Environmentally friendly fashion used to be a bit of a contradiction in terms...  with collections never quite managing to be reminiscent of the catwalk, the style-savvy shopper still headed straight for the high street.

In typical, fashionably late fashion, high street stores are finally beginning to catch on to the needs of our current climate, with stores in abundance offering eco-friendly fashion.

The latest in the big names jumping on the (no doubt diesel) bandwagon is Zara with its organic cotton range. Produced using high levels of agrochemicals, the use of organic cotton helps to reduce the number of the world's pesticides, compared with more regularly produced cotton, which also pollutes the air and surface waters dramatically.

Available at the high end of the fashion market for several years now, notably with the high profile label Edun, founded by U2 frontman Bono's wife Ali Hewson and designer Rogan Gregory, socially consicous fashion was always a little out of the average consumers price range. Until now. The introduction of Zara's eco-friendly collection comes hot on the high heels of stores such as Oasis, H&M, Levi's and Top Shop, proof that the high street is finally reciognising the need to make changes.

H&M first launched organic garments in 2007, yet their dedication to the cause for their upcoming autumn/winter 08/09 collection shows how much demand has grown in such a short space of time. Branching out from cotton into organic recycled wool and polyester, the next season collection promises to move away from the t-shirts that dominated the first organic collection, instead offering kimono jackets, tulip skirts, wide jeans, jodhpur-style trousers and much, much more.

Ann Sofie Johansson, head designer for the brand, spoke to vogue.com in June 2008:

”We’re proud that we’re able to meet the increased interest from our customers at the same time as contributing to the increased demand for organically grown cotton.”

Such demand was recognized by Top Shop long ago, with the store offering vintage clothes and ethically sound concession labels for many years now, such as celebrity favourite, People Tree. Recently, Top Shop held a series of workshops aimed at encouraging shoppers to use their creativity and recycle old clothes, even holding a ‘Top Swop’ event for people to swap clothes.

With Levi’s range of 100% organic jeanswear, made “100% with our future in mind”, it seems that the organic ‘trend’ is certainly set to stay.

At affordable prices, style and a clear conscience can be yours this season on Regent Street.