Everything Old is New Again
Aaron Kramer, an artist from California, said, “Trash is the failure of the imagination.” And imagination is surely what the emerging market of recycled, virtually zero-footprint goods is all about. Here are some of my favorite recycled bags, proving that keeping waste out of the landfill has never been so chic.
Pictured above, Re:Modern’s Eco-Messenger Bags are made from recycled feed and rice bags from Southeast Asia according to fair-trade practices. You can also get the matching wallet and tote bag. ($48, Re:Modern)
 SalvationSacks: Goods from the Past Redesigned for Our Future is the brainchild of San Francisco artist Margaret Prodanov, a former corporate attorney. Made from salvaged, vintage and recycled materials, her bags are one-of-a-kind creations that she imbues with style, spunk, and sass, “using creative design to breathe new life into items that we so easily reject in today’s disposable society.”($160-$180, SalvationSacks) |
 This metallic clutch by Escama, one of many created by women’s cooperatives in Brazil, is hand-crocheted using nylon thread and over 200 recycled aluminum tabs. Escama means “fish scales” in Portuguese, which couldn’t be more appropriate. If you’re interested in dipping a toe into the world of soda-tab crafting, try your hand at making a bracelet using this tutorial. ($30, Escama) |
 Progressive e-tailer Hip & Zen has a black-white-and-yellow tote bag made of woven recycled phone directories that have been laminated to make them smearproof. The bags are made by cooperatives in the Philippines according to fair-trade policies. The owners of Hip & Zen blog, too! (Psst, blog readers get a 5 percent discount. See their site for details.) ($90, Hip & Zen) |
 Gaia Goods Trading Co. recycles plastic bags by turning them into fabric sheets, which they then stitch together to create elegant bags and accessories like these. Handmade by artisans in India, Nepal, and Colombia without the use of additional colors or dyes, these recycled products “help clean up the urban environment while providing income for the urban poor.” ($26.50, Gaia Goods Trading Co.) |
 Unusable UPC codes are woven together in a herringbone pattern to create a trendy urban tote, available at VivaTerra, an e-tailer dedicated to “living in harmony with nature for a healthier life now and for future generations.” Recycled leather handles with pod and bead adornments clinch the deal. Be sure to check out the candy-wrapper clutches and bags made from the recycled inner tubes of large trailer trucks. ($198, VivaTerra) |
aleta said,
March 16, 2006 at 5:46 pm
I’m all for creatively reusing recycled materials, but what’s up with the prices of some of these things?! Thank you for featuring some bags that aren’t way beyond my price range. Unfortunately, items made from recycled materials that are also affordable seem to be few and far between. I’m so sick and tired of environmental actions that are only available to the wealthy.
I have to wonder where the high cost comes from. I mean, if they’re reused, how much can the materials really cost? And if the high cost doesn’t come from the materials, is it the energy? If so, then the energy use contradicts the supposed environmental benefits of using re-used or recycled materials. I know sweatshop-free products are often more expensive because the labor is getting paid fairly, but I have this sneaking suspicion that many of these products cost so much simply because it’s trendy to be green, and they want to make some extra dough off the people who are willing to pay the high price.
Karen Clothier said,
March 17, 2006 at 12:10 pm
I am the owner of hip & zen, and would love to answer the question of why some of the recycled bags cost so much. We sell a variety of recycled bags varying from recycled candywrapper cosmetic cases for $18, to laptop bags made of recycled plastic bags for $37.50, right on up to recycled soda can poptop messenger bags for $160. So you can see we do not have a policy of marking products up excessively, as I think you’ll agree a laptop bag for $37.50 is tough to beat. There are a few factors involved. Most the bags I mentioned are made according to fair trade principles by cooperatives, where artisans are paid a market price for their bags. The bags made from recycled plastic are cheaper because the process of making is not so labor intensive. The woven and crocheted bags are handmade and take days for each one to be completed. Sometimes sourcing the materials also takes a long time, because recycled materials are not available in the right colors on demand. Probably the biggest factor, however, is that there are many parties involved in bringing a product from a cooperative where they do not have telephones in a third world country to the US. Each person in the chain has to cover their expenses, which include large freight costs, duties, marketing, sourcing products etc. Most products that are imported have to sell for about eight times the cost of making the product for each person in the chain to make a standard profit of around 10%. to 15%. Imported products that are cheap are typically machine-made in huge quantities to bring down costs. Unfortunately cooperatives by their nature are small operations that are very unsophisticated and probably somewhat inefficient. For instance the recycled sodacan poptops, even though they are recycled, are not free. Because so many poptops are needed, there is an industry of people who collect and sell them. Then the linings and zippers have to be bought in small quantites at not very good prices. I honestly don’t know anyone who is getting rich in this space - everyone I’ve met in this business does it for the love of it.
jill danyelle said,
March 17, 2006 at 10:10 pm
thanks for this post and participating in the sustainable style carnival.
http://fiftyrx3.blogspot.com/2006/03/sustainable-style-carnival.html
can you actually email me (jill@fiftyrx3.com) the link vs. sending it in a comment. that way I won’t forget to include it when compiling links from other emails.
thanks!!
The Worsted Witch » said,
March 20, 2006 at 2:09 pm
[...] In last week’s post on bags made from recycled materials, reader Aleta wondered why recycled (or, more accurately, “repurposed”) apparel and accessories cost so much if their materials are all reused. [...]
Three Cat Night » It’s a carnival! said,
March 21, 2006 at 10:55 pm
[...] It’s so inspirational to see the ideas other people came up with. I love those ReModern bags that the Worsted Witch wrote about. I do not need more handbags. I do not need more handbags. [...]
The Worsted Witch » Reuse, Recycle, Rethink said,
April 5, 2006 at 10:52 pm
[...] “The Treasures of Wasteland,” a collection of reinvented scrap material from Finnish company Secco, proving once again that “trash is a failure of the imagination.” (Clockwise from upper left: earrings from cell-phone buttons; hot-pot stand from computer-mouse bearings and a ventilation grill; hair-tie from used computer and typewriter keys; brooch from used car tire inner-tube; CD stand from unusable LP records; keyring from used computer and typewriter keys.) [...]
The Worsted Witch » Blast From the Past: Vintage Fabric said,
August 29, 2006 at 7:01 pm
[...] Related article: 1. Everything Old is New Again [...]