03-10-2024 Capital Style - Flipbook - Page 8
HIGHLIGHT
BY MIKE KLINGAMAN Capital Style
Ali Mulaga, founder of Green & Bean boutique, stands in her eco-friendly shop on Towne Centre Blvd in Annapolis. PHOTOS BY BARBARA HADDOCK TAYLOR
Mindful marketplace
Green & Bean Boutique has an eye for eco-friendly and sustainable goods
A boutique without clothing? That’s Green & Bean, a
fledgling Annapolis gift shop filled with a wide-ranging
mix of kitschy and eco-conscious items made by independent companies known to practice fair labor.
Here, one finds vegan leather goods, made of apple and
cactus fibers; one-off scrunchies made of recycled silk;
and checkered, padded laptop cases produced in India of
organic cotton.
What’s missing? Apparel of any kind.
“When we first opened [last April], I was concerned
that not selling clothes would make us seem too eclectic,”
owner Ali Mulaga said. “But not having clothes seems to
have opened the doors for a lot of people.”
The common thread of these goods? Their manufacture benefits the world and its workers. The shop’s stock
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| CAPITAL STYLE | Spring 2024
The boutique
features ecofriendly gift
boxes, such
as this one for
new moms.
