Finding Ethical Fashion Handbags

Posted on | July 10, 2010 | No Comments

As you might have seen with our previous blog articles, we don’t hide away when we’re having a tough time.  This problem of finding a really ethical fashion handbag is not easy to solve.  I think the best we’ve done is the dA-LaTA bags, which are perfect in almost all ways: they’re “upcycled” from carefully washed and coloured ring-pulls; they’re fair-trade and help a group of women in Brazil earn a good wage and escape from poverty, and they’re totally animal-free.

The problem is, people like all sorts of bags and many people want bags that look like leather but are actually totally leather-free.  We started off with Rubber Cow bags, and they were great until we (and they) found out that some of the elements of the bag had animal products in them.  We’ve worked hard to find a replacement, and think we’ve done so with our MooFree bags.  As far as we know, and we’ve done a lot of sleuthing, they’re totally animal-free.  Nevertheless, they are made in China, which doesn’t have a good record in looking after its bag-making workers.  The company we’re working with is a good solid Newcastle company with good people, but it’s still not ideal.  However, we think it’s better to buy a leather-free bag, than a leather bag that probably made under worse conditions, but you may prefer have a look at dA-LaTA bags.  Hopefully, you’ll find something you like.

Our aim, however, is to make our own bags.  This is not easy.  We are not bag designers (though we do have a design background), or artists/craftspeople.  We need help.  If you’d like to work with us to make 100% fashion bags from recycled , animal-free materials, in the UK or under a fair trade scheme, then please, please tell us and we’ll do all we can to make it happen.  There are lots of jute bags out there, and lots of not-very-good recycled bags too.  Both good and bad get comments like, “Mmm, that’s clever”, or “What a great idea.”  But nothing about them is usually compared to genuine (but non-ethical) fashion bags.  We think it should be normla for an ethical fashion handbag to get comments like, “Ooh, this ethical thing’s pretty cool, actually.  I’ve got to have one of those!”

Comments