Born-Again Bags

Handmade, upcycled, sustainable, vintage, repurposed bags with a purpose

Fount Leather

Natural leather, local- and handmade
Phillip and Jackie Wachter met, married and started Fount Leather together in Cleveland, OH, even though neither has roots in the Rust Belt city. Jackie was a Brooklyn-based kindergarten teacher with a degree in fashion design and Phillip worked in video production in Virginia. The two fell in love in Cleveland and, as Jackie says, “We just fell into the business.”
It started around Christmas a year or two ago, when, coming from creative backgrounds, they decided to make gifts for each other: a leather pencil case and a wallet. A friend’s mother-in-law then asked them to make her a purse, and that’s how Fount got started.
They rented a shoe repair shop that came with tools, and “kind of made it up as we went along,” says Jackie. “Fifteen prototypes later, we ended up with what is now one of our most popular wallets.” Fount designs feature flawless workmanship, elegant and timeless designs and top-quality leather materials. Phillip and Jackie share a deep appreciation of vintage style and craftsmanship, “mainly because of the quality, detail and beautiful simplicity,” says Phillip. “We’re trying to make something that is an heirloom product,” says Jackie, “and that’s the great thing about leather—it lasts a long time.”
One year after they set up shop, the two have a team of nine working in their studio and have shipped their bags to customers in every state except Alaska, with a mandate that is bigger than themselves.
“Cleveland used to be a big textiles manufacturing city,” says Jackie. “Part of our mission is to bring the fashion industry back to Cleveland and make beautiful, high-quality things here that will last.” fountleather.com

Mei Vintage

Recycled vintage kimono fabric
“Mei” is Chinese for beautiful and that is the perfect way to describe these bags. Designer and founder Alice Huang is a child of three cultures—LA, Hawaii and Asia—and she has perfectly calibrated her tri-cultural heritage into this line of sustainable and sturdy handmade clutches, shoulder bags,hobos, wallets and totes, crafted in California from repurposed vintage kimonos, organic hemp, natural wood and, in some cases, scraps of recycled leather.
Huang was hit by the thunderbolt when she volunteered at a Japanese
buddhist temple while living in Hawaii. “I had the opportunity to witness these beautiful kimonos at a traditional Japanese ‘bon dance’ and my love affair for vintage textiles began,” she says. “By happy coincidence, one day, I decided to combine my old leather jacket and vintage kimonos that I had stored away to create a handbag for myself. I was really happy with the result and decided to create a sustainable handbag line that people can appreciate.”
Inspired by a fusion of Eastern and Western art, and a combination of modern Western influences with the cultures of the East, Huang creates eye-catching bags that are beautifully crafted and uniquely earth-friendly. “The intricacy and bold patterns from vintage kimonos and my love for nature triggered my passion for wanting to preserve and reuse these kimonos,” she comments.
What’s new for fall? “I have more gorgeous vintage kimonos in my personal collection that I will be unveiling and turning into limited-edition bags,” says Huang. “I am also playing around with new sketch drawings and will turn these drawing into limited edition tote bags. I love the idea of turning something old into something new and beautiful again.” meivintage.com

Relan

Upcycled banners and billboards
Anyone who lives in a city, drives down a highway, goes to a stadium or attends a trade show ends up staring at billboards or banners that are printed on vinyl. The colorful in-your-face graphics can be distracting—or infuriating!—but they are certainly always eye-catching.
And there’s a lot of it out there. Over 600,000 tons of vinyl is manufactured for billboards and trade show booths every year, destined to end up in dumpsters and, eventually, landfills. When Kari Brizius and her mother, Della Simpson, started to think about it, they had an idea. The eco-minded Minnesota-based duo had always wanted to start a business together. What if they could create something beautiful from repurposing and upcycling those billboards and banners into one-of-a-kind messenger bags, totes and laptop sleeves, and breathe new life into discarded materials?
So they created Relan, a company that would sell to consumers, but also create an opportunity to educate the companies that created all that vinyl waste about sustainability by taking their discards and creating branded bags for them to give out at conferences and trade shows, allowing them to continue to pass their brand message along—and do it sustainably.
Relan designs are made in Minnesota. The company partners with organizations that employ the mentally and physically challenged. Materials are cleaned using minimal water and eco-friendly soaps. Many seamstresses and sewers come from the local Hmong community and bring a rich sewing tradition and high level of skill. And, of course, every product is made with upcycled and recycled materials.
“Banners and trade show booths are printed and thrown away,” says Brizius. “Every festival, community event and trade show uses thousands of square feet of vinyl banner material, billboards, fabric and mesh, which is thrown into dumpsters,” she continues. “The more products Relan can produce using these existing materials, the greater impact we have.” relangreen.com