Going Green is Always in Fashion

ST. LOUIS, March 29 /PRNewswire/ -- To celebrate Earth Day and the millions of cat owners across the country who make good green choices for their cats, home and environment all year-round, Yesterday's News® brand cat litter is announcing the Do-Gooder Design Challenge.  The eco-friendly cat litter made with recycled paper is challenging four leading green designers to "Do Good" by transforming yesterday's news -- recycled newspaper -- into fashion-forward designs to benefit green charities.

As part of the Do-Gooder Design Challenge, cat owners are invited to enter a national contest to create the "it" handbag of the season inspired by the new Yesterday's News recyclable packaging.  Fashion-savvy, feline-loving consumers can create a virtual handbag using a first-of-its-kind online application that allows them to customize their design with different patterns, colors, shapes and "bling" accents.  Three lucky Grand Prize winners will have their designs turned into actual handbags by a leading eco-friendly handbag designer.

The eco-friendly newspaper fashions created by the Do-Gooder Designers http://www.dogooderchallenge.com/GreenCatwalk/Designers.aspx and the three winning handbag designs will be unveiled at the first-ever Yesterday's News Green Catwalk and Workshop event in New York City in September 2010.  Following the event, all of the fashions will be auctioned off to benefit the designers' green charities of choice.

The Yesterday's News Do-Gooder Design Challenge designers include:

• Celeste and Anthony Lilore, RESTORE  Clothing
• Lara Miller
• Samantha Pleet
• Bahar Shahpar
• Elias Abadi, president and head designer of Nahui Ollin handbags

Consumers can follow the designers' progress in creating their newspaper fashions by viewing behind-the-scene video diaries at www.DoGooderChallenge.com/behindtheseams.

"As a cat owner and green living expert, I am a strong believer in the benefits of making good, green choices every day for our cats, home and environment to make our world a better place," said Renee Loux, green living author, TV personality and spokesperson for the Yesterday's News® Do-Gooder Design Challenge.  "As the annual Earth Day celebration begins, I am joining forces with Yesterday's News, a wonderful eco-friendly product that takes items that have the potential to end up in the waste stream and turns them into a cat litter, for this fun Design Challenge to help educate millions of cat owners that going green is in fashion all year-round."

Do-Gooder Handbag Design Contest

While the Do-Gooder Designers are hard at work creating their newspaper fashions, cat owners can enter the Yesterday's News Handbag Design Contest to create the "it" handbag of the season using assets from the cat litter brand's new recyclable packaging.  The custom-built online application allows consumers to select a handbag style from 16 different options and then create their own design by choosing different colors, patterns, sizes, shapes and "bling" embellishments.  In addition to creating their handbag design, contest entrants must write a short essay (100 words or less) describing how they "do good" every day for their cat, home or environment.

Three lucky Grand Prize Winners will have their designs turned into actual handbags by leading eco-friendly handbag designer, Elias Abadi, president and head designer of Nahui Ollin, Candy Wrapper Handbags. The contest entry period runs from now through May 14, 2010.  For more information on how to enter, visit www.DoGooderChallenge.com.

The winning handbag designs and the Do-Gooder Designers' newspaper fashions will be unveiled at the Yesterday's News Green Catwalk and Workshop event in New York City in September, 2010, after which they will be auctioned off to benefit the designers' green charities of choice.  Models will wear the fashion-forward newspaper designs and carry the "it" accessories of the season, as they strut down the catwalk. At the Green Workshop, attendees will learn green living tips for their cat, home and environment from a number of eco-friendly experts, including Renee Loux and the five designers.  The event will be free and open to the public.

Yesterday's News is a cat litter made from recycled materials including paper and sawdust. On average, 44 million pounds of paper is recycled into Yesterday's News each year. The eco-friendly cat litter introduced a new recyclable bag -- one of the first in the pet care industry -- in January 2010. For more information on the Yesterday's News, the Do Gooder Design Challenge and Handbag Design Contest, go to www.DoGooderChallenge.com.

Yesterday's News brand cat litter is manufactured by Nestle Purina PetCare Company which promotes responsible pet care, humane education, community involvement and the positive bond between people and their pets. The North American headquarters for Nestle Purina PetCare is located at Checkerboard Square in St. Louis, Missouri, where Ralston Purina was founded more than a century ago. The company is part of the Swiss-based Nestle S.A. -- the world's largest food company.

SOURCE Nestle Purina PetCare Company