Paper or Prada? Haute Couture Meets the Cornershop

Posted on May 21, 2007 by C Johnson
Art, Design

Since green is the new black, it’s not surprising that high end designers from New York to London to Paris are doing their bit to save the planet… for a price, of course. Americans may be generally unfamiliar with the bring-your-own-bag concept, but it has long been a practice in most European countries, where grocery shopping is a daily affair, to tote your own personal tote. Some countries are even considering all out bans on plastic shopping bags altogether. The US alone goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually, meaning that 90 percent of market purchases are in disposable plastic bags—that’s 19 billion throwaway plastic bags in California alone. The habit costs retailers $4 billion annually, clutter up landfills and cost the environment much more than just money. Plastic bags don’t biodegrade, they photo-degrade, meaning they break down into smaller and smaller toxic bits. The simple act of investing in a reusable tote for about a dollar or two has invaluable benefits for the environment.

High-end designers are hoping that offering a more… fashionable option might help increase the appeal of burying the plastic bag for good. Fendi has a shopping tote that costs about $350, Stella McCartney’s organic cotton shopping tote is on the market for $495 and Hermes will release a bag this summer which will cost just shy of a grand.

Don’t think, though, that your European counterparts strut around marketplaces with Castiglioni shopping totes over their shoulders. British designer Anya Hindmarch created a sensation with her “I’m Not a Plastic Bag” a few years back which goes for around ten American dollars, and most supermarkets sell totes for a dollar or two. The same is the case here in the States, with the ultra cute Chico bag from Bristol Farms going for about five dollars; while Trader Joe’s reusable canvas totes go for a whopping $1.99. There’s always the free option: pulling out that old canvas bag you used in college from the back of your closet.

And the point here isn’t whether you show off Prada vs Fendi at the check out counter: it’s about showing whether or not you care.

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