By Wendy Donahue
Chicago Tribune

Handout/MCT Cup Couture keeps your drink haute with boldly patterned and reusable Cupcoats, designed to replace disposable sleeves - here the Cameron print.

As a fashion statement, brown cardboard sleeves leave coffee a little cold.

Cup Couture keeps your drink haute with boldly patterned and reusable Cupcoats, designed to replace disposable sleeves.

In faux-fur animal prints, paisleys and Pucci-esque swirls, as well as masculine rubberized microdots and more, Cupcoats come in one size that fits most 12-, 16- and 20-ounce disposable paper cups. They're thermally insulating but thin enough to fold flat for easy storage in a purse or pocket.

It may be a stretch to call them greener sleeves. Starbucks' sleeves, for instance, are made from recycled materials. And you are carrying a disposable cup in any case.

But even if Cupcoats don't lighten your carbon footprint, they still might put an extra spring in your step. $12 each at cupcouture.com.

© 2007, Chicago Tribune.