While many companies are simply paying lip service to environmentalism and the green movement, Patagonia has been a pioneer in green methods for years. Now they have delivered the world’s first recyclable nylon jacket, the Shelter Stone, which can be processed through their Common Threads Recycling Program.

Read more about the jacket and the technology behind it at Cool Hunting.

There is no business more maligned right now than the music business so it’s always a surprise to me to find that brands and their agencies haven’t been following the story. Where once every college students dream was to graduate and land that much-sought-after job in the mail room at Warner Bros Records, I would argue today that they are far more interested in joining Google or one of the myriad of new media start-ups rather than getting a job at, or being signed to, the now unsexy music business. In fact one of them is no doubt creating a new, new, new media company as I write.

And then along comes Macys’ American Rag brand campaign - from AdWeek under news, non-traditional - a series of documentary Webisodes will follow the lives of five young people who want to break into the music business. The series, “Ragged Road,” launches in the fall. WPP Group-owned MEC Entertainment developed the show, which will play on YouTube. Nancy Slavin, svp of marketing at Macy’s merchandising group, said this marks a first for the brand in “doing something wholly dedicated to a communications strategy on the Web.”

So Macys’ merchandising group has plunged head first into a web-only strategy. Brave. The clothing brand targets 18-24 year-old males and females and they have deduced that music is one of the passions of this demos primary targets - true, but - music is just one of the passions not the primary passion.

“There’s a lot of people who want to get into the music industry, but don’t know how to go about it. So, we said, let’s find five people who have a passion for the business and want to see what the career opportunities are and what different paths there are to get into the music industry,” said Chet Fenster, managing partner at MEC. - I believe that statement is rather insulting to kids today, it sounds like a justification for making the webisodes rather than reinforcing a need that came out of a focus group session with young people.

All five cast members will be wearing American Rag clothing. They will also be given the opportunity to shop for the brand as they travel across the country. For YouTube users interested in buying the clothes, the Macy’s site will serve as a shopping portal.

Cast members huh? I don’t understand why the agency didn’t find a cool young band that are actually working hard on the road but are struggling to make it. That would have been the truly authentic route to go. Driving a bunch of “cast members” around the country on a bus and giving them “the opportunity to shop for the brand” as they go doesn’t sound so compelling to me. A more authentic way into the music market was showcased recently by Dennys, the restaurant chain, with their Adopt-A-Band campaign where they picked up touring bands and gave them a helping hand in the way Kids like their fashion to be unique. of free meals and other opportunities. Bands and music fans are very nocturnal and always hungry at after hours so this made sense in many ways. Dressing up a “band” in American Rag outfits and giving them a bus to travel on is so fake. It doesn’t take into account the harsh reality for thousands of young touring bands in the USA (gas at $4 bucks a gallon anyone?) nor does it take into account young kids’ propensity for mashing up their fashion sense into something unique, their own style.

K-Mart has just announced that it will be releasing a new collection of action sports-inspired apparel under an unimaginative in-house brand name called “Boarding.” This is taking place on the heels of similar retailers’ forays into the same market including Walmart, Target, and Steve and Berry’s. Unfortunately, it is a telling sign that the terms action sports and extreme sports (which were once a hallmark of announcing one’s place in the counterculture) have finally lost the last remainder of their street-cred.

When the term extreme sports first surfaced in the late 80s, the market was geared more towards adult sports. As Baby Boomers and Generation X have aged, the marketing efforts have shifted towards Generation Y with ads focusing on their clothing, music and even soft drink preferences. In the meantime, as more mainstream sponsors have infiltrated the market (including Mountain Dew, Taco Bell and the U.S. Navy) the edginess of being associated with the extreme sports movement has dramatically dulled.

Youth-centric culture is constantly pushing boundaries and influencing larger societal movements, but in time, the ‘new thing’ loses its charm when every mainstream outlet markets the hell out of it and drives it into the ground. What’s interesting about this phenomenon is that many of today’s trend-setters eventually grow up and fill the marketing positions at top-tier ad agencies whose sole job is to blanket the mainstream with their clients’ take on the next social rebellion.

Just as the hippies of the 60s grew up, tuned in and transformed into yuppies during the 80s, action sports fanatics will eventually mature. Their gashes will heal and though you’ll still be able to spot them when their dress shirt cuff rises to reveal a smattering of tattoos, the gaggle of babies in trendy t-shirts and the new home tucked into a safe suburb is bound to give them away.

As the term action sports continues to lose its coolness, it’s natural to wonder what the next rebellion will be. Youth by nature is often tangled in rebellion and you can’t rebel any longer when the remnants of your scene are splashed everywhere, including K-Mart.

Well it seemed like a no-brainer, right? Wrong according to Urb Magazine’s blog.

“We didn’t do it together so it ends up being just this weird long song with sort of everybody with lots of their own personalities separate,” Santogold told Gigwise when revealing the track.

Urb says - Maybe it’s the lack of interaction between artists that keeps them from ever even talking about important issues, let alone record songs in an attempt (however vain) to make the world a better place. Or maybe it’s just that with the record industry on it’s ass, musicians have to learn to make due with the money they can earn when they can earn it, leaving less time for charity. Maybe it’s just easier to sellout when facing a ProTools file, rather than your actual peers in a recording studio.
Listen—we love Pharrell, Santogold, The Strokes AND Converse.But if Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Hall & Oats and two dozen other A-listers could get into an actual recording studio together to make “We Are the World,” couldn’t today’s rockers try just a little bit harder?

A sad day for the folks at Nau. A message on their website today says that they have run out of capitalization and under the current credit climate can not raise any more investment.

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72andSunny enrolled Mr Madonna, Guy Ritchie to helm the spot for Nike’s Arsenal footy team, The Next Level. One question - football or soccer?