09 . 03 . 2010
Handbags with a (social and environmental) conscience
What does it take to locally design and produce an upcycled leather handbag that looks great and can adapt to the needs of today’s women on-the-go?
It started with a simple idea and a group brainstorm in early February 2010. Watch this bilingual English and French video that tells the story:
In collaboration with nonprofit Montreal Couture and accessories designer Deborah Adams, we invited fashion journalist Lucinda Catchlove (Zink, Nightlife) and other tastemakers, including Fabienne Hareau and Ali Mafi to our first brainstorming meeting. For two hours, we talked about trends and functionality and dreamed up many ideas. Live polls on Facebook and Twitter gave us even more creative ideas to play with.
The following week, our group re-assembled and were shown preliminary sketches that Deborah had created based on our ideas. We photographed and uploaded the sketches on Facebook and Twitter to get some live feedback while we picked apart every single sketch. By the end of the second brainstorm, Deborah had created a new sketch that embodied all of our wants and desires: exterior pockets, room for a 15″ laptop, detachable clutch, soft leather, adjustable shoulder strap, add-on accessories and then some.
By the last week of February, Montreal Couture received the finished first handbags of their kind — just in time for Montreal Fashion Week! We immediately had the bags photographed (thanks to our friend Radu Juster). Below you can see the fantastic results of our creative efforts.
We’ll be selling these bags in an exclusive online pre-sale starting later this month (UPDATE: the pre-sale has been moved to mid-May). Sign up for our newsletter to be sure you don’t miss this unique opportunity to own these luxurious bags — with a social and environmental conscience!
photo: Radu Juster
photo: Radu Juster
photo: Radu Juster
photo: Radu Juster
photo: Radu Juster
photo: Radu Juster
photo: Radu Juster
photo: Radu Juster
photo: Radu Juster
007 Dimensions:
Length: 16.5 inches – 41cm
Width: 4 inches – 10 cm
Height: 11.5 inches – 29 cm
Mini-Me Dimensions:
Length: 11.5 inches – 29 cm
Width: 1 inch – 2 cm
Height: 4.5 inches – 11.5 cm
-
Aleece
-
http://www.ubervu.com/conversations/theswapteam.org/uncategorized/handbags-with-a-social-conscience uberVU – social comments
-
elaineh
-
Aleece
-
Christine Prefontaine
-
Aleece
-
Aleece
