Elemental Threads: Sweet Bags for Type A's (Design It Yourself!)
Emily Worden
I’ve known the lovely and talented Emily Worden (that’s her, above!) for years now; she is one of the super-progressive, fabulously positive and creative women I have met while living in southern Connecticut. Not only is she a music-loving ecofashionista who has long made her own (damn cool) clothes and sister of environmental lawyer, Jessica Worden, but she throws incredibly parties with said sister (I’m proud to have attended Wordenstocks in both ’04 AND ’06).
Oh, and she’s the ecopreneur behind Elemental Threads, where you can design your own bag! I have a pouch already, and am trying to decide what larger bag would stand me in good stead for all the travelling I do.
The blank bag choices
It works like this: you pick out a bag style from those above, then choose your fabric, from the extremely HUGE collection Emily has available on her site. There are so many choices, and there are organic cotton (I got one of those) and bamboo options to choose from, as well as some vintage and conventional fabrics.
Pretty bags!!!
But that’s not all! LOL. You ALSO get to pick your zipper color and inside lining color- which is where the Type A in me gets really happy, because you can get exactly what you want! How often does that happen these days? LOVE IT!
The Round Wristlette
The Large Tote
The Ring Pouch
Emily and a local seamstress handcraft each bag from Emily’s homebase in Connecticut, so they’re certainly fair-trade (unless Emily works herself too hard!) and American-made.
Emily also makes these Glass Bead necklaces which I have one of, in a black and white pattern. I get tons of compliments on it every time I wear it!
And you can even offset your purchase with eThread’s offset program. Emily told me:
eThreads will be offering customers the option to purchase carbon offsets to reduce the CO2 emissions produced with each order. The concept is very neat, customers can choose between one of
eight different projects and they see how much CO2 pounds their donation will buy. It is a new web application called ShopGreen, which is produced by GreenWorld, a business seeking to work with other
businesses by reducing their carbon footprint.
Some of Emily’s designer creations: these are already made and aren’t part of the design-yourself bags above, and sure are gorgeous!
Starre Vartan
Starre Vartan is founder and editor-in-chief of Eco-Chick.com and the author of the Eco-Chick Guide to Life. She's also a freelance science and environment writer who has published in National Geographic, CNN, Scientific American, Mental Floss, Pacific Standard, the NRDC, and many more. She lives on an island in Puget Sound with her partner and black cat. She was a geologist in her first career, and still picks up rocks wherever she goes.
