Need A Christmas Gift For Your Left-Leaning Chick? Try Ethical Underwear

You can absolutely bet when a marketing department uses the word "ethical" - about its lingerie - someone is out to make a buck at your expense. And they think you will believe anything, my environmental friends. But French designer Sophie Young's g=9.8 company is doing it with a straight face. In yet another blatant product placement on treehugger.com they claim the kinds of things only the well-meaning but gullible among us will believe; namely that the company is producing a line of lingerie which will make your hippy chick girlfriend quiver with environmentally friendly delight. Fabric made from white pine tree clippings! No water used! The comfort of silk! The feel of cashmere! The coolness of linen! And the clincher: It's biodegradable! Now, treehugger.com is usually a pretty good site. I don't know what has sent them over the edge on this product endorsement kick recently. The only thing that could be worse is if they start handing their authors Coke cans made from hemp and have them pose for pictures. So let's give them a pass on that part and stick to the science. I guess I can buy that no "additional" water is used, whatever that means. I am unsure of the benefit though. I can certainly get behind* hippy chicks quivering with delight about their undies. What confuses me is, how is underwear made from pine clippings better than regular old, environmentally renewable, cheap-to-produce cotton? * Get it??