Mama’s Got a reMade Bag

Posted on July 8, 2009 
Filed Under Design, Fashion, Lifestyle, Potrero Hill, Shopping

San Franciscans believe in cycles. We bicycle, recycle, and follow the moon’s cycle. After banning the plastic, we carry our reusable shopping bags like many brightly colored flags, proudly displaying our eco-consciousness.

At the end of June, Gavin Newsom signed Mandatory Composting Legislation, upping the ante on the City’s recycling rate—already the highest in the Nation, with a goal of zero waste by 2020.

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So we’ve definitely got recycling down. What else is there? Next up, upcycling—a term you are sure to be hearing more and more of.

Upcycle: to take something disposable and transform it into something of greater use and value. A term coined in the 2002 book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, by Michael Braungart and William McDonough.

Basically, making treasures out of trash. What could be more San Francisco than that? In a city built on a windy rock that led to gold, rebuilt twice from the devastation of earthquake, in the birthplace of web 2.0, folks know how to make something new from just about nothing.

Case in point: Shannon South, the creative, entrepreneurial force behind reMade USA, and the designer of luxurious leather handbags lovingly hand-crafted in Potrero Hill from discarded jackets and scrap leather.
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reMade USA was born out of Shannon’s belief that designers have a responsibility to consider what impact their materials may have on the environment and how the people manufacturing their products might be affected.

“I see reMade USA as part of a back-to-basics, holistic approach [to life] that… sees beauty in the past, praises a lifestyle of ‘making do’ and has a deep appreciation for things that have been cultivated by hand…
My hope, through reMade USA, is to create awareness through beautiful products, while leaving the tiniest footprint possible.”

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Each bag is completely one-of-a-kind, flaunting a colorful vintage scarf lining, and bearing its own unique serial number. Collections are released in limited quantities of 10-14 bags. If you’re fast enough to grab the one you love before a Brazilian fashionista does, you can carry it with assurance that no one in the City, or anywhere else, has the same bag. You can even give reMade your own jacket to upcycle!
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Get on reMade’s mailing list for first dibs on the next collection, coming soon. Email shop@remadeusa.com or give them a ring at 646.731.9497 for more information.

–Sara

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