So how did our new reusable shopping bags come about?
As a brand that’s been around a few years now we have to accept that everything doesn’t always quite work out as we hoped. Sadly our Freya pinafore just hasn’t been all that popular. It had a great blogger review, even featured in Green Parent Magazine a couple of years ago in their Christmas ‘best buy’ guide but still, not many sales.
Part of our khadi handwoven denim childrens’ clothing range the dresses were designed and tailored as a fun, practical play dress, evolving into a tunic top when legs stretched out. The sturdy plain white denim is block printed by hand with ducks (and other designs too) and an indigo denim trim added for a colour contrast.
These pinafores were one of our first productions with our longstanding partner Moral Fibre Fabrics. The fabric was created from locally grown cotton in Gujarat, hand spun and woven at Udyog Bharti co-operative in Gondal and printed and tailored at women’s co-operative in Ahmedabad. You can read the whole production story here.
Zero-waste: How to re-purpose this beautiful fabric
The fabric is beautiful, ethical and very eco-friendly. Plus, like all our clothing, the pinafore comes with a code on the label so you can trace its story. But sadly they haven’t been as popular as we would like and we have LOTS of them left!
So, as we are a zero waste brand and would NEVER burn unsold stock, we’ve come up with a fabulous and very useful idea! Why not re-purpose the dresses, ensuring that the beautiful fabric is used for something else?
We thought and thought – what would be a fabulous and ethical use for our sturdy and attractive denim? What would support our customers in their passion for eco living? A bag!
Creating our Reusable Shopping Bags
Our new ‘Ducks in a Row’ bag is a roomy, stylish shoulder bag that’s sturdy (it’s denim!) and well made. Fantastic for throwing in your goodies for the day to look super stylish on the move, or as a reusable shopping bag (helping with your plastic free living). Also, at the end of its long life, this bag will biodegrade as it is made from 100% cotton.
We’ve kept the blockprinted design and the indigo denim trim in these new reusable shopping bags – plus we’ve used some of the smaller dresses to make colourful handles.
You can now order our gorgeous new ‘Ducks in a Row’ reusable shopping bags on our website – don’t you think this is a fantastic way to give this beautiful fabric a second chance?
Published January 9, 2019 & Filed in Jo’s Soapbox,Where Does It Come From? Blog