Birch Clothing to Plant Trees and Donate Percentage of Sales in Celebration of Earth Day 

Earth "Day" lasts all month at Birch Clothing with the Minneapolis eco-boutique’s "Buy a Bag, Plant a Tree" promotion going on through April 29. For every handbag, clutch, messenger bag, tote or satchel sold during April, Birch Clothing will, in partnership with Tree Trust of St. Paul, plant a young Pagoda Dogwood, Hawthorn, White Oak or other tree along the Midtown Greenway. The Greenway is a former railroad bed converted into a recreation and transportation corridor paralleling Lake Street between Lake Calhoun and Hiawatha Avenue, with extension to the Mississippi River slated for this summer. Trees are central to environmental stewardship because they filter pollutants from the air and soil, slow storm runoff, fight soil erosion, muffle noise, and serve as summer air conditioners and winter windbreaks. 

In a second event on Earth Day, April 22, Birch Clothing will donate 15 percent of storewide sales to the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, which combines legal action and legislative work with science and communications to enforce environmental laws. 

Both events square with Birch Clothing’s position as the only store in the Twin Cities and one of a handful nationally devoted exclusively to the sale of apparel and accessories made from all natural sustainable fibers or recycled materials. Goods are constructed by small-scale producers and artisans who adhere to Fair Trade principles. 

The "Buy a Bag, Plant a Tree," satchels offer a case in point: Ecoist pouches, clutches and tote bags are handmade by artisans in Mexico who transform candy wrappers, food packages and soft drink labels from discontinued lines or faulty press runs into strikingly gorgeous brocades of color and pattern. Relan purses and messenger bags from Eagan, Minnesota, are graphic fashion statements crafted of vinyl laminated nylon from onetime billboards. Vulcana pairs recycled car tire rubber with a silver-finished chain strap for elegant evening bags. 

Customers participating in the "Buy a Bag, Plant a Tree" promotion are welcome to join Birch Clothing’s cofounders, Ellen Gavin and Marti Markus, and store employees in planting the trees at the Midtown Community Works Partnership’s Sixth Annual Arbor Day event on Saturday, April 29. Details are available at Birch Clothing.

Birch Clothing strives to make every day Earth Day. Gavin and Markus abide by a triple-bottom-line business philosophy of ecological, social and economic sustainability. The store is located at 2309 West 50th Street (50th and Penn) in Minneapolis. Call them at 612-436-0776 or visit them on the web at www.birchclothing.com.

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