I have written extensively about green companies – not just because being it’s the current hot trend, but because I feel it is what we must move towards in order to be sustainable. Today, a revolutionary clothing company launches. Formed by industry veterans with experience from Nike, adidas, and Royal Robbins, Looptworks takes the word green and flips it on its head. The company is attempting to produce 100% of it’s line from excess materials and components. In other words, it will create clothing from no new materials, instead re-using excess from factory floors that currently gets dumped into landfills. A typical textile factory produces 60,000 pounds of waste a week so source materials will not be a problem for the Portland, Oregon company but consistency in the supplies may be. As expected the collections are limited and, I expect them to be constantly evolving as Looptworks finds new materials to work with. The initial collection consists of 20 apparel pieces for both men and women and items range from jackets to skirts and graphic tees. The company is targeting an active lifestyle that brings together boards ports and outdoor activities, mixed with an urban aesthetic. I am personally very excited to see this business model catch on.

CLDFX has a good look at an interesting phone concept by product designer Fernando A. Robert, entered into the Core 77 Greener Gadgets Competition. The basic idea is about stripping a phone down to its minimum and critical functionality. Without all the additional stuff, there is way less waste produced. The end of life cycle is really fascinating too– when the consumer is finished with the phone, the internal circuit board can be sent back to the manufacturer and reused in future phones. Smart thinking. Check out more info and pictures here.  Conceptual, but inspiring nonetheless.

The iPod has come a long way since 2001. So why hasn’t someone come up with an answer to getting the wires all un-tangled for ear bud headphones? I’ve gone through so many pairs because of wire tangles wrecking them alone. Ji Woong has come up with a solution, but it’s still in concept phases. His YI earphones work like a zipper, making the wires into a thick strand when they are ‘zipped’ up. Even better the zipper itself has a volume control on it. Pass this on to your friends at electronics companies, because this needs to exist. Good work Ji Woong, we’re glad to see someone is looking after our wires. Hit the jump for a few more conceptual pictures.

via Yanko Design

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Yesterday, in an event that was surely meticulously planned by event organizers, the long awaited Stile Bertone Mantide (aka Project M), made it’s debut at the Shanghai Autoshow. The bespoke supercar, designed by American wunderkind Jason Castriota (of Pininfarina P4/5 fame), was originally thought to be GT-R based but we now know that the Corvette ZR1 lies at the heart of the beast. The large wheels, fluid body lines, and an aggressive almost angry rear reminds us of something a Dark Knight might drive, and that’s always a plus in our book. The engineers were able to reduce the already lightweight ZR1 by 220 lbs by using a carbon fiber body. It goes 0-62mph in 3.2 seconds with a 217mph top speed. For the latest information, including a series of episodes documenting this exciting car, following Bradley Farrell’s Inside Project M. We’ll take two, thanks.

Steve Jobs, here’s what we want for Christmas. The “Glassy Glassy” phone is a new concept by designer Mac Funamizu; absolutely gorgeous and looks straight out of Minority Report. It features a double-layered glass body — great for sex appeal, not so great for oily-fingers. But the real questions: Will it shatter into a million pieces when your inevitably drop it? Will people across from me be able to read my text messages? Would Apple charge $1000 on top of a three year service agreement for it?

Via Yanko Design

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We've had some good debates on this site. Alice Wang was responsible for a good one over her concept audio sticks. Just to be extra clear this time around: Alice is an idea fountain. Her products are concepts that hopefully will one day become reality, but at present, are just concepts. That said, she has invented a couple new projects that deserve some attention.

Perfect Sleep: a reverse alarm clock to be programmed for how long you want to sleep instead of when you want to wake up. Keeping with her ideas on sleeping and waking, Wang has come up with a Tyrant alarm clock, which steals your mobile phone and makes random calls every three minutes until you get up. Really bad news if you keep ex-girlfriend's numbers in you mobile phone. Head over to Alice's site to see some more sleep related and non-sleep related concept inventions.