Bags have been prevalent as far back as ancient Egypt. Many hieroglyphs depict males with bags tied around their waist. The Bible mentions pouches, especially with regard to Judas Iscariot carrying one around, holding his personal items.
Most every retailer is selling some sort of reusable bag in an effort to capitalize on the green movement-but the vast majority are made of a cheap felt-like kelly green fabric with the store's logo silk screened on it. Other online retailers are selling more attractive versions, but for a pretty penny. I was so excited when I found a local designer named Linda from Kent who "up-cycles" old tanks and tees into adorable (and affordable) reusable shopping bags and sells them in her online Etsy.com store Fashion Green T Bags.
They bags are made with triple-layer seamed openings and 2 double-stitch seams at the bottom, or in layman's terms: these bags ultra-durable! Tanks are "as is" on the top but double seamed at the bottom. There are decoratively-stitched wristlets too, for storing your bags so they're readily available when you need them.
The adorable bag Linda sent me was an up-cycled Express tank top and stood out with its coral and white stripes among my blah green re-bags. I'll be ordering more soon with the multi-bag discount available on the site! Amongst her selection of bags are all the Cleveland pro-sports teams. She also makes handcrafted laptop sleeves, phone cozies, dog collars, purses and digni-bibs—shirts that have been converted to function as a fashionable, removable protective cover-up for the elderly and adults with special needs.
Linda isn't just trying to make a quick buck on the heels of the green movement, she's been passionate about practicing ecologically friendly living for over 20 years. She says, "Each day I try to learn a new way to have a lesser negative environmental impact."
Linda is a fabulous 50 year-old mother of 2-her daughter, a Kent State honors student is 21 and her 19 year old son will be in the honors program at the University of Akron this fall. She's "insanely happily married" and owns 2 non-allergenic toy poodles.