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There’s one question that’s by far the one we get asked the most, and it is…
WHERE DOES YOUR COMPANY NAME COME FROM?
The Chinese saying, “Women hold up half the sky.”
WHY USE RECYCLED MATERIALS?
Why ever not?! We do it because we like the planet we’re living on and would like to keep
living on it for a very long time. But beyond that, these fruit juice packs and rice bags
are just too vibrant and colorful to toss away, don’t you think?
BUT ARE THE HANDBAGS STURDY AND – ABOVE ALL – CLEAN?
Absolutely! Because they’re made of plastic and nylon materials, they won’t rip or shred the way
items made from paper products might. Also, everything’s thoroughly cleaned prior to becoming a handbag.
HOW DO I KEEP MY BEAUTIFUL HANDBAG LOOKING LIKE NEW?
The woven juice-pack bags are completely waterproof - the packs were made to
hold juice, after all. Even the silver ones are woven from juice-packs
turned inside-out! The rice sack handbags are sturdy, too, since they were
made to carry 50 or 100 lbs of rice. So if you get dirt or liquid on your
bag, just wipe it off with a damp sponge. Nylon and plastic are as
clean-able as they are un-biodegradable. But they also don't like extreme heat, so please don't put any of them washing machine or dryer. (We know
that sounds obvious, but people have, believe it or not!)
DO THE BAGS EVER VARY IN APPEARANCE?
Each of our woven handbags made from recycled juice packs is created by
hand, so each one is unique and the colors may vary somewhat - but they are
all equally vibrant and beautiful. The larger handbags made from recycled
rice sacks will always have the same graphic you see in our online store.
The smaller handbags in our rice sack line, however, may vary a bit because
we recycle as many colorful inches from each rice sack as possible. These
smaller bags include the Sports Pouches, Cozy Coin Purses and the All-in-One
Wallets. (Except for "Lion" - he is just too special not to be on every Lion wallet!)
WHAT THE HECK DO YA MEAN BY “THE NEXT EVOLUTION IN STYLE?”
Because global warming is now so clearly a planet-wide emergency, up-and-coming generations
will recycle reflexively. Naturally, they’ll be surrounded by things that not only use renewable
energy but also contain recycled materials. Handbags, clothing, stationery, lampshades – you
name it, it’ll contain some sort of reused stuff. We really think it’s the next step in human
evolution, and a very necessary one. We also think it’ll lead to a New Economy and could
potentially lead to another boom the size of the tech boom in the ‘90’s. Wouldn’t that be
fun – as well as oh-so-beneficial?
WHO MAKES YOUR HANDBAGS?
Our woven bags are made by a fair-trade certified women's cooperative in the
Philippines who not only recycle, which means they pay their people a good
wage and treat them well. (We've heard horror stories about people being
chained - literally chained - to their sewing machines in China, so we
weren't about to go there.) Because we created the rice sack line from
scratch, we supervise the sewers and the factories we work with ourselves to
make sure the people who make them are paid and treated fairly.
We really like supporting independent sewers as much as we can, including
Flor. She lives in a town hours outside of Manila and she started sewing
our Rebagz handbags in the summer of 2007. She saved the money she made and
bought 4 used sewing machines - and now Flor employs 13 people in her small
community!
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