Now, it’s possible that they’re just re-doing their website, very slowly, without even a DNS record for their domain, but it’s not likely.

Moreover, we have been contacted by someone who says that they ordered a bag directly from PSC (i.e. nothing to do with us!) and the bag still has not arrived two weeks later, and they are not returning his messages.  We have also been unable to contact PSC and things don’t look good.  Just saying.

Bottom line? PSC bags are probably going to be in short supply very soon.  We can’t re-order and neither can anyone else.  If you want one, now might be a good time to get one.

To begin with, we’ll just be selling some of the ethical maternity clothes found by our sister company, Cecily Plum.  They’re designed as maternity and breastfeeding clothes, but — interestingly — many of them are very useful as clothes for anyone.  For example, this tube can be used as a micro-mini, a belly band, or a boob tube.  Or this cami, which has had rave reviews and is worn by many non-mummies because it looks wonderful.

However, we are also in negotiations to bring two ordinary lines of clothing to Plum Ethical.  We can’t say more at the moment, but if all goes well, they’ll be here by the end of the the month (end of March).  Still, if you know of any ethical clothing manufacturers who make elegant, timeless clothes then let us know.  We’ll look into that too.

Still, we researched into alternative bag suppliers.  What we found was shocking.  Almost all bags that are made for sale in the UK are bound to contain exactly the same animal products EVEN WHEN THE BAG ITSELF PURPORTS TO BE VEGAN.  I’m not going to spell out what I’m saying, but it was quite a shock to us.  We had thought that it would be easy to find a 100% pure vegan bag maker who made traditional handbags, but it was not.  You know, handbags that look like the might be leather (but are actually really gorgeous non-leather that’s lighter and funkier If you know of a supplier of really nice handbags (something like a Prada bag) that are fully 100% vegan, please tell us!

Although it was easy to find bags made of nylon, or PVC or something else non-animal, we found that they all were made in a similar way, in similar factories, using the same techniques, and therefore using animal-based glues and dyes.  So, we had a choice:

EITHER: only sell re-cycled, hand-made bags (our current dA-LaTA, Neumatica, PlanetSilverchilli and E&KO bags), and not sell normal handbags.

OR: sell normal handbags that contained non-vegan glues and dyes.

Initially, we tended to the first option, but then we realise that this would mean many people would just go and buy a leather bag if they wanted something like an special handbag, since they had no choice.  So, we’ve gone back to our troubled supplier because we KNOW they care about promoting a vegan lifestyle – as someone related to their company said today:

“I follow a vegan diet myself at home and clearly understand and support this
further evolved aspect of preserving & caring for animals’ lives.  However,
when the majority of the public consume meat, sometimes trying to explain
veganism to them is like introducing yourself as an alien!  Animals are
slaughtered because people consume meat & wear leather not because we need
glues & dyes.  So I think the first port of call is to highlight the
benefits of reducing our consumption of the primary product of animal
farming and worry about glues & dyes further down the line, as public
opinion also shifts a little towards it.”

In other words, “let’s get rid of the major problem first, then we can focus on the other issues later.”  Imagine if everyone in the UK only bought leather-free bags.  Suddenly, there would then be an irresistible force to remove all animal products from all bags.  And before we ever reached even 10% of that goal, things would become much much easier to argue.  So, we’re working towards totally animal-free gorgeous handbags in this way.  Some of you may not agree with us, and we respect that, but that’s what we’re choosing to do, and we think – overall – it will help achieve really useful long-term goals.

The bags that we’ve got are basically evening bags: a shoulder bag, a medium-small tote, and a clutch bag that could also be used as a make-up bag inside another bag.  They’re all elegant, and wouldn’t look out of place on any evening out, even if you frequent gala openings and film premiers.

Each bag is made from ring-pulls, but these are not just a bunch of ring-pulls hastily strung together and sold.  These are really beautiful bags, in fact they’re pretty much works of art.  You have to see them up close to really appreciate each bag.

They’re made in Brazil by a collective of women who have grouped together to make a living for themselves, and to to make a new start.  Their commitment to making each bag is amazing, and they are very good at what they do.  When we first got the samples through, everyone was really impressed, and we think you will be too.

If you’d like to have a look at a bag then order it online now – and if it’s not your thing simply return it within two weeks.  Postage in both directions is free, and obviously you get your money back immediately (as long as the bag is still saleable, of course).  We hope this give you all the advantages of shopping on-line, with the human need to see and feel the products, just like in a physical shop.

We hope you like them; let us know what you think.  (NB: we get a lot of spam, and I mean a lot, so please understand if it takes us a while to get to your post – thanks.)  Otherwise, enjoy the new, gorgeous dA-LaTA ring-pull evening bags!

In my last post I was very pleased with myself that Plum Ethical is a totally vegan store.  Then one of our suppliers wrote to us to tell us that their bags have “animal products” in the glues and dyes, and we shouldn’t say their bags were vegan.  This was quite a blow for us because the whole point of Plum E. is that it’s safe for everyone to buy a beautiful bag here.

We’ve done a lot of research into the issue and it seems that it’s very hard to find any really vegan bags.  The glue/dye issue is very common.  It turns out that the fact that we have three designers who manage to be 100% vegan is actually pretty good.

We’ve spent a lot of time changing the site, to reflect our weaken stance, but if you’re concerned about any bag you’d like to buy from us, please, please send us an email and we’ll help you in any way we can.  Hopefully we will be able to genuinely proclaim our vegan-ness again sometime soon.  We’ll let you know as soon as it happens.

“The plush, vegan-friendly leather is a unique smoky red color that will look great”

Er… WHAT???   Is it just me, or is that not the biggest misunderstanding of ‘vegan’ in the history of mankind?  Now, this wasn’t someone talking about ‘vegan leather‘, which is understood not to be leather at all (we use the phrase ‘vegan leather‘ to mean ‘non-leather‘ or ‘leather-free‘) but looks even better than leather, they really meant leather that had been re-claimed and actually was leather.

Anyway – shameless plug – we’re totally vegan on our site…

*is smug*

…so you’re safe here at least.  We’re still adding info and photos to out new Rubber Cow collection, but you can see what we’ve got pretty well now.

The bags are really varied: there are a number of shiny, gorgeous bags that seem (to me at least) reminiscent of MATT & NAT bags, but there are also bags that feel like suede and yet are totally animal-free and animal-friendly, and then there are some that look like no one else can do – it’s sometimes hard to believe that this is a totally non-leather bag collection. Only The Rubber Cow Co. can do bags like this!

Example: We’ve just done a show (here in Aber, as part of a launch for a friend’s ethical toddler-wear shop) and we got amazing feedback about our bags.  Bags that we thought were only man-bags had women cooing and showing their friends, and a surprising number of tough farmer types were really enthusiastic about what we’re doing with our men’s bag range too.

I mean it was very surprising, though now I think about it, perhaps a bag made of old tractor inner tubes resonates with someone who works hard and needs a tough bag.  In any case, we’re happy the appeal is greater than we thought.

If you want to see what you think and feel about them, here’s the link to our ethical man bag range.  Oh, and sorry there haven’t been many posts recently, we’ve been very busy these last few weeks.

The only caveat is that your friend must spend the same or more than you, because otherwise everyone will get their E&KO tote bag for half price while their friend buys a PlanetSilverChilli bag!

The offer’s live, right now!