manufacturing

Leather jackets made in labs? This fashion designer wants to make it happen

Meet Suzanne Lee, who's trying to inject some life back into industry -- literally.

In Brooklyn, even the factories are artisanal

Manufacturing is back in Brooklyn! But only in a Renaissance Florence sort of way, where skilled artisans produce craft-objects for wealthy patrons with finicky desires. The New York Times reports that there are, against all odds, still factories in Brooklyn, although they’ve morphed from behemoth plants stamping out assembly-line goods to smaller shops: This building, […]

Do your clothes contain toxic chemicals?

Chemicals in clothing can break down in water into hormone-disrupting nonylphenol (click the infographic to embiggen). If you want to avoid dumping this crap in the waterways, you have two choices: One, never wash your clothing -- which, on top of being gross, will probably not be that effective, since wastewater discharges from textile plants sluiced nonylphenol out into the waterways before your clothes even hit the store. Or two, opt for clothing from companies that don't use nonylphenol-producing chemicals (called nonylphenol ethoxylates, or NPEs). According to research from Greenpeace, though, that might be tough. Of the 15 brands they tested for NPEs, only Gap had zero positive results.

Amazing bamboo bike is grown, not manufactured

The complicated weave of the Ajiro bike would be work-intensive to achieve through conventional means -- it takes a lot of energy to bend bamboo stalks into shape. So instead, design student Alexander Vittouris tensioned the bamboo over a mold as it grew, then harvested a completed bike frame. 

Largest commercial aircraft deal in history goes green

American Airlines just spent $38 billion on fuel efficient airplanes.

How America just lost 1 million green(ish) jobs to Europe

Airbus racked up $50 billion more in orders at the Paris Air Show than Boeing. Maybe it's because Boeing lags far behind in fuel efficiency.

Check out this solar-powered 3D printer

Yo dawg, I heard you like solar power, so I put some solar power in your 3D printer so you can solar power while you 3D print.

Bob Herbert’s savvy advocacy for better infrastructure will be missed

Bob Herbert.Photo: Damon Winter/The New York TimesCross-posted from New Deal 2.0. Dear Mr. Herbert, I was sad to hear that you will no longer be writing for the op-ed page of the New York Times. Your critical perspective on the class war being waged against the middle and working class and the poor, on the waste […]

Your iPod is polluting China and L.A. — and Wyoming might be next

Your 4.9-ounce iPod is responsible for at least 200 times its weight in greenhouse-gas emissions.When you bought your last Apple iPod, you may have been aware that it had been manufactured at a factory in China, perhaps the Foxconn plant in Shenzhen in the province of Guangzhou. (Let’s put aside for the moment the working […]