Mart Ideas
Move over, Miss Manners, the fashionable are taking shopping-bag etiquette into their own hands.
As they see it the only response to “Paper or plastic?” at the supermarket is “Neither,” followed by a dramatic act: they whip out their own bag. This trick plays equally well at the mall.
Renee Gunter for Industrial Wear offers plain, sophisticated grocery-shaped bags in red, black, royal or forest green. Gunter says each nylon bag holes the contents of two ordinary grocery bags. Priced $12.50 for one (plus postage), or three for $30, they are available from Industrial Wear, P.O. Box 1349, Studio City, Calif. 91614. The company donates a percentage of the profits to environmental and pro-peace groups.
Several canvas sacks carry their messages right on the bag. The Earth Tote, for example, states: “Our landfills and garbage dumps cannot take any more PAPER OR PLASTIC! . . . Please Bring Your Own Bag.” Shaped like a large grocery-bag, the $15 tote (at Stop and Look, Studio City) has padded canvas handles and is guaranteed for one year. A portion of the profits goes to an environmental group. It says so on the bag.
Children of the Forest canvas bags, carried at all Westward Ho stores, urge shoppers to “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.” The chain’s buyer, Jeffrey Eisikowitz, says he initially rejected the idea of stocking the $9.95 bags. “But it’s working. People really and truly bring them back. I thought they would just use them for the beach.” Advertised capacity is 35 pounds.
The Plan-It Bag doesn’t say a lot, but it’s decorated with a large globe and 10% of the proceeds goes to environmental organizations. Three friends--John Cherpas, Shirley Huling and Anna Huling--created the ample (17x16x5 1/2) canvas bags for Earth Day and sold them at various events around Los Angeles. The trio is still in business and the totes, priced $10 each, three for $28.50, five for $45, can be orderd from Plan-It Bags, P.O. Box 2518, Venice, Calif. 90241-2518.
Esprit’s chic silver-and-chartreuse shopping tote has the most forceful message of all. But it’s discreet. An attached, fold-away silve rpouch is printed with an impassioned plea to “Question growth, question consumption, question progress because we are unquestionably destroying our own habitat . . .” This $30 response to “Paper or plastic?” is at the Esprit Super Store in West Hollywood.
For those who prefer to keep their convictions private, there are at least two choices. Trader Joe’s heavy-duty canvas bags cost a thrifty $4.69. The time-honored colorful, capacious hand-woven straw bags with leather handles, imported from Kenya are available at Nordstrom for under $20--no message included.
