Cocona

All-natural is all the rage. And because a few outdoor-gear manufacturers (such as Patagonia) have set the eco-friendly bar high, other outdoors companies are scrambling to keep pace. To beef up their green image, a slew of outdoor apparel manufacturers have turned to Cocona, a natural fabric that utilizes activated carbon made from coconut shells.

Say what? Clothes made from coconut shells? Sure, it sounds strange, but Cocona fabrics are lightweight and offer the same performance features—evaporative cooling, odor control, and ultraviolet protection—as their synthetic counterparts. And because coconut shells are a waste product of the coconut industry, they're the prefect candidate for being recycled into something useful.

In January 2006, Cannondale launched its Carbon LE line of performance cycle wear to much fan fare. Time magazine had already bestowed TrapTek (Cocona's parent company) with its “Best Invention of 2005” award for the Cocona yarn used to make the Carbon LE line. Since then, Cocona has found its way into several outdoors companies' green arsenal, including GoLite's DriMove line, Champion's performance wear, and lifestyle apparel from Marmot and Royal Robbins. Items that utilize the fabric should have the square-shaped Cocona tag attached, making it easy to support the manufacturers who are using this eco-friendly technology.

www.coconafabrics.com