Best of NY Gift Fair: Envirosax for Kids
by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA 
on 02.12.08
They won't be available in stores until mid-March, but we managed to get a sneak peek at Envirosax's new line for kids at the New York International Gift Fair last week. The goal: To get the wee generation into the habit of bringing their own. (Cue Whitney Houston crooning, "I believe that children are our future, teach them well and LET THEM lead the way." You sing it like it is, girl.)
You'll get to choose from six colorful kid-friendly designs. Made of lightweight, waterproof, and durable 100 percent polyester, these bags will retail for approximately $8.50 a pop. And, like their grownup forebears, these bags roll up for ease of portability, so you can toss a couple into your child's backpack or get them to stow one in their pockets. More juicy images below the jump. ::Envirosax
Follow @TreeHugger on Twitter & get our headlines with @TH_rss!
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- Is School Food Harming Kids? Enlist a Labor Day Eat-In To Promote Fresh, Healthy Food
- Meet Belinda David-Tooze, Owner of Envirosax Reusable Bags
- We Love Etsy for Unique, Handmade Gifts
- Make Your Own Butterfingers
- Shocking Report Reveals Marine Litter Madness (Plus 10 Easy Ways to Help Save Our Oceans!)
- Just Say No to Jelly Accessories this Summer
You have got to be kidding me that Treehugger is celebrating plastic bags. All this is "training the children" to do is to use cheap plastic goods that will end up in the landfills just like any other plastic bag (where that "durable and waterproof" quality will ensure they remain toxic pollution for even longer).
Are little kids currently bringing their toys to the beach in plastic bags they throw away each time? No, most likely they're already using reusable bags, probably canvas. All these new bags will do is create more junk, not solve a problem.
These aren't the fair-trade, organic-material, biodegradable bags shown in the earlier story linked above. This is just toxic trash masquerading as something responsible, and shame on this site for parading it out as anything but that.
The Envirosax company comes out and says it on their home page--their purpose for existence is "challenging the lack of stylish or fashionable eco-friendly reusable shopping bags available".
They're shopping bags, folks. When you need something designed to carry goods from a store to a car to be fashionable, then you need to take a hard look in the mirror. And then stop calling yourself environmentally responsible.
Well said, Kevin. Also, polyester can be a carcinogen in certain circumstances.
Plus they're ugly. Seriously...I don't know a mom (or kid) who would like those designs. If that's supposed to be fashionable I think I'll stick with unfashionable. They need to fire their graphic designer.
"these bags roll up for ease of portability, so you can toss a couple into your child's backpack or get them to stow one in their pockets."
Why, so when the kids stop at the grocery store on their way home from school, they won't have to take plastic bags? What are these really for besides making money for the manufacturer?
And Kevin is right, isn't "durable" just a code word for "will persist in the environment for thousands of years."
I'd like to hear what the naysayers recommend as alternatives to the Envirosax bags.
Certain material? Certain brand of canvas?
Please dish and help others out there.