More Veganmania! Better Late than Never

Well, we had such a great time at the first annual Veganmania I just had to keep sharing. Actually, I just received some pictures of the event that I wanted to share with you. Our wonderful new friend Robert Chesrow shared them with us, and now I'm sharing them with you.

That's the thing about Veganmania...all the great relationships we made.

You can see our eco Vampire shirt and people signing up to order, since we ran out again! This is a hard one to keep in stock. There's also a great picture of our table, all of our organic cotton shirts out on display.

And of course we always make new friends with our pink eco baby tee. Once they can talk, most of the little girls want pink. We may have to make them in toddler sizes.

Thanks again to everyone who came out to Chicago Veganmania. We will definitely be there next year!

eco Vampire tip #4

So here is our very own eco Vampire, Kimberly "Fang" at the Twilight Convention earlier this month, greening the Vampires.

"Oh, it's all so simple," she says. Being an eco Vampire is easy, saves energy, saves money, and helps the environment too!

Tip #4: Change your light bulbs! LED lights, or Light-emitting Diode lights, can use up to 75% less energy! WOW. That's a big deal.

So here's the cool thing. They are everywhere! Commonly used commercially since the 1960's, LED's have improved and are moving into the home. You can even get your holiday lights LED! That's great for energy and money savings when you want to keep those lights on to brighten up your winter nights.

You can find LED bulbs online. If you are looking for a store in Chicago, our friends at The Green Depot on Pulaski can help you out. They have lots of great stuff for your home.

It's so simple being an eco Vampire isn't it? Read our previous tips, and stay tuned for more!

eco Vampire at Twilight Convention: tip #2

RECYCLE ME made it to the Twilight Convention this weekend and met hundreds of movie fans, sharing with them our love of organic cotton and "eco" Vampires. Our own eco Vampire, Kimberly "Fang" talked with Steve Johnson of the Chicago Tribune and was quoted in today's LIVE section (the last quote of the article).

All this month RECYCLE ME will be sharing tips on how to be an eco Vampire, that is someone who is environmentally aware, and reduces their carbon footprint through wise energy use, like unplugging vampiring electronics (see last tip below)!

Today's Tip: become and eco Vampire by washing your clothes in cold water.

To put in perspective how wasteful hot water is, washing your clothes in hot instead of cold for a year, uses more electricity than leaving the refrigerator door open 24 hours a day for a year!

Twilight Book Fans: eco Vampire was inspired by Edward, and his clan's concern for hunting only over-populated species, making sure they didn't over hunt any one species.

What is an eco Vampire?

It's October and the Halloween season is upon us. A time when Vampires become a bit more popular. This year we should all aim to be eco Vampires. But what is an eco Vampire? Well, let's back track just a bit to learn more about "vampiring" first.

You may not know it but you are a Vampire right now. Your electronics are vampiring, or slowly sucking electricity out of the grid, even when turned off, as long as the item is plugged in. Many people think that once electronics (computers, DVD and CD players, microwaves, washers, dryers, cell phones, PDA's, etc.) are turned off that's the end of their power consumption. “About 40% of electricity being used to power your home electronics is being used to power your home electronics when they are in standby mode.”

This weekend RECYCLE ME is at the Twilight Convention at the Westin Hotel in Rosemont educating all those Vampire Fans about becoming eco Vampires.

How do you become an eco Vampire?

Today's Tip: put your home electronics on a power strip and unplug it every night! This could save you up to 10% off your electric bill.

Stay Tunned! We will be posting tips all month on how to be an eco Vampire.

Eco Vampire: Recycle Me's Hot New Shirt at Chicago Green Festival May 2009

Do you like to turn the lights down low? Unplug your electronics when not in use? Better yet, live off the grid? Maybe you have a soft spot in your heart for Edward, the steamy "eco friendly" vampire. If any of these apply, "eco vampire" is the shirt for you.

Jet black with blood red water based ink, eco vampire is an eye catching shirt that will make you want to unplug. Like Recycle Me's other eco responsible statement shirts, eco vampire is made from 100% USA grown and sewn organic cotton with water based dyes and inks. Kimberly Fong, designer of this latest shirt, and Partner at Recycle Me, is a huge Twilight fan and admits the shirt has a dual meaning.

"Recycle Me brand shirts are positive, environmentally inspired lifestyle shirts intended to educate and inspire," states Kimberly. "Originally, I was inspired by Edward and his coven of ecologically minded vampires," she says, "but once I got online the duality of this shirt hit me. Vampiring of electronics is a huge and timely issue and I hope this shirt helps bring it to light."

Kimberly and Recycle Me's other three partners will be at Chicago's Green Festival May 16th and 17th selling eco vampire along with their other shirts. You can also find them at climate Cycle's fund raising event at Soldier Field May 9th as well as online at www.recyclemeorganictees.com. Good Hunting!