Post navigation

Prev: (11/08/12) | Next: (11/09/12)

NuBe Green’s Capitol Hill-grown local fashion pops up with show, new Seattle shop

When Ruth True opened NuBe Green on the corner of 10th and Pine in 2009, she was a self-described newbie to living the green lifestyle. Hence the name, pronounced new-bie. Almost three years later, NuBe Green has established itself in the local shopping scene and is helping grow Capitol Hill’s presence in the world of sustainable fashion.

“People are beginning to ask where things are made,” Truth tells CHS. “The demographic, especially on Capitol Hill, is supportive.”

It’s also getting easier to achieve the Green part, True says.


Everything that can be at NuBe green is sourced and assembled domestically. When she opened three years ago, she said it was harder to find goods that fit her strict criteria. As time passed and consumers become more concerned with a sustainable lifestyle, she found it easier to source and sell more eco-friendly products. 

Ruth has deep roots in the Seattle art and design community. She is a third generation Seattleite and ran the late Western Bridge Gallery in SODO for eight years with her husband, Bill. She opened NuBe Green because she felt a passion and an urgency to raise awareness about sustainable consumerism. She chose to set up shop on Capitol Hill because, like many of us, said, “it felt like home.” CHS talked with True in 2010 about her shop, her background and her future plans. Today, things have played out in some unpredicted ways.

One of those new paths’s is NuBe’s STATE fashion line. True and designer Adrienne Antonson plan to present their fall-winter 2012 clothing collection featuring repurposed pieces Friday night from 7-9pm. It’s a big city fashion event in Seattle. You can check out the “look book” here via Facebook. Following Thursday night’s DEVONATION show at the Social, things are feeling downright haute couture on the Hill.

10th Ave has also become a bit of a high(er)-end fashion destination. With NuBe Green ensconced on the ground floor of the Odd Fellows building, boutique Totokaelo joined the street earlier this year. Meanwhile, just across E Pike, you’ll find the mix at Kaleidoscope Vision presenting a bridge to more traditional Capitol Hill vintage fashion retail activity. Retailers like E Pike’s Veridis round out the mix.

Back at NuBe Green, Ruth wanted to connect consumers with the people that make products. She says she wanted to create more “ah-ha moments” when shoppers consider where their purchases come from.

“People make the things that we sell,” she said of the goods in her store. And those people can usually be found in the area.

Many products at NuBe Green are made right here in the northwest. Building relationships and connections with local artist in the community is a main feature of NuBe Green, as local brands have grown with the store over the years.

Over three years she has expanded to an on-line shop, is working on a book titled “Mindful Consuming” and later this month will be debuting a pop-up shop in the University Village for the holiday shopping season. The mobile store will be housed in a repurposed shipping container and will feature some of your favorites from the brick and mortar as well as goods with gift-buyers in mind. The holiday shop will be open the day after Thanksgiving, on Friday, November 23rd.

Local love is popping up at University Village this holiday season! We’re filling our brand new mobile shop (newly re-newed, that is, from a salvaged shipping container!) with giftable favorites that are big on local flavor. Designed by Graypants and fitted by NK Build, the shop pops with vintage and antique fixtures in an industrial-chic frame. Pop in for bike-tube bags for him, cozy eco-throws for her, and classic toys for kids. 

Pop In!

Starting Friday, November 23

University Village, Seattle 

One day, Ruth would like to expand to five cities across the country. But says she would never leave her home in Seattle.

Subscribe and support CHS Contributors -- $1/$5/$10 per month

3 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
David
11 years ago

What is this… the 1930’s dust bowl again? As if Seattle couldn’t dress before.

Reino
11 years ago

I admit i do not spend much time shopping at boutiques but I am intrigued by the ida of “sustainable consumerism.” The more I actually look at labels the less I am willing to buy, or should I say the fewer things seem worth buying.

trackback

[…] noticed that the Odd Fellows building’s corner tenant at 10th and Pine has consolidated. Environmentally friendly retailer NuBe Green says it is “reducing its footprint” to make room for a new store from […]