The eco-fashion designer of NBC's Fashion Star

Last week, NBC's Fashion Star crowned designer Hunter Bell the season's winner of the reality series. But towards the end, I began cheering for the underdog, Daniel Silverstein of 100% NY.

A few episodes back, I noticed in the corner of the screen celeb judge Nicole Richie mention Daniel's Twitter handle: @ZeroWasteDaniel. For those who are eco-conscious, "zero waste" is a giveaway phrase, and that's when I saw he creates "contemporary designer sportswear for the eco-conscious woman."

Zero-waste fashion designers use all materials, including sustainable fabrics, so they cut textile waste out of the equation, and, in turn, reduce their carbon footprint. We generated 14 million tons of textile waste in 2010 with only 15% of it being saved for recycling purposes, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

During the show's season finale, the remaining contestants created pieces for Express, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Macy's. Below are some highlights of Daniel's zero-waste fashions:

Reality fashion competition crowns first winner

Tuesday night, NBC's Fashion Star crowned designer Kara Laricks as its first winner. Since the first episode when she designed the cloth necklace-tie accessory that I would've totally rocked, I knew she would win the $6 million collection contract between three department stores.

All season, select up-and-coming fashion designers created unique pieces following a theme set by the three buyers from H+M, Macy's, and Saks Fifth Avenue and the three fashion-forward celeb judges: Jessica Simpson, Nicole Richie, and John Varvatos.

Below are some pieces from Kara's line for the eco-fashionable H+M:

Fashion Star Winning Collection Printed Dress Designed by Kara, $19.95, hmfashionstar.com.

Fashion Star Winning Collection Blouse Designed by Kara, $14.95, hmfashionstar.com.

Fashion Star Winning Collection Shorts Designed by Kara, $19.95, hmfashionstar.com.

Fashion reality show promotes recycling clothes

Amidst all the new midseason replacement fashion reality shows like NBC's Fashion Star and Style Network's Confessions of a Fashionette, I found VH1's House of Consignment where a company buys designer duds from consumers and sells them for profit, also known as the thriftiness of recycling. 

Consignment shops can be a goldmine for unique vintage and designer clothes and accessories that can't be found anywhere else because the owners buy or accept donated items from  a variety of consumers. So a consignment shop transforms to a candy shop where the perfect items are confectionery sweet.  

House of Consignment centers around the Chicago-based luxury online shop, eDrop-Off, where they take this concept of only purchasing the finest, gently used designer garb and placing the newly discovered items online where they are auctioned off. Though eDrop-Off pays the original owners for their items before they go online, owners still get a cut of the check when the items sell. 

The eco-friendly process keeps clothes and accessories in the loop of recycling, especially with the major designer labels such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Prada using tons of leather, animal fur, and other not-so-eco-friendly materials. Even in the first episode, an owner sold a heavy fur cape to eDrop-Off where a consumer bought it online to use as a throw on her sofa.