I’ll admit it. I’ve scoffed at some of the articles claiming that “green is the new black.” No doubt, the green movement and the rise of the LOHAS segment is huge. But – come on. The new black?

I may be eating my words of doubt. As of dawn this morning, Whole Foods has sold out of their just-released “I’m not a plastic bag” totes by London designer Anya Hindmarch (whose bags typically retail for $1500 or more) amid horrendous lines and in some cases, stampeding. The sold-out bags are now being auctioned on eBay for over $200.

The NYC release follows several other city debuts of the bags. Most notably, eager purchasers in Taiwan stampeded, sending 30 people to the hospital and requiring the presence of the riot police. In Hong Kong, the police closed down the entire shopping mall.

The designer of “I’m not a plastic bag” (in this New York Times article) says, “I hate the idea of making the environment trendy, but you need to make it cool and then it becomes a habit.” True story. Here at Mortar we’ve spoken with a lot of LOHAS consumers and many would fit into what we would call the “green bandwagoner” mindset. I guess green really is the new black.