A few months ago on TriplePundit, I discussed Levi Strauss’s competition for a new clothesline idea.  As a child of the 1970s, clotheslines were commonplace in yes, our Silicon Valley neighborhood.  But over time, these have faded away, and many home owner associations (HOAs) have banned the practice—though many condo owners are fighting back.

Now such attitudes are changing, and not just because of the crash in the housing market.  The average household uses 6% of its energy from operating clothes dryers—rising energy costs and concern over dryers’ environmental effects are spurring more homeowners to dry their clothes the old fashioned way.  To that end, several states are evaluating laws to consider clotheslines as the choice of the homeowner, not a lowly nuisance that a tyrannical HOA can ban. To that end, Levi’s started a Care to Air competition where designers create a new air drying contraption, countering the claim that clotheslines are unsightly—while offering the winner a $10,000 prize.

Well, the contest is over and each of the finalists will present their design idea on Monday, August 16 in San Francisco at the Levi’s® Workshop in the Mission District via video to a panel of judges (including Zem Joaquin, Founder and CEO of Ecofabulous; Max Burton, Executive Creative Director at Frog Design; and Eric Ryan, Co-Founder and Chief Brand Architect at Method Products, and more!)

Here are the finalists:  check out the designs – they are all impressive:

  Which one is your choice?  I’m partial to Caleb’s “Nothing What It Seems” myself . . . great if you have an apartment!

A few months ago on TriplePundit, I discussed Levi Strauss’s competition for a new clothesline idea.  As a child of the 1970s, clotheslines were commonplace in yes, our Silicon Valley neighborhood.  But over time, these have faded away, and many home owner associations (HOAs) have banned the practice—though many condo owners are fighting back.

 

Now such attitudes are changing, and not just because of the crash in the housing market.  The average household uses 6% of its energy from operating clothes dryers—rising energy costs and concern over dryers’ environmental effects are spurring more homeowners to dry their clothes the old fashioned way.  To that end, several states are evaluating laws to consider clotheslines as the choice of the homeowner, not a lowly nuisance that a tyrannical HOA can ban. 

 

To that end, Levi’s started a Care to Air competition where designers create a new air drying contraption, countering the claim that clotheslines are unsightly—while offering the winner a $10,000 prize.

 

Well, the contest is over and each of the finalists will present their design idea on Monday, August 16 in San Francisco at the Levi’s® Workshop in the Mission District via video to a panel of judges (including Zem Joaquin, Founder and CEO of Ecofabulous; Max Burton, Executive Creative Director at Frog Design; and Eric Ryan, Co-Founder and Chief Brand Architect at Method Products, and more!)

 

Here are the finalists:  check out the designs – they are all impressive:

 

 

Which one is your choice?  I’m partial to Caleb’s “Nothing What It Seems” myself . . . great if you have an apartment!

About The Author

Leon Kaye

Leon Kaye is the founder and editor of GreenGoPost.com and its advisory division, GGP Media. Contact him to discuss how he can work with your organization or event. His focus is making the business case for sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR). He writes for San Francisco-based Triple Pundit, Inhabitat and now The Guardian, for which he writes about corporate responsibility, water, and green building. He has also written for AIA's Architect Magazine. Leon works out of Fresno and Silicon Valley, California, and when he has free time, he enjoys hiking, gardening, cooking, weightlifting, and planning his next trip to one of the 60 countries he has visited. He has an MBA from USC's Marshall School of Business and is also a proud graduate of the University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC) and Cal State-Fresno.