New sustainable fashion brands are popping up faster than celebrity gossip blogs. With only a handful of truly sustainable fabrics available, trying to set yourself apart from all the other eco-style companies is the key to success. Selling basic, classic organic cotton pieces for men and women, not much about New York’s District Cotton stands out … at least on the surface. While focusing on stateside production and the use of organic cotton, DC is also working on integrating certified fair trade practices and products into their line. Their simple website is quite easy to navigate, the most exciting page being for the printed t-shirts.

These T’s are about showing off your social conscience without all of the pretentiousness. The idea is to raise awareness and a little money for something that we believe in, donating 10% of the proceeds to some cool organizations.

Sponsored design contests give artists (and wanna-bes like myself) and change to submit designs for t-shirts, focusing on a particular social theme/issue. For the launch of the District Cotton brand, the first contest centered around “This T-shirt supports an organic farmer.” The winning four designs (including the Blueberry Head shown above) can be seen an purchased here, with 10% of the proceeds going to the Northeast Organic Farming Association.

The next contest has not yet been announced, but once details have been released, you’ll find them right here!