How tired I am of those terms- seems every imaginable retailer has jumped on the bandwagon and added those words to their products. Yesterday I saw a hand sewn should bag meant for hauling groceries, made out of 'eco friendly' fabrics. It was a simple tote bag with long straps that are tied together at the top for a shoulder bag- it would take 15 minutes to zip up on the machine, and admittedly it would be handy since they have taken my plastic bags away at Whole Foods and replaced them with the paper bags that have handles attached with flour and water paste. (flour=sustainable, water= local) But back to the cloth bags. I have to order them on-line, they have to be shipped to me, they take electricity and effort to sew, a sweat shop to weave (oh, like you really believe those overseas mill workers are over 10 and fed well?) and multiple companies and countries and efforts to get the fabric to the consumer here. That would be me.
So, Ms BagLady sews them up one at a time and then charges SIXTY EIGHT US DOLLARS (plus shipping) for a pretty crappy looking bag, just like the hobos put on sticks, but longer and bigger because afterall, we buy more now than the hobos did. How is this saving the environment or the food supply or water or whatever we are saving thie week?
But I have digressed about this too-expensive bag being made by someone taking advantage of our GUILT for buying too much heavy stuff. What I really want to rant about is Macys and West Elm and Pottery Barn and every other online newsletter I get all using the above terms as selling points. I found a tee shirt the other day on sale marked down several times and right in my target bargain zone. It had a big hang tag talking about BAMBOO fabric and renewable resources and on and on. So I looked at the teensy tag sewn into the side seam and sure enough it was a very small % bamboo with rayon (now called viscose or simply 'Italian fabric) and some cotton and there was another tag in there too- DRY CLEAN ONLY.
Yup. Sure I will spend $9 on a tee shirt I have to spend $6 on every time I wear it. So, I am on a quest to buy NOTHING that claims that I am doing the earth a favor if I buy it. And I am also on a quest to buy much less- that will be my contribution. And about a bag to carry stuff home- I will sew up my own out of one of my stack of 40's tablecloths, and line it with something sturdy and washable. If you want to get in line, I will sell off my prototype versions for a bargain at $57 (I am kidding here, please don't go hunting for my 'shopping cart'.
My shopping will be back at the incredible produce market that has every imaginable ethnic vegetable grown by whoever grows it wherever it grows. Their prices are the lowest around, the variety unsurpassed, and they make their own pasta. There is no meat market but they have Proscuitto from Parma and the best juiciest rotissery chickens on the planet. Make that Humanely Rotisseried Chickens. The place is run by and manned by and checked out by Asians and Mexicans and Indians and Russians, and shopped by all of the above as well as some very interesting cross-breeds, the human equivalents of the Labradoodle. The place is chock full of families carrying and pushing and chasing the cutest babies ever, some wearing shirts from Ecuador or in slings from India.
And they have flowers.
Grumpily Yours,
the Other Bag Lady
PS- please don't grab me on the Labradoodle remark- my own kids are Pit-maranians, and that was my bit to mix up pot.
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