New company markets eco-friendly clothes to U.

A new company has introduced a brand of recycled and organic cotton clothing that makes environmental consciousness as easy as getting dressed. Take the Lead Inc. manufactures socks, baseball caps and T-shirts under the brand name "Step into a Better World" that are available nationwide in catalogues, specialty and department stores and college bookstores -- including the University's own. Inspired by socially conscious ice cream entrepreneurs Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, Dominic Kulik and David Yashulka formed Take the Lead in the fall of 1992. The two have been friends since college. Following in the footsteps of the Ben and Jerry's founders, Kulik and Yashulka wanted to create a model business -- one that is a positive, responsible force in communities. Take the Lead is a business that is just as committed to the environment and the community as it is to making a profit, Kulik said. The Book Store has carried Better World merchandise since early April, according to Mike Kinney, a buyer for the Book Store. "The sales increased right after [Kulik's on-campus] promotion and have remained relatively steady ever since," he said. The Better World clothing line is manufactured from cotton grown without pesticides and chemical fertilizers and from re-spun cotton mill-trimmings that would otherwise be sent to crowded landfills nationwide. The company also works in conjunction with a print shop in Washington that employs "youth at risk and the formerly homeless." Better World donates 10 percent of the revenue from their products to organizations aiding children and the earth. And all of the packaging for Better World products is 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper, said Loraine Kulik -- the company's director of public relations and Dominic Kulik's wife. Earlier this month, Dominic Kulik introduced Cohen and Greenfield on their 1995 College Speaking Tour entitled, "A Night of Social Responsibility, Radical Business Philosophy and Free Ice Cream." Kulik is also currently on the Board of Directors of the trade association Business for Social Responsibility. According to Kulik, his company aims at both fostering a healthy return for the business partners and creating a healthier environment and community. "We want to change the way Americans wear clothes and the way America does business," he said. Peter Chowla, an Engineering freshman and a member of the Penn Environmental Group, said he had not heard much about Better World merchandise. "I hope that their [apparel] is both recycled and non-chlorine bleached," he said, mentioning that those two practices are both beneficial to the environment. "Maybe this will generate more student interest in environmental concerns," he added.