Eco-fashionistas feeling the economic downturn: Now comes a green fashion magazine -- that's FREE to view online!

Coco Eco, which debuted at the Designers + Agents Green Market earlier this month, is a paper-free fashion zine that features the latest in green fashions. Anna Griffin, Coco Eco's editor in chief, says "We carefully considered whether or not to go to print but decided in our commitment to the environment, to forgo that option." I'm guessing the higher cost of print publishing also played a role, but cutting out that cost also lets you read Coco Eco free!

Browse through the pages for glam green fashion shoots, features on eco-friendly beauty products, profiles on green boutiques, and short interviews with environmentalists in the beauty and fashion world. If you need a few pieces to add to your eco-wardrobe, the back pages have all the details on where to pick up the fashion pieces you saw in the mag's pages.

The one thing I don't like about Coco Eco is all the technical kinks in its web format. For first-time readers, Coco Eco's viewing app can take a few minutes to figure out. For best results, I recommend going full screen (5th button from the left on top navigation bar), or the images will look oddly squished.

Coco Eco has one other techy problem: Unless you have a very speedy internet connection, you might find the zine a bit frustrating to get through. Even on my DSL line, I was seeing a lot of this:

Impatient readers do have the option of downloading a PDF copy of Coco Eco for $2.99 (99 cents of which is donated to breast cancer research) -- though figuring out how to do that's tricky too, as there are no instructions anywhere but on the second last page of the magazine. Once you navigate to that page, you'll see a "buy now" button that'll let you make your purchase.

Hopefully Coco Eco will work out the kinks with their next issues. In the meantime, enjoy the inaugural issue and sign up to get an email update when new issues come out by clicking over to the third-to-last page.

Related links:
>> Double Hitter! Coco Eco Mag And D&A Green Market Launch! at Ecorazzi
>> New Magazine Coco Eco Now Launched and it is Red Hot, Sexy, and Green all Over at Feelgood Style
>> Coco Eco Magazine & Futurenatural Founder Join Forces at Organic Beauty View
____

BlogHer Contributing Editor Siel also blogs at greenLAgirl.com.