It all began with a girl who had nothing to wear. Liza Goncalves was hosting MADD Sports on BET, and she had resorted to cutting up old jerseys to create dresses for her onscreen wardrobe.‚
“It was out of necessity because there was no fashionable sportswear for women,” Goncalves said. “I thought there must be something cute and fashionable for women to wear.”‚
Today Goncalves is creating those cute and fashionable pieces with her eco-friendly, Philadelphia-based clothing line, Vintage Blue, which has been popping up in boutiques across the country from Boston to Texas.‚ ‚
But shoppers will not find any deconstructed jerseys here. Right now Goncalves’ pieces consist of vintage-inspired T-shirts and tote bags featuring the All-American Girls Professional Baseball Team portrayed in the 1992 feature film “A League of Their Own.” Goncalves said the decision to feature the women’s baseball team was all about finding female inspiration. She did not want to market a clothing line for women that featured men’s sports teams.‚
Goncalves ‚ and her partner, Michelle D’Avella, plan to expand the line to include dresses, bags and several other items as soon as they have the means to make them all eco-friendly. While D’Avella was enthusiastic about making the line eco-friendly, it took her a while to be convinced. Finally she saw a television program that tested a mother’s breast milk for chemicals, many of which had come from the mother’s clothing. “I didn’t want to be a part of that,” Goncalves said.‚
From that day on the Vintage Blue mission was “Let’s make sure we’re organic. Let’s make sure we don’t waste,” Goncalves said. “We wanted to give our customers quality, fashionable affordable eco-friendly garments.”‚
Dismissing the concept that eco-friendly clothes had to be made from hemp or one-color materials, Goncalves created a line of distressed graphic T-shirts and totes ranging in price from $18 to $28.‚ ‚
Although the line has been picked up by boutique stores across the country, Vintage Blue sales remain predominantly online on their interactive Web site.‚ Vintage Blue also donates five percent of online sales to Kiva, an organization that provides micro-loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries.‚
With a look inspired by vintage paper and scrapbooks, the ‚ site features not only the clothing line, but also Vintage Blue Magazine and a blog to feature Goncalves’ and D’Avella’s work and meetings with celebrities. Also providing customers with an inside scoop on everything from their preliminary ideas to finished products.‚
Boston shoppers interested in seeing Goncalves’ ‚ line can visit Bodega on Clearway Street or place their orders online. In‚ approximately‚ seven days you will be rocking in fashionable sport spirit.
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