Comments on: Everything Old is New Again

By: The Worsted Witch » Blast From the Past: Vintage Fabric

The Worsted Witch » Blast From the Past: Vintage Fabric — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 23:01:47 +0000

[...] Related article: 1. Everything Old is New Again [...]

By: The Worsted Witch » Reuse, Recycle, Rethink

The Worsted Witch » Reuse, Recycle, Rethink — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 02:52:52 +0000

[...] “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.) [...]

By: Three Cat Night » It’s a carnival!

Three Cat Night » It’s a carnival! — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 03:55:30 +0000

[...] 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. [...]

By: The Worsted Witch »

The Worsted Witch » — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 19:09:36 +0000

[...] 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. [...]

By: jill danyelle

jill danyelle — Sat, 18 Mar 2006 03:10:13 +0000

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!!

By: Karen Clothier

Karen Clothier — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 17:10:03 +0000

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.

By: aleta

aleta — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 22:46:06 +0000

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.