USA: O Ecotextiles Selected As BuildingGreen Top-10 Product for 2008

Seattle-based O Ecotextiles , debuting in the U.S. this year, was announced today as one of BuildingGreen's 2008 Top-10 Green Building Products by the editors of Environmental Building News and GreenSpec®. This seventh annual award recognizes the most innovative and exciting green building products added to the GreenSpec® Directory during the past year or covered in Environmental Building News. The announcement was made today at the Greenbuild International Expo. O Ecotextiles' message is simple, direct and firm: Being an "organic textile" means not just that a fabric uses organic fibers in the yarn, but that every step of the production process has been certified eco-friendly. The company produces elegant, sumptuous organic fabrics for residential and contract/hospitality design use.

"We are thrilled and gratified that the oracle of green product evaluation has spoken with us at length and determined that we are both authentic in our eco-friendly claims and worthy of support," states CEO Patty Grossman. "We at O Ecotextiles continue to find every opportunity to educate the public, not specifically about our collection necessarily, but about the impact of both the production and the end product (fabric) on both our own health and the health of the planet. The issues regarding fabric are so dramatic that we continue to believe that green fabric will be a real centerpiece of study and concern by green consumers." Grossman now leads the textiles group developing green standards for the Sustainable Furnishings Council.

We are thrilled and gratified that the oracle of green product evaluation has spoken with us at length and determined that we are both authentic in our eco-friendly claims and worthy of support
Our selections of the Top-10 Green Building Products represent a wide range of product types in many different application areas.

Most of the Top-10 products this year have multiple environmental attributes
Designers of LEED buildings are looking for green products, and manufacturers are responding
"Our selections of the Top-10 Green Building Products represent a wide range of product types in many different application areas," noted GreenSpec co-editor and BuildingGreen president Alex Wilson. Well represented this year are interior products, including first FSC-certified and formaldehyde-free bamboo flooring, doors made with wheat-straw particleboard, a line of zero-VOC paint, a transparent finish produced from a byproduct of cheese making, and O Ecotextiles. "Most of the Top-10 products this year have multiple environmental attributes," said Wilson.

BuildingGreen's Top-10 product selections, as in previous years, are drawn primarily from new additions to the company's GreenSpec Product Directory, the leading national directory of green building products. The GreenSpec database includes more than 2,000 product listings, representing several times as many actual products. Products are selected based on criteria developed over the past 15 years. Manufacturers do not pay to be listed in GreenSpec, and neither GreenSpec nor Environmental Building News carry advertising; both are supported by users of the information. O Ecotextiles was added to the GreenSpec database in September.

O Ecotextiles adheres to the more stringent global standards, offering some of the very first GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) fabrics, as well as Oeko Tex Standard 100 certified yarns and/or fabrics. The fabrics have also been tested by an Indoor Air Quality testing lab to measure chemical emissions; results demonstrate that the fabrics can be used to accrue LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) points for Indoor Air Quality. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the air quality in an average home is 10 times more polluted than outdoor air. LEED points can also be accrued through Design Innovation and Rapidly Renewable Resources areas. "Designers of LEED buildings are looking for green products, and manufacturers are responding," said Wilson.

O Ecotextiles Collection - made from such fibers as bamboo, hemp, abaca, ramie, linen and silk - offers 17 fabric choices and multiple colorways, plus custom. The company was founded by two sisters - Patty Grossman, CEO, and Leigh Ann Van Dusen, General Manager/U.S - in search of indulgent yet responsible fabric for a sofa. Finding nothing that filled their criteria - and horrified by the toxic nature of the textile process and final product - they spent four years scouring the world to find partners that would help them 'green' each step of their production, creating a healthy product for the end user.

About O Ecotextiles:
O Ecotextiles' mission is to change the way textiles are made by proving that it's possible to produce luxurious, sensuous fabrics in ways that are non-toxic, ethical and sustainable, resulting in a fabric which is safe to bring into our homes. Their worldwide production partners do not support the sale and use of the thousands of chemicals used regularly in textile production that poison our soils, pollute groundwater, and devastate eco-systems. O Ecotextiles' production partners treat their wastewater so it doesn't degrade waterways. Their products do not contain toxic chemical residues. They are continuing to work on decreasing their carbon footprint. O Ecotextiles is currently available in select design centers and retailers throughout the U.S., as well as in London, and through the corporate office in Seattle, WA.

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