The U.S. environmental movement conjures up images of electric cars and solar-powered homes. Al Gore, too.

But fashion retail?

Yes, say industry experts, as a growing list of fashion-savvy companies embrace green products. Everything from recycled polyester socks to backpacks geared with solar panels to company efforts to reduce carbon emissions is evidence of the growing trend, they say.

The outdoor apparel chain REI, for example, sells organic T-shirts and men’s button-up shirts made of hemp. Target now shelves it stores with eco-friendly bookcases and organic cotton dresses and blue jeans. Voltaic Systems makes a backpack with three water proof solar panels that can generate four watts of power. The device can recharge cell phones, cameras and mp3 players.

“Eco-friendly is a direction in which many companies want to go if they are genuinely concerned about the environment,” Mark Messura of the trade group Cotton Inc., recently told the Web site Inside Bay Area. “There’s also is a segment of the industry that views this as the latest fad to market products.”

Retail giant American Apparel, lauded for years for its labor practices, has jumped on the solar-powered bandwagon by manufacturing all its clothing in one downtown Los Angeles location, thus reducing the environmental impact of its clothing production. The production method reduces travel time between its plant and stores, which saves gas and helps reduce carbon emissions, industry experts say.

Other companies, for example, pay up to $400,000 in annual salaries to their employees to “keep flying back and forth to China,” Dov Charney, American Apparel’s chief executive, recently told Apparel magazine. “That adds up too,” he told the magazine. Companies nationwide are finding that environmentally responsible strategies can result in sustainability. More and more, the proof is found in firms’ bottom lines. A growing number of consumers are shopping for socially responsible brands, numerous studies show.

American Apparel recently started pairing its 70s- and 80s-inspired clothing with recycled fashion. This past fall, the chain opened California Vintage, which couples some American Apparel staples like T-shirts and leggings with secondhand clothing purchased at vintage clothing outlets. The idea was born when some American Apparel employees noted the basement of the company’s 800,000 square-foot location in downtown Los Angeles held mounds of vintage clothing. There weren’t enough clothes to fell a thrift store, Mathew Swenson, American Apparel’s brand manager, told the Los Angeles Times. “So we hired some girls and they started shopping, going to rag housed and small thrift stores.”

There’s something extremely glamorous and impressive about a burst of rich ruby red at Christmas. Nothing in your attire will make you feel more festive than a hit of this most decorative color. If you’re lucky enough to have an excuse to don a full-length gown over the coming weeks, embrace it. Whether its swishes of tulle, enveloping satin or gem-encrusted, make sure it’s a showstopper.

This Olivier Theyskens creation for Nina Ricci is blatantly sumptuous. A dropping waterfall of silk makes up the skirt while a structured jacket and satin lace-up platforms give it a bang-up-to-date edge. Each individual element is enough to get you giddy with festive fever, but for full impact, pile it on!

Doutzen Kroes is as close as what comes to a modern supermodel. She is not reed thin, however, like many models on the runways who are flat and shapeless. Her fitness is her biggest asset.

These photos, behind-the-scenes  from a recent bikini photo shoot, shows why she is in such demand. But it wasn’t always that way.

Doutzen confesses that she was once sent home from a Gucci casting because she was considered too fat.

Now she says cutting out food from your diet and starving yourself is not enough to look good on the catwalk.

“The bright lights and zoom lenses are merciless and therefore you need to be toned and in good physical shape to look perfect in the lingerie,” she says.

Her exercise routine includes skipping rope which tones up the butt muscles

“Many women who are a little bit overweight shun doing workouts using weights because they say that they don’t want to end up with big muscles. However many personal trainers say that the most effective way to lose the last few inches of fat off the body is to tone and strengthen the muscles,” she says.

“Not only will you be burning off more calories every day with this extra muscle but you will be standing more confidently and you will feel stronger. In any case you can always stop doing weight workouts if you think you are becoming too muscular.”

She has made the covers of Time, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Seventeen, Elle, Marie Claire, Glamour, W, Avantgarde, and other magazines. But she is probably best known for her work for the Victoria’s Secret catalog and the company’s fashion shows in 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2009.

Over her career, Kroes has worked for Gucci, Tommy Hilfiger, Escada, Dolce & Gabbana, Valentino, Versace, Hugo Boss, Guerlain, Bottega Veneta, De Beers, Escada, GAP, Gianfranco Ferre, and Neiman Marcus.

Her big breakout year was 2005; She was named “Model of the Year” by Vogue magazine and was named spokesmodel for the Calvin Klein “Eternity” fragrance campaign, replacing actress Scarlett Johansson, and, in April 2006, she signed a three-year contract with L’Oréal Paris. Kroes can currently be seen in the company’s commercials alongside Eva Longoria and Kerry Washington.