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Half the Sky Designs LLC is as forward thinking as it is fashion forward, transforming everyday items headed for the trash heap into beautiful handbags. The company introduced its award-winning line of Rebagz™, made from recycled juice packs and nylon rice sacks, in July 2007. Within only one year, Rebagz were in 300 stores in 5 countries and worn on the hit TV show “Ugly Betty” by its star America Ferrera.
The company founder, Marty Stevens-Heebner, got the idea for Rebagz during a trip to the Philippines. While searching for materials and a manufacturer for her handbag designs, she found a foundation that recycles vivid plastic juice packs and weaves them into all sorts of colorful things. Marty also discovered that some Philippine rice sacks had vibrant designs on them. “I don’t care if they’re sacks,” she says. “Something that beautiful should not wind up in a dumpster. It deserves to be rescued and made into something gorgeous.” Marty decided that the recycled juice pack weave and the rice sacks would be the perfect “fabric” for her handbags. Color and variety have always been a hallmark of her work, and she has often been inspired by things she discovers in her global travels. (She has visited every continent, including Antarctica. “Penguins may be cute,” she says, “but they really, really stink.”)
With large handbags like the Cinchy Tote and the Bringing Up Baby/On the Go Bag, which can be used as a baby bag, a beach bag, a gym bag or a commuter bag; and small to mid-size bags like the “Life is a Circle” Bag and the Mini Bag, which can be used as a cosmetics bag or a wristlet, so there are really Rebagz to suit every fashion occasion. Also, Rebagz’ Messenger Bags and Sport Pouches appeal to both men and women.
Half the Sky Designs is also committed to working only with people who are paid and treated fairly. Marty visits the manufacturing facilities they work with and has become friends with many of the women who make the bags in the Philippines. The company is proud to be contributing to the financial strength of the women they employ, along with their families and their community as a whole.
“For me personally, this new enterprise fits like my own skin,” explains Marty. “I spent a lot of time down in Chiapas, Mexico in the mid ‘90s doing humanitarian work following the Zapatista rebellion. It amazed me how resourceful the indigenous people living in the jungle were and how nothing went to waste. Everything not only had a purpose, but each and every thing had a second and often even a third purpose beyond that.”
Rebagz received a “Best in Show” award at the New York International Gift Fair in August 2008 from New Age Retailer for the bags’ eye-catching style. “We consider ourselves a mainstream company,” says Marty. “Eco-fashion isn’t just a beige-and-itchy niche anymore. Companies like ours are showing the world that there are so many beautiful things out there that deserve a second life rather than a slow toxic death in a landfill somewhere.” That’s why the company truly believes they’re part of “the next evolution in style".
Head Designer, Founder & CEO of Half the Sky Designs LLC
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