The Mini Maxi Shopper: the Reusable Bag you won't Forget
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA 
on 05. 2.07
Reusable bags are great, but how many times have you turned up at the store, only to realize you’ve forgotten your shopping bag? We’ve covered Reisenthel bags before, and though one commenter was concerned about the embodied energy in their construction, we still find the idea of reinventing the reusable bag to make it more convenient and easy to use intriguing. Now we’ve come across another innovative shopping solution from these guys, the Mini Maxi Shopper. This is basically a tough, long-handled shopping bag that folds down into its own, zippable pouch, so you can conveniently keep your bags with you at all times. And this one doesn’t have an aluminum frame to worry about, so we’re betting it works out better on the embodied energy stakes too! Available through the wonderfully named Reusablebags.com.
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I've seen several area grocery stores offering collapsable bags with an even simpler design -- they just fold in on themselves kind of like a map and then have a snap at the top to hold them together. No need to worry about the zipper breaking! They fold to about 4x6x1, and expand to be the size of a standard roomy tote. They are made of some sort of doubtless evil synthetic, but I don't see any reason they couldn't be made of organic hemp. It might be more difficult to get the folds to stay, but that would just make it slightly more involved to collapse them after the first few times.
With any collapsable bags, I find it doubly useful to stick a reusable produce bag or two in them before folding. That way if the bag has any spare room at all, you have several bags in the same compact space. :-)
I got one of these bags at the Green Festival here in Chicago and I love it! I carry it around in my purse or breifcase and pull it out whenever I need to go shopping. Sometimes you need to shop unexpectedly and don't have your bags so you are forced to use the plastic ones. With this guy you have no excuse.
Envirosax bags are pretty similar, but they do roll into themselves with no extra effort. www.envirosax.com
yeah; i've seen similar products here in Australia.
is this one natural fabric?
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Author's comment:
I don't think so. The one I saw looked like some sort of polyester. Should be possible to make it out of natural fabrics though.
Even though this bag appears to be polyester I’d say it’s a huge step forward from using plastic bags and throwing them away after every use. Polyester is very long lasting and this bag will probably last you for more than a thousand shopping expeditions.
I admire the folks at reusable bags even though they are a huge competitor for me. They’re in the US and I’m in India and I think they’re doing a wonderful job. Being in India we are further away from the market but it does allow us to offer very good prices.
Rajiv K. Badlani
Norquest Brands Private Limited
Norquest House
Udyan Marg, Mithakali
Ahmedabad 380009 India
Phones (+91 79) 2646 1626, 2646 3331
Fax (+91 79) 2644 1812
Mobile (+91) 98790 01065
http://www.badlani.com
http://www.badlani.com/blog
so sweet i like them
Take a look at http://www.getskn.com.
Their bags are larger than the ones mentioned above and won't fit in a small purse,however they are made of a natural fabric, you get to choose from unbleached conventional cotton or certified organic cotton. And because of the quality of the bags are so good they hold up to 40 pounds each and are machine washable.
They were just given out at the Liz McClean fashion week event in SOHO and on February 8th style.com touted them to be the most useful reusable totes at fashion week.
Throw a few in your car- its worth the extra effort of getting into the habit of remembering your bags!