Independent Handbag Design Awards

Scarola’s bag of bags

I was so excited to see a sustainable bag win the Audience Fan Favorite prize at theIndependent Handbag Design Awards. Suzanne Scarola of Bellabags made her bag (above) by knitting plastic bags by hand.

This candy-wrapper bag by Ecoist won “Best Green Handbag”

Helen Marcoschamer of Ecoist detailed her bag’s winning eco-cred:

q: What is your bag made out of?
a: Recycled and Repurposed Candy Wrappers

q: What made you decide to create a “Green Bag”?
a: To merge design with social and environmental consciousness to provide stylish, functional, and durable products that people will love to own. All our products are made from recycled, organic, or earth-friendly materials, and are manufactured through our network of fair trade partnerships around the world. We wanted to reduce landfill waste and with every bag sold, we plant a tree.

q: Where are you bags made? Are they made by hand or manufactured?
a: They are made in Mexico and Peru. Once we get the discarded wrappers from factories, the wrappers are then cut, folded into straps, weaved, and sewn by skilled artisans. Each one is 100 % handmade. Ecoist is proud of its fair trade practices and contributions to social causes.

q: Where are bags sold?
a: Throughout the US, UK, Japan, Latin America, Canada, Saudi Arabia, and Europe.

Check out the finalists to see other great bags that didn’t win, but came close.

bags, purses, sustainable materials

Starre Vartan is the founder and editor-in-chief of Eco-Chick and author of The Eco-Chick Guide to Life (St. Martin's Press). A problogger and oft-quoted green living expert who has been featured in the NYTimes, Elle, Glamour and Whole Living, she is a contributor to The Huffington Post, Inhabitat, and Hearst's The Daily Green, and is currently editor-at-large for Coco Eco Magazine. An active ecofashionista, she has style edited for Plenty magazine and coordinated runway shows. She splits her time between Connecticut and NYC and calls Sydney, Australia her second home, even though it was her first (as that's where she was born and most of her family resides). When not writing, blogging, or researching her next book, she is trailrunning, trying to cook, or snowboarding.

2 Comments on “Independent Handbag Design Awards”

Michael
I recently bought a handbag from http://www.diamond57.com for my girlfriend kaitlin, These purses are made from used cowboy boots. They are beautiful purses and all unqiue. My girlfriend has fallen inlove with it.
06/22/08 » 8:51 am »
Patti Sewald
I have been making purses and totes out of plastic bags, old wool sweaters, and old jeans. I am always open for suggestions and new ideas.
07/06/08 » 7:05 pm »