Eco-Roundup: Handbags (Part 1)

By Suzanne Singer
April 26, 2010

We're kicking off a series featuring designers in a variety of categories who make it easy to be simultaneously eco-friendly and fashionable. Here, we feature three handbag designers who are seriously committed to the green cause along with their eBay picks.

Find two more designers featured here.

Ananas

Top Row: Jennifer Baum Lagdameo and Ananas cork clutch

Bottom Row, Lagdemeo's eBay Picks: Vintage Wooden Log Button (buy it now price, $4.99), New Handmade Wood Buttons (buy it now price, $10), New Black Wood Toggle Buttons (buy it now price, $3.87)

Jennifer Baum Lagdameo started Ananas while living in the Philippines, where she was greatly influenced by the traditional textile craftsmanship and the materials indigenous to the area. She started by creating a collection of handbags made from abaca, a natural fiber found there, and then began to incorporate coconut shells, mother-of-pearl, wood and other local materials. Lagdameo is currently based in New York, where she oversees the Ananas website as well as a year-old boutique in the Nolita neighborhood. So how is her line eco-friendly? All bags are handmade locally in New York; all leather used to make them is vegetable dyed (which is less toxic than chemically dyed leather); and all wood used on the bags is tropical hardwood, a renewable resource. As if that isn't enough, Ananas also plants a tree in the Philippines for every bag that is sold.

Of her eBay picks, she says "I have chosen eBay’s great selection of wood buttons (all of Ananas hardware is wood).”

Ashley Watson

Top Row: Ashley Watson and Ashley Watson handbags

Bottom Row, Watson's eBay Picks: Used Men’s Leather Coat (buy it now price, $35), Vintage Brown Leather Coat (buy it now price, $15), Vintage Red Leather Coat (sold for $15)

Since 2006, designer Ashley Watson has been crafting handbags out of recycled leather she typically finds at charity thrift shops, a practice that not only supports good causes, but also keep leather out of landfills and allows her to avoid engaging in the pollution generated by the leather industry. She uses eco-friendly glue, avoids using leather dye and often incorporates details from the original pieces into her bags in order to enhance their one-of-a-kind feel.

She chose three leather coats on eBay, saying of the red leather coat at right: “This one looks really soft and like it has a really nice quality leather as well as a bright beautiful color. We do find a lot of red jackets, but never ones as large as this!”

jack&marjorie

Top Row: Meghan Parsons (center) and jack&marjorie handbags

Bottom Row, Parsons' eBay Picks: Army Medical Wool Blanket (buy it now price, $35), Japanese Pattern Book (buy it now price, $27.95), Vintage Military Photos (buy it now price, $129.99) “Old War time photos. We love old photographs; particularly ones from the 40s.”

Meghan Parsons' and Manuel Opp's handbag line, jack&marjorie, features vintage-style totes, satchels and clutches made primarily out of recycled military surplus materials such as military tents, wool blankets, and duffle bags, many decades old. All jack&marjorie handbags have a hemp twill lining and incorporate only organic cotton and leather that is recycled or vegetable dyed.

Parsons browsed eBay for manufacturing materials and design inspiration. Of the Army medical wool blanket she found, she says, "Wool blankets are a fantastic material for fall bags. Our number one inspiration is always the surplus material we are able to source because it dictates in large part what sort of bag we can create." Given that she and Opp started their business in 2004 when they were living in Japan, and that a box full of old family photographs taken in the 1940s inspired their first line, her choice of a Japanese pattern book and vintage military photos is no surprise. Of the book, she notes, "We are strongly influenced by Japan; the simplicity and thoughtfulness evident in so many facets of life there is something that we aspire to," while of the photos, she says, "We love old photographs; particularly ones from the '40s.”

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