Paris Shopping: Coll.Part Salvaged, Fairly Produced Accessories
by Kyeann Sayer, Nomad on 06.12.06
Maybe you've seen accessories made from former food bags and thought, "eh." I had. Now that there are so many recycled bag options, there's no need to sacrifice quality construction with a bleeding heart purchase. In Paris, I found a sweet coll.part wallet to replace a too-loved vintage one. Coll.part derives from "collection particulière", and its unique pieces for men and women are crafted from salvaged rice and food bag cloth in Cambodia by women in need of work and/or a place for their children to learn. Particularly smart. :: coll.part
I'm starting to have a bit of an issue with bags in general. Dont get me wrong I have a fairtrade, recycled from rice bags, shopping bag which I use all the time. But my problem is people keep trying to give me new ones. At the Camden Green Fair on London last week several green groups tried to give me a new cloth bag. What they need to be doing is going into shopping centres and handing them to ordinary shoppers not to the converted.
Just a thought.
I have to return my recycled rice bag messenger bag because the ink/dye transferred and stained my pants. Mine was from Uncommon Goods and not coll.part so perhaps they have found a way to prevent this. I don't see the point of buying any such bags if it can't rest against my clothes while I walk home.
I have a few of these rice bags that I haven't been able to part with. I suppose I should just use them as is to carry my shopping home. There's really little need to change the form of the bag at all.