Gucci is expanding its luxury brand with a new “Sustainable Soles” line of footwear made with biodegradable plastic sourced from compost.

The $170 haute jelly shoes (dubbed the Marola) feature the brand's fiercely protected interlocking G's logo in contrast to the more subtle eco-friendly men's sneaker (see below) that will hit stores by the end of this month.

Both were designed by Frida Giannini, Gucci’s creative director, who has also expanded the brand's commitment to sustainable packaging.Continue reading...

As we previewed yesterday, the TOMS Shoes brand is shirking off "Shoes" to become just TOMS. Blake Mycoskie and his employees, featured in the big reveal video above, will continue to sell their simple but distinctive cloth shoes, but now they're expanding into a second product line: eyewear.

Similar to its "one for one" BOGO (buy one, give one) model that saw its millionth pair of shoes donated to a child in a developing country late last year, TOMS is expanding its brand to give the gift of sight to those in need, as TOMS transforms from "just a shoe brand" to a truly one-for-one brand.Continue reading...

Remember the first thing you bought online – a book, CD, DVD?                                           

The thought of larger purchases was a dim shadow then, but e-commerce has defied conventional wisdom and people now buy everything from groceries, diapers, flowers, wedding dresses, cars, houses, wine and now… prescription glasses online.

Warby Parker has sold 20,000 pairs of glasses since launch last February, including its own branded frames as well as styles by Ray-Ban, Chanel, Prada, Ralph Lauren and Gucci. For every pair of glasses sold, a pair is donated to individuals who can't afford glasses (as outlined in the video above). Talk about a social vision.Continue reading...

If you’ve finally crawled out of the unfashionable rock you’ve been living under, you should know that mini moguls/actresses/now-designers Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have created a line of sunglasses to accompany The Row, a collection that's fast gaining popularity with all sorts of sets.

The four-piece compilation of eyewear was designed with the help of Linda Farrow, and includes a range of styles from one with tortoise shell upper rims to those infamous Olsen bug-eye shades. Note that Farrow does sunglasses for labels like Bernard Willhelm, Dries Van Noten, and Jeremy Scott.Continue reading...