Melissa Baswell

Melissa Baswell

At the age of five, designer Melissa Baswell started creating clothing for her dolls using a needle, thread, and reused fabrics. In high school, she was the president of her school’s Ecology Preservation Club, and wore her own handmade clothing created from natural fabrics. While a student at University of Wisconsin-Madison, Ms. Baswell divided her free time between interning with WISPIRG’s Environmental Education Department and recycling thrift store clothing into “renewed” garments on a hand-me-down sewing machine.

Based in Chicago, Mountains of the Moon Eco.Fashion is a sustainable design and apparel organization aimed at creating chic, high-quality clothing. Mountains of the Moon was chosen as one of 10 businesses worldwide nominated for Green America's Green Business of the Year the last three years in a row. In 2008, Ms. Baswell was the headlining speaker at the Green Apple Music and Arts Festival in Chicago, where she spoke to a crowd of 20,000 on the benefits of wearing sustainable fashion. In October 2008, a couture dress designed by Ms. Baswell from recycled candy wrappers was exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.