Fighting Eel will open its fourth store Saturday at Kahala Mall. To mark the occasion, the company started by Lan Chung and Rona Bennett in 2003 will launch a limited-edition holiday collection of French-inspired basics.

The six-piece "Bamboo" collection grew out of a desire to be a "greener" company and experiment with fabric from a sustainable source — bamboo, Bennett said.

"We wanted to try different fabric but it’s been difficult to find green fabric that meets our quality standards. Some of the fabric would get fuzzy as soon as it was washed and it’s not very green if you can only wear it once and dispose of it," she said.

"And our customers are very vocal. If there’s something they don’t like, they say, ‘How come you didn’t make this in a fabric we like?’"

The holiday collection, in easy-to-wear, mix-and-match black, heather and charcoal, allowed them to experiment with a small run they had intended to launch in Spring 2015 but are releasing earlier to celebrate the store opening. Prices start at $58 for tanks and range from $68 to $98 for tops and $120 to $148 for dresses.

The collection adheres to the Fighting Eel philosophy that "less is more," shaped by the time Chung and Bennett met while working at agnès b. at Ala Moana Center in the late ’90s. Agnès b. was created by Paris designer Agnès Andrée Marguerite Troublé, and her collections comprised French classics of crisp blouses, pencil skirts, capris and feminine sweater sets.

"Her clothes were very different from what we make, but they were very influential," Bennett said.

"French women, no matter how old they are, wear the same clothes, and we strive for that ageless quality.

"I know our customer, and they like simple, so we want to create pieces that are comfy, green and accessible to a lot of women, who can style them any way they want. They can be really casual or really cool."

Bennett, a longtime vegetarian who only recently started eating fish for nutritional reasons, said she’s always tried to live a green lifestyle, "but six years ago I was looking at the boxes and boxes of clothing coming in and really started thinking how we could be more responsible as a company that’s creating stuff."

Bamboo is touted as a sustainable plant because it grows quickly and cleans the air of carbon dioxide, the prime contributor to global warming, while returning 30 percent more oxygen to the atmosphere than trees.

At Fighting Eel, Bennett said they also try to produce only as much as consumers will purchase to avoid waste.

"I feel like so many other brands are becoming more conscious about reducing waste," Bennett said. "It’s been slow but it’s happening and it’s a good thing."

Fighting Eel is in Kahala Mall. Call 738-4912.