Send your daughter back to school in eco-friendly style this year with a pair of green shoes. Earlier this week you saw the best eco-friendly shoes for boys and now from sweet Mary Janes to canvas sneakers, we’ve found the best eco-friendly girls shoes for back to school. Make sure your kid knows the difference by explaining what makes her kicks better for the earth before she laces up.

Sugar Kids Chakra Mary Janes: Basic black and white will look just as adorable with jeans at school as it will with a dress on Sunday. This pair gets an eco-friendly pat on the back for being made of natural materials, including a jute-wrapped midsole.

Simple Kids Skippies: Simple Shoes tagline is “Shoes for a happy planet,” and this pair has several features that back it up: the outsoles used to be car tires, the laces used to be plastic bottles and the upper and linings are made from 100% certified organic cotton.  Eco accolades aside, these striped Skippies are so fun that you can believe they’re “shoes for a happy kid,” too.

Camper Kids Mary Jane: These offbeat Mary Janes with are half canvas sneaker, too, but this style is created from organic cotton to give it an eco-friendly twist. Let your spunky toddler or preschooler rock red kicks and she’ll be ready to skip to school every day. Click here to read more

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Think you have what it takes to design an eye-catching green tee? Now’s your chance. Enter the eco t-shirt design challenge hosted by Planet Green and Hessnatur, a manufacturer of fair trade and organic basics led by creative director, Spanish designer Miguel Adrover and CEO Wolf Luedge pictured above.

For the month of August you’re invited to scan and upload a graphic you create to potentially be the front of an Androver/Hessanatur top. The winner’s design will get printed on 3,000 t-shirts baring a hang tang with his or her name. Proceeds from the sale of the special edition shirt will help a humanitarian, anti-poverty organization called Grameen Shikkha, which helps students in Bangladesh.

The contest was created to bring attnetion to organic cotton as a sustainable fiber choice. After all, it can take about one third of a pound of pesticides and petroleum-based fertilizers to produce the 2.4 billion white tees are made each year. Not to mention the 700 gallons of water required! Click here to read more

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Backpacks are a must for trekking or riding across campus to college classes, and as more teens are turning eco-conscious, sustainable school supplies are in demand. Go green when you go back to school with one of our favorite eco-friendly backpacks.

Quiksilver Organic Republic Backpack: A not-so-crunchy organic treat from skater and surfer favorite Quiksilver. This bag is made from 100% organic cotton, which means no pesticides were used to create this bag. You’ll find lots of pockets for organizing your school stuff and straps to carry your skateboard into class.

Keen Goose Hollow Backpack: A sleek and modern pack made from recycled polyester, you can feel good knowing fewer new materials had to be made to build this bag. Little details make it work like a cell phone pocket in the shoulder strap and durable ripstop fabric to ensure you won’t get holes no matter how your treat it.

Osprey Packs Circuit Backpack: A part of Osprey’s sustainable Resource line, this bag boasts over 70% recycled materials. For gadget freaks, this bag is the best. You’ll find tons of compartments to hold all your stuff, like a semi-firm laptop sleeve and a music pouch for your iPod.

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If you keep an organic garden and stray away from chemical pesticides, don’t you think the cotton for your gardening apron should be grown in the same way? Turning Life’s Organic Cotton Apron was grown without pesticides or herbicides and it’s breathable so you’ll stay cool while you get your hands dirty.

Aside from being made from eco fabric, it has a lot of functionality for green thumbs. The split front design makes it more comfortable to bend and kneel down to ground level and five pockets give you enough room for everything from tools to your cell phone. But vegans and vegetarians beware, the apron gets its durability from boar hide and a special pocket for your garden shears is lined with leather. Click here to read more

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Since the very point of having a teether is for your baby to stick it in his mouth and chew on it for hours on end, you have to think about what that teether is made of. You should look for one that is free of both BPA, which has been linked to developmental, reproductive and neural problems, and phthalates, which has been linked to obesity, asthma and hormone disruption. Bonus points for organic materials and non-toxic dyes. Here, five safe teething options.

Speesees Teething Toy: Made from a 100% organic canvas shell, filled with organic cotton and colored with low-impact dyes, this teether is perfectly safe inside and out. And the big bunny ears make it easy to gnaw on.

Natursutten Natural Rubber Teether: Refrigerated teethers soothe tender gums, but often they’re made with chemical softeners. This one is made from Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA), a material used for medical products and is free of BPA and phthalates. Inside? Sterilized water.

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