timeless and transcend the wasteful fashion engine that encourages consumers to wear items for a season and then consider them "out" the next.

Their collection offers a continuum of signature styles that can be used for a variety of activities and occasions. ANGeLRoX designs are created with versatility in mind and they try to educate the customer on the various ways they can use and enjoy their purchases in order to maximize value and minimize waste. Fabrics are naturally derived bamboo, rayon & cotton, fibers that are sumptuous on the skin and biodegradeable. Most of the collection is produced in Brooklyn, NY using locally sourced fabrics. The few items imported are made in facilities that guarantee fair wages and are sweat shop free.

Their best eco example is their wrap that can be worn as a skirt, various dresses, tops, cape etc making it a perfect travel companion and eliminating the need to buy multiple pieces. It is made from bamboo / spandex jersey. Sustainable and renewable, bamboo also feels great and possesses natural antibiotic properties which translates into less laundering, cutting down on water and energy consumption.

ANGeLRoX conducts 95% of its business via digital outlets and direct sales. They do not produce and distribute printed catalogs, instead focusing on low impact in house printings and reusable postcards. Their practice has always been to recycle including the reuse of office supplies, product packaging and materials for designs. They produce from remnant goods that would otherwise be waste for the industry whenever possible. They also fit small designs into empty areas in cutting to increase fabric utilization and minimize waste. Even the selvedge edges of fabrics which must be removed in production are repurposed as ties for bundles or braided into decorative trim in designs.

The ANGeLRoX logo represents balance. We highly admire their philosophy to pursue inner peace and share its joy. We hope to inspire people to treat themselves, others and the planet with equal respect and harmony.

Happy Summer to All! This year is certainly coming to an end quickly. For some, this is great news as 2009 has been a difficult year! The economy has got to get better in 2010, at least that is what we can hope for! Signature Earth is working hard, despite being affected by these tough times, to grow our business both locally and online. Brianne, Kay and I see Signature Earth Stores in major cities one day! We will continue to chase our dream, so that we may share, with many others, the wonderful products available today and the companies behind them. Signature Earth stands for so many great visions: Healthy families, being kind to animals, appreciating nature, recycling, educating our future generations, and being gentle to our one planet Earth!
We are going to keep bringing you the best in organic, sustainable, recycled, and cruelty free products and hope that one day we will be on your street corner. Let is know what you think!