Earth Overshoot Day: Eco-Friendly Handbags
Attention Bag Bliss readers! I regret to inform you that Earth Overshoot Day keeps arriving earlier and earlier with each passing year. This year it landed just this last Friday, on September 25th. But wait… what exactly is Earth Overshoot Day? And why should we even care? Well, one way to think about it is to say nature has a budget. Our planet can only produce a certain amount of resources and absorb a certain amount of waste in a given time frame. And with the ever increasing demand of human consumption, resources are now being used at a rate faster than the Earth can regenerate them and wastes are being produced at a rate faster than the Earth can absorb them. At these current rates, we would actually need 1.4 planets in order to be operating in a sustainable fashion. The word “overshoot” refers to the ecological debt that we keep incurring with each passing year. This is something that everyone should be concerned with because we cannot keep going on like this forever. At some point, we will become bankrupt.
Now I know that we don’t tend to think about these things in our day to day lives. Especially when we are living in a world that revolves around consuming. But we can all make a difference by making some simple changes. And I thought maybe it would be fun, since this is a handbag blog, to point out some eco-friendly handbags that are currently available. If we must consume, then why not do it in a sustainable manner?
1. Urban Junket T.O.T.E. Laptop Bag
This cute and colorful laptop bag is constructed of 100% organic cotton. Plus the lining is made of recycled plastic water bottles that were transformed into thread and dyed with 100% organic vegetable dyes.
$99
Find it at Luggage Online.
2. Nahui Ollin Envelope Clutch
This lovely clutch is constructed of recycled candy wrappers. The metallic look makes this clutch perfect for a girls’ night out.
$89
Find it at eBags
3. Novella Royale Hudson Studded Clutch
Check this out girls! This rocker-chic clutch is made of genuine leather AND it’s eco-friendly. This beauty was made from recycled vintage leather jackets!
$395
Find it at Shopbop.com.
4. Envirosax Organic Bamboo Shopping Tote
With all of the billions of plastic sacks out there littering our oceans and our communities, what eco-friendly handbag list would be complete without a reusable shopping tote? This one is made of organic bamboo and linen. Bamboo is 100% biodegradable and 100% sustainable.
$25
Find it at ENVIROSAX.
If you would like more information about Earth Overshoot Day, check out The Global Footprint Network!
The Chat: Eco-bags!
This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 at 1:25 pm and is filed under Bag Trend Alert, Debut New Handbags, Designer Totes, For a Cause, Limited Edition Handbags, Other Designer Handbags & Purses. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
I love that Novella uses recycled leather.
Lovely post.
I have a bamboo shopper tote, not the one pictured above, and I love it. It’s very durable.
One thing is: I would never pay $25 for it. I bought 2 in China Town for $8!
To be honest I would never wear any of the bags above.
I guess I do my part in buying vintage chanels, hehe.
Thanks for the news! lol. About the bags above, I wouldn’t wear any of those. Except for the reusable tote..
The statistics are sad aren’t they..
I need to order that Novella clutch. It’s hot.
handbags are such a minority in the whole issue…
however i do love your post and selection of eco-friendly purses.
I would never consider buying any of those bags. I just hope that other designers deside to use recycled material.
I don’t really like any of the bags pictured above, great post though.
Matti- I like to buy vintage and preloved handbags too.
It’s kinda like recycling, ya know? =D
$100 for a bag made of candy wrappers? yuk.
Interesting post, my favorite is the novella. All the others look cheap to me.
I see what you are saying about this global crisis, but the handbag industry is such a small player, imo. Your post is very eye-opening though. :)
Yes, the handbag industry is a very small player indeed.
But, hey, every little bit helps, right?
Its a great idea. And fashion gets people talking, thinking.
Anna Sui is also doing recycled totes soon – from Times Square billboards.