IN PITTSBURGH WEEKLY.COM   | N E W S |   11.24.99 >> 12.01.99

15 MINUTES
EDITED BY MARTY LEVINE & LAURI APPLE

GUILT-FREE HOLIDAY SHOPPING, FULL OF GOODWILL

Greenmarketplace.com, fresh local etailer of all things natural, has hooked up with Goodwill of Western Pennsylvania to form Goodwill's first Internet-age partnership. Green Marketplace guru Josh Knauer says the idea for his company stems from Envirolink, the online enviro-community he founded as a Carnegie Mellon University freshman in 1991. The endless quest for produits au naturel led him to go for-profit in March. The link with nonprofit Goodwill simply made sense: The company famous for its pre-worn fashions also trains those with disabilities to handle the business at its South Side headquarters. It was a short leap to training Goodwill workers at the Green Marketplace warehouse nearby; currently eight people with disabilities are learning how to pick, pack and ship goods there. They have a lot of work ahead: Knauer offers nearly 400 products. Alongside laundry detergent and paper goods from Seventh Generation -- the largest natural products distributor in the U.S. -- Green Marketplace features the local license-plate chic of Littlearth and the regional coffee-bean tote-bag talents of Sis Boom Bah!. "Everything is guilt-free," says Green Marketplace marketer Deborah Ellman. No animal testing and no toxins; most likely no one in a bad mood is allowed near their stuff either. In April, Time magazine featured Green Marketplace as a "'hero of the planet,'" Knauer reports. "It was sort of embarrassing." But he's not too embarrassed to fulfill people's natural needs: Last year, Green Marketplace promoted organic toilet paper as "the only gift you'll actually use this Christmas." Natch. // MARTY LEVINE