Ecoist: an individual that lives a modern, eco-minded lifestyle. (Don’t forget chic.)
When it comes to upcycling discarded products or industrial scraps, designers often turn to making fashion or home accessories. They are fun to make, and allow people to feel creative and less wasteful in their accessory choices. Here on Green Prophet we’ve already seen handbags made out of tire inner tubes, Infobags made from pages of old maps and encyclopedias, and even purses make from furniture fabric samples. While we’ve also seen wallets made out of upcycled product wrappers, we have not yet seen handbags made out of that material and so the Ecoist line of handbags and jewelry caught our attention.
A fashion line started by two Israeli brothers, Jonathan and Yair Marcoschamer, Ecoist handbags, jewelry, and home accessories are all made from misprinted and obsolete packaging generated by junk-food companies such as the Coca-Cola Company, Frito-Lay, and Mars (to name a few).
The packaging collected by Ecoist and used in its designs would otherwise end up in landfills without even being used to wrap products. To date, the company claims to have saved over 40 million wrappers from landfills.
Yet despite Ecoist‘s usage of a ubiquitous, inexpensive, and “lowly” material, it elevates the status of the candy wrapper by collaborating with fashion and industrial designers to develop limited editions products. Furthermore, the handbags are 100% handmade by artisans in Ancon, Peru who are paid fair trade wages.
In addition, Ecoist plants a tree for every handbag sold. So far the company has planted over 100,000 tress in countries such as Haiti, India and Uganda. The company is not stopping there, however, and recently partnered with TerraPass to offset the carbon emissions associated with shipping its products. This year Ecoist plans on offsetting 32,000 lbs of carbon.
:: Ecoist
Read more about chic upcycled handbags::
Elanit Neutra Promises More Mileage out of Your Purse
Anat Safran’s Infobags Make You Smarter and Greener
Zohar Yarom Rethinks the Furniture Fabric Sample
Abu Yoyo: Piggybacking on Tel Aviv’s Billboard Waste
Waste Lb Design Company Encourages Lebanese to Waste Fewer Plastic Bags
Author: Karen Chernick
Much to the disappointment of her Moroccan grandmother, Karen became a vegetarian at the age of seven because of a heartfelt respect for other forms of life. She also began her journey to understand her surroundings and her impact on the environment. She even starting an elementary school Ecology Club and an environmental newsletter in the 3rd grade. (The proceeds of the newsletter went to non-profit environmental organizations, of course.) She now studies in New York. Karen can be reached at karen (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
