Fashion: Purses With Light Eco Footprints, by Pranada Devi

One of the best ways to keep our environmental footprint light is to reduce our consumption of new items that require resources to grow, create or produce. When it comes to fashion, many people are choosing to keep it light by repurposing existing items into new, creative and beautiful clothing and accessories. This means that synthetic items do not simply go to choke landfills or oceans; animals are not unnecessarily killed for more leather when enough leather already exists; more petroleum products are not unnecessarily created. By rethinking the idea of disposability, reclaiming and repurposing items that still have a lot of good left in them, we walk more lightly on the earth, with more appreciation for all the wealth we already have.

An example of creative repurposing in the fashion industry is with purses. This month, I went shopping for an environmentally friendly purse, because I didn’t want to just buy another heap of new synthetic, or unnecessarily require the death of an animal for leather. I found a number of ingenious options.

First, for those who want the simplicity and durability of leather purses, these can be constructed from old leather jackets or cowboy boots that have been discarded. There are a number of independent artisans who repurpose old leather in this way; a few I found on the craft website Etsy are Rewanted, Katkaland and Bagavond.

For a sturdy shape and a smallish size that holds your essentials, you could use a recycled book. Check out some of the latest Etsy recycled book purses.

For those who want a sleek but tough look, how about recycled seatbelts? Automakers require the tough synthetic seatbelt fabric to be made to exacting safety standards. Any seatbelt fabric that doesn’t pass the tests is discarded. But it can be repurposed into eye-catching, durable bags. Example: Interrobang or Harveys.

Even more ubiquitous in our landfills than seatbelts, though, are the disposable wrappers created for chocolate bars and other junk foods. But even these can be repurposed to beautiful effect. Rebagz makes silver and colourful bags from recycled juice packs, rice sacks and candy wrappers. Ecoist makes bags from candy wrappers, pop can pull tabs, and more – and they plant a tree for every handbag sold. I especially like the look of their Dove bar bag, where the woven repetition of the pattern and the earthy colours create a look that alludes (at least for me!) to the patterning of Louis Vuitton bags.

And last but not least, you can visit a high-end vintage or consignment store in your area and snap up a previously loved designer bag. Whichever way you go, enjoy being lighter on your finances and lighter on the earth as you tote your essentials with style!

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Pranada Devi is a communications professional living in Toronto, Canada. She manages the Politics, Books and Activism sections for Parvati Magazine in addition to serving as Managing Editor for the magazine overall. She serves as an advisor on marketing communications for Parvati’s various projects.