Color Image Apparel Launches Alo and Eco-Friendly Initiatives
In the cavernous warehouses of Color Image Apparel, where sewers put finishing touches on knit tops, there is only one official garbage can that is considered “waste.” More prevalent are recycling bins that are labeled for fabric scraps, paper, plastic wrapping, glass/aluminum and compost.
“We have a huge recycling program that gets everything recycled, composted,” said Kristin Hoffman, marketing director for Alo, the active-lifestyle brand under the Color Image Apparel umbrella. The company also produces the blank knits lines Bella and Canvas.
“We did a class here to teach everybody what you can compost properly and what doesn’t work,” added Crystal Raymond, marketing director for Alo.
Color Image Apparel launched Alo in 2007 as an active-lifestyle brand with eco-friendly fabrics. In conjunction with launching a line that touted eco-friendly materials, the company implemented eco-friendly initiatives such as a recycling program, adding solar paneling and renovating lighting with motion sensors. On Alo’s website, the company tracks the amount of “fabric diverted from landfills since 2007” in cubic feet, “office materials we’ve recycled since 2009” in cubic feet and “electricity-usage reduction since 2009” in kilowatts.
Daniel Harris, co-chief executive officer of Alo, adopted the green state of mind about 10 years ago. It started with being physically active and seeking organic-food alternatives.
“Learning more about the power of change on my own physical level, I realized that I could do even more and extend this change to all that was around me. The idea of a healthy Earth is such a powerful one. We began to make changes to everything we were doing in our business and day to day—recycling, monitoring energy consumption, just being mindful of everything in general,” Harris said.
A gym and yoga studio were recently added so that employees can practice an active lifestyle.
“They’re trying to make an environment for their employees—a healthy environment,” Raymond said. “Alo is really a brand where we try to promote health and well-being, and it is primarily a yoga brand, so we’ve all kind of integrated this into our lifestyle.”
Alo is sold in top stores such as Nordstrom and Yogaworks and at the Sports Club/L.A. gyms. The majority of the line is made from bamboo/Lyocell or organic cotton and includes “lifestyle wear” that can transition to outerwear clothing.
Raymond describes the Alo customer as “the woman on the go—who wants to go work out but can still go through the rest of her day’s errands. She still looks cute; she looks great, still feels stylish.”
Hoffman estimates that approximately 25 percent of the line uses nylon/spandex fabric—not sustainable materials but crucial for select sports bras, tanks, shorts and pants because of the fabric’s athletic-performance properties.
“With those pieces we can tell the customer, ’These pieces are made from us. We are eco-conscious, health-conscious and we are making these with love in as social and friendly a way as possible.’”
For more information, call (323) 727-2005, Ext. 112.—Rhea Cortado
