I'm Not A Plastic Bag - USA

Anya Hindmarch is the British “queen of bagland” with over 30 stores world-wide selling her gorgeous bags but last April, it wasn’t her leather bags that caused people to line up at 2am, it was an unbleached cotton $6 bag: “I Am Not A Plastic Bag.” It was all the rage in the UK and the limited edition run quickly sold out.

Now, this June, she's releasing the US version of I'm Not A Plastic Bag around the US. These bags will be in navy blue and you can register at her website to find out when and where you can line up at 2am to get yours. Some customers want the bag because it’s a cheap Anya Hindmarch, but I’m sure others like me want to support a green project from an otherwise non-green designer.

That’s not to say that Anya Hindmarch doesn’t care about the issues, in 2001 she launched a charity project “Be a Bag” which allowed customers to have their own photos printed onto a bag and proceeds went to more than 20 charities around the world.


This latest project “I'm Not A Plastic Bag” addresses a few issues too. Besides making a statement about plastic bags, Anya also addressed labor issues by making sure the factory in China was a reputable supplier who’s workers are paid double minimum wage and that complies with all aspects of Chinese Labor Law (what ever those are… perhaps a future post). “The factory also retains external consultants to monitor it from an international standards standpoint” (what ever that means).

Anya admits that the most environmental thing about the bag is that it’s unbleached and it replaces plastic bags (as long as people use them). She admits that she didn’t use organic or fair trade cotton. But she shipped the bags by sea and carbon offset the production and freight through the purchase of carbon credits. Which to me demonstrates that she understands the issues.

Thinking like an Econista:
This is a great example of a mainstream brand starting to make changes. It also exposes an interesting dynamic in branding: when mainstream brands go green, they must address all of the issues in question. Because how they respond to the issues begins to redefine the brand. This is due mostly to the fact that these green products are being sold to a different audience than their traditional products – they’re being sold to Econistas! These consumers are educated about the issues and therefore the brands need to address the issues with more than just marketing (or, like Anya, admiting failures). It’s the wonderful free markets in action and proves that an Econista can change fashion.

For a laugh, check out this by Marrisa V. lol.