Most of us exercise to look good, but Banglz is here to help us look good while we’re exercising. Challenging the fitness industry, Banglz’s products are designed to help both girly girls and fitness freaks make more headway in losing extra pounds while going about their everyday business.

As high school BFFs and college roommates know, swapping clothes is a time-honored tradition. thredUP is challenging the retail clothing industry by allowing its members to grab items from other people’s closets without leaving home.

In the past few years, social media tools have forged connections between many with common interests. Zootoo has found a cozy spot to curl up in cyberspace, focusing on pets and the people who love them, to exemplify “social petworking” at its best.

With so many brands to choose from, nearly everyone has a favorite beer; New Belgium Brewing has a number of powerful fans. Literally. This environmentally-conscious company is the first wind-powered brewery in the US, and one that operates on a core purpose: “to operate a profitable brewery which makes our love and talent manifest.”

Having great clothes is a goal that should be easy for everyone to attain. But for people with disabilities, fashion poses special challenges, and finding clothes that fit well and make dressing and undressing easy can be difficult and frustrating. The Fashion Moves Project is staging a design competition that is aimed at providing solutions for the 15% of our population with disabilities.

We all like to feel good in our clothes. Challenger Brand Me to We Style wants us to also feel good about our impact on the world. Described as “custom apparel that fights poverty,” the clothes this company creates are responsive not only to environmental concerns but also to our social consciences.

Planes, trains and automobiles have a lot in common: they’ll get you where you’re going but leave a trail of pollution behind them. Environmentally-conscious travelers will be pleased to find an organization that removes the guilt from the trip. iJourneyGreen seeks to un-do the damage of travel by offering “travel credits.” These credits allow travelers to invest in the economic development of their destinations.

Positioning itself as the YouTube of the written word, Scribd helps writers reach the masses with their self expression. As “the largest social publishing company in the world,” Scribd goes beyond the blogs and posts that have proliferated on the Internet. It allows writers to share screenplays, novels, recipes, puzzles, maps, magazines, newspapers and sheet music with a wide audience that includes Scribd’s community of “passionate readers.”

Women who want to get a good deal on a car frequently hear the same advice: take a man with you. Women-drivers.com is ready to give women “automotive power.”

The world of higher education has long been ruled by independent or state institutions, funded largely through endowments provided by tradition-bound alums. But Pittsburgh-based Education Management Corporation has taken a different approach.