I'm Not a Plastic Bag
By now, you're likely to have seen it somewhere. Keira Knightley's only one of the celebrities that's been carrying this bag around of late. And you can always count on US Weekly to be on top of these things. I can't say for certain, but their photographers probably have snapped a pic or two of her with the "I'm Not a Plastic Bag" slung across her arm on one of her jaunts about London.
Anya Hindmarch designed the bags after partnering with "We are What We Do" to wild success. How many would have expected that a £5 canvas tote would elicit the kind of demand that drives people to stand in line for hours on end, the night before the store opens, the way some crazed people do for hard-to-score event tickets or Christmas toys?! Or that this kind of bag would become Spring 2007's "it" bag? The British edition sold out by 10am on the day of its release. And of course the totes popped up on ebay. At a gazillion the retail price.
The popularity of Hindmarch's "It's Not a Plastic Bag" also happens to be its crux. Once something becomes this big, a "hot or not" debate is bound to ensue. I, personally, vote "yea". Come May, when online pre-orders open in the US, I'll try to snag one for myself. I like the idea behind it and the way it looks. Especially with the navy blue lettering of the American version.
Anyhow, getting back to business...
There's the issue of whether the bag is made of organic cotton or cotton farmed using conventional methods (looks like the latter) which does not bode well with some. Also, the bags that have been manufactured so far were made in China. Since they are intended to provide, or at least promote, an alternative to plastic bags and help the environment, presenting a product that may not have been sourced responsibly as eco-conscious raises some questions as to its virtue. Ideally, such an enterprise should seek to maximize its sustainability, in terms of both material and production. In a perfect world, the label would read 100% organic cotton and I'd have the peace of knowing that it had been crafted rather than manufactured. Hopefully by a person provided with favorable and fair working conditions for a living wage.
Something is better than nothing, though. And thousands of women toting canvas and passing on plastic is something. That's a lot plastic bags. The important thing to keep in mind when trying to determine whether a fashion "must-have" can do double-duty by helping the Earth is not so much the impact of that small change, although that too is significant, but rather that it's indicative of bigger things. All the madness over "I'm Not a Plastic Bag" reflects how hip it is to be green. Green is cool. Both on color wheel and as a way of living.
And if for no other reason at all, try to get your hands on an "I'm Not a Plastic Bag" because it's spring-- and almost summer already! A cute canvas tote is so much lighter and more seasonable than that heavy leather, and let me guess... oversize, albeit gorgeous one, you've been lugging around all winter. So go ahead, BYOB. Bag that is.
