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Unrequited Green Bag Love
My trans-Atlantic love affair with the "I'm Not a Plastic Bag"
I first heard about the British designer Anya Hindmarch's, "I'm Not a Plastic Bag" green shopping bag while visiting London last spring. I saw a picture of it: natural, unbleached cotton with thick braided hemp handles and the patchworked message in unpretentious, crunchy, wholesome brown. And I heard about how Hindmarch, whose regular handbags sell for up to $1,200, had decided to launch the bag to seduce the masses to be a bit more eco-friendly. The bag was produced in partnership with We Are What We Do, a nonprofit group that has set out to change the world one baby step at a time. I thought it was cute and cool and couldn't wait to get one.
I asked a London friend about where I might pick one up and was told they cost just five pounds ($12) at the mass grocery store chain Sainsbury. How democratic. I resolved to swing by one of their dozens of stores located all over London to pick some up. After all, with the exchange rate of over $2 to one pound, what else could I afford? Even items at the formerly cheap Top Shop and Miss Selfridge stores were now out of my league.
A couple days passed and by the time I made it to Sainsbury to stock up on dark chocolate digestives, the bags were all sold out. In fact, the cashier rolled her eyes at me when I asked, because apparently they had sold out in a matter of hours the first day they were available. "You'll have to get one on eBay now, luv, maybe pay up to 200 quid," she said smugly.
When I mentioned my misadventure to another London friend who worked in fashion, she was like, "Oh, no, dearie, I don't even know anyone who knows anyone who got one of those." Apparently, the promotion of the bag created a demand that far exceeded the 20,000 supply. The hype began when they were given out to VIPs at the 2007 Vanity Fair Oscars party. "But I think they are launching in America soon," my friend reassured me. "I just read that. You can pick one up in the summer at this health food store that's coming to London this year too. It's called Whole Foods."
I asked a London friend about where I might pick one up and was told they cost just five pounds ($12) at the mass grocery store chain Sainsbury. How democratic. I resolved to swing by one of their dozens of stores located all over London to pick some up. After all, with the exchange rate of over $2 to one pound, what else could I afford? Even items at the formerly cheap Top Shop and Miss Selfridge stores were now out of my league.
A couple days passed and by the time I made it to Sainsbury to stock up on dark chocolate digestives, the bags were all sold out. In fact, the cashier rolled her eyes at me when I asked, because apparently they had sold out in a matter of hours the first day they were available. "You'll have to get one on eBay now, luv, maybe pay up to 200 quid," she said smugly.
When I mentioned my misadventure to another London friend who worked in fashion, she was like, "Oh, no, dearie, I don't even know anyone who knows anyone who got one of those." Apparently, the promotion of the bag created a demand that far exceeded the 20,000 supply. The hype began when they were given out to VIPs at the 2007 Vanity Fair Oscars party. "But I think they are launching in America soon," my friend reassured me. "I just read that. You can pick one up in the summer at this health food store that's coming to London this year too. It's called Whole Foods."
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