Naya Shoes Fall Collection 2010
Naya Shoes offers eco-friendly footwear in some seriously stylish collections. I was happy to wear my floral sandals from the Bristol collection this Spring, and now it’s time to look sleek with Fall’s more modern and trendy styles.
I tried the Fauna style, a flat shoe with an ankle cuff that is trendy and great for wearing with skirts or cropped pants. After all, with the stylish ankle cuff, you don’t want to hide it behind a pants leg! I tried the Fauna style in black, which is best represented in the colors below.
Do you know how hard it is to take a picture of shoes while you're wearing them?!?
This is just one of the styles in the new Fall 2010 collection which can be viewed here.
Naya Shoes uses natural and eco-friendly materials when possible, including:
- Natural or recycled content fabrics
- Water based cements
- Footbeds that contain natural cork
- Vegetable tanned leathers and linings
The Fauna shoes were surprisingly comfortable. I thought the ankle band would be tight and constrictive, but far from it! It was soft and flexible and really felt great. You can walk normal without pain around your ankle or heel and still be in style!
If you’re going to have your feet in shoes all day, why not expose your tootsies to a shoe that is made from healthier, more natural materials? After all, with Naya Shoes, being more eco-friendly definitely doesn’t mean you have to give up your sense of style.
So, where can you buy Naya Shoes? Look on their website for a store locator near you, or purchase online at www.shoes.com, www.zappos.com, Piperlime, Naturalizer, Anthropologie, Nordstrom and more.
Why It’s Better For Your Health: Your skin is in contact with more natural materials that are dyed without synthetic chemicals. You know how much your feet sweat when you wear shoes all day. Do you want your feet in a sweat bath of toxic and synthetic ingredients? Probably not.
Why It’s Better For the Earth: Natural and recycled materials, water based cements, and even the minimalistic packaging that Naya uses to package their shoes (none of which is plastic, by the way, and all of which is reusable or can be recycled) reduces our impact on the Earth and encourages other shoe companies to step up their game.
C is for Chlorine – The A to Z Guide to Toxins in Your Home
We all want to know how to avoid nasty chemicals in our home – but more often than not, trying to find the information and figure it out can be an all day event. That’s why I’m here! I do this stuff for a living, and it’s my job to bring all of the scientific mumbo jumbo down to earth in a way that just makes sense.
So here’s the A to Z Guide to Toxins in Your Home Video Series. We’ll go through the alphabet and choose one chemical for each episode. You’ll find out why you want to avoid that chemical, what the problem is and how to fix it. Case closed. It’s as easy as that.
This episode is C is for Chlorine.
(Pardon the horrible looking screen shot – You don’t get to pick the image that YouTube puts as the teaser!)
I hope you share this link with anyone else (friends, family, new moms, parenting groups, blogs, Facebook , etc.) that might be looking to create a healthier home, but doesn’t have a lot of time and effort to put into it! 
Enjoy!
Check out the previous editions of The A to Z Guide to Toxins in Your Home:
Eco Friendly Jewlery From Bead For Life
All too often, eco friendly products are way too expensive for the average consumer, especially high end products like clothing and jewlery.
Well, count yourself lucky because you just found a way to buy beautiful, eco-friendly jewlery that helps Ugandan women rise out of poverty – and the prices start at just $5. So much good for so much less than you’d expect to pay.
Watch the video below for more information about Bead For Life, a fascinating non-profit that helps Ugandan women learn to make beautiful beaded jewlery out of recycled paper so that they can afford to feed their families and put a roof over their head.
This isn’t the paper jewlery that you might be thinking about from your childhood days of rolling paper…..No, this is definitely not that! These beads look just like glass or seashells. The colors are vibrant, the quality is amazing, and the story behind the jewlery is perhaps the most valuable of all.
Why It’s Better for Your Health: Metallic jewlery bought in discount stores or department stores, unless solid gold or silver, might contain a lot of additives that you’re not aware of. Lead in children’s jewlery is a major concern, but don’t think it can’t be in adult’s jewlery, too.
Typically, your jewlery lies against naked skin, whether on your neck, your arm, in your ears, etc. Don’t you want whatever is lying against your skin all day, especially if you’re sweating, to be as eco-friendly as possible?
Why It’s Better For the Earth: Bead for Life jewlers use recycled paper that would otherwise go to waste to craft their jewlery. The resins are now eco-friendly, as well.
Better Hair with Baking Soda
You might use a lot of products each day to keep your hair looking good. And all of those products can lead to build up.
Before you spend money on a “clarifying” shampoo to remove styling residue, just reach in your cupboard and use some baking soda, instead.
Use about a quarter-size amount of baking soda, add to your shampoo (in your hand, not the bottle) and wash as usual. The natural abrasive action of the baking powder will lift off the residue, saving you money and having to buy one more thing to keep in the bathroom.
Why It’s Better For Your Health: Clarifying shampoos can contain a whole host of man made chemicals that you don’t want to be exposing yourself to. Why use chemicals when baking soda works just as well?
Why It’s Better For the Earth: Can you imagine how many bottles we’d save across the country if everyone just used baking soda instead of buying some fancy schmancy brand? Less plastic, less chemical use, less transportation to carry those shampoos to stores everywhere. Wow.
Just Say No to Microban
Yesterday I received a random lunch bag in the mail from California Innovations. I don’t know why I got it. Perhaps I gave my address when signing up for a newsletter. Who knows? As I pulled the pretty pink lunch bag out of the box, I noticed the big tags stating – “PVC, Lead and Phthalate Free.” Oh, goody! I thought. A nice new bag that’s eco-friendly. Then I noticed the Microban hang tag. And I dropped that lunch bag like a hot potato.
Heading back to school, you might find a lot of products made with Microban. Microban is an anti-bacterial coating used to prevent bacteria growth on many surfaces. From lunchboxes to socks to even the toothbrush that you might buy, so many products are made with Microban. And that’s the scary thing.
Microban contains triclosan, a super duty chemical that does indeed kill germs, but some studies are questioning whether it’s contributing to the cause of “super bugs,” which are more difficult to control with medication, as well as to the possible link with endocrine disruption.
I did notice before I dropped the lunch bag out of my hand that the company stated that Microban protection will last for the life of the product – that it will not wear out or come off. It will always be there. That’s pretty scary, I think. You can’t get away from the stuff.
I wonder whatever happened to common sense. At what point did we, as a society, become too busy that we can’t even make time for proper hygiene and we have to rely on chemical companies to do it for us? Ever heard of soap and water? Dirt and grime and all kinds of other things build up on products, too, not just bacteria. You can’t rely on a chemical to give you a free ride from cleaning.
So take a hard look at the products that you’re buying for back to school this year, or at any time of the year. Backpacks, lunch bags, socks, clothes, etc…….they all might have an anti-bacterial coating, whether it’s called Microban or not.
Germs are always present. It’s a fact of life. But how you choose to deal with it is a testament to your health philosophy – use a man-made chemical or use time-tested all natural remedies from nature. You decide.
This post is for the Green Moms Carnival on Back to School hosted this month by Mindful Momma.
