“I’m so glad you’re a she-geek!” Marty just said to me.


I’d mentioned that although we don’t say it on any of our marketing literature, our bags are actually vegan – they’re made without using any animal bits or animal testing. This means they’re eco-, human-, AND animal-friendly.


Truth is, though, we Rebagz types try not to resort to pre-existing labels and definitions, because it hampers our thinking. Case in point was our recent decision to send me to listen to a presentation by John Eagan, a vice president and general merchandise manager for Costco Wholesale. I mean, using reductionist thinking we don’t have much in common as organizations because they’re a massive, mainstream corporation and we’re a little winky eco-chic handbag company. Yet Costco is one company we actually DO want to learn from, because there’s something about their culture that enables them to consistently receive great praise from their members and their employees while making millions of dollars. Like I said, we don’t just accept pre-existing definitions for big ideas like financial success, so, for us, the manner in which we succeed is just as important to us as the fact that we succeed.


I took so many notes at this presentation that my hand was sore, and most of it had to do with little examples that inspired me. For instance, wrapping pallets differently and choosing a different model of truck allowed them to increase their trucking efficiency by about 30%, which is not only a massive financial improvement, but an environmental one. And at some locations they’re sending food waste to a worm farm, and the waste later comes back to Costco in the form of compost. I think that is the coolest thing! See? Marty’s right – I’m a geek.

As I was leaving the talk, I saw a woman carrying a really cute bright yellow tote, and I was like, HANG ON! That’s a yellow Large Tie Tote! I had to introduce myself, because, given the context, chances were it was somebody Marty knows. Sure enough, it was Cindy Baker Gilbert, who is, in Marty’s words, “a wonderful writer and a dear, dear friend. I love her spirit and her Texas twang, and she’s one of those people you can talk your heart out to.” In honor of Cindy and her cute bag, this week we’re featuring the Large Tie Tote in yellow. Regularly $95, it’s $71.25 through next Tuesday.


All the Best to You,


Bonny

A catastrophe hit my friends over in the Philippines when a tropical storm named Ketsana dumped a month’s worth of rain in 12 hours, making it the worst storm to hit that country in 40 years. Eighty percent of Manila was under water over the weekend and most everyone I spoke with had at least one floor of their home completely flooded. Fortunately, no one I know has died or been injured – but the death count over there is up to about 250 and I’m sure it will rise.

My staff here is as concerned as I am, and yesterday we realized that, at times like these, the work we’re doing becomes incredibly important. I assured our Manila-based broker Malu by phone that we’d still be making our bags over there. “This may not help today,” I told her, “but just tell everyone that there’ll be plenty of work in the future – and that means you’ll all have income, so you’ll be able to rebuild.”

This is why it’s so important to be human-friendly as well as eco-friendly, and by that I mean maintaining fair labor practices, where the people who are making your bags or other products take home good pay. Yes, as a result our bags cost more than the ones made in China, India or elsewhere by people earning slave wages. But our fair labor practices mean that the people hit so hard by this calamity will slowly be able to resurrect their homes, send their children to school and see the doctor if they need to – and given how bad the flooding situation is in the Philippines, disease is going to be rampant.

Malu kept thanking me and our new office manager Alexis Lyman for our concern and for our continued business. She also thanked us for the American aid being sent over there, which was really quite sweet of her, and Malu’s gratitude is something I wanted to pass along to you.

If you’d like to help out by making a donation to help the people hit so hard by Tropical Storm Ketsana, AmeriCares is sending relief over there as we speak. If you’d like to wire money directly to the Philippines, the Philippine consulate in Hawaii has a list of local organizations who are accepting funds on behalf of the victims. I know Malu and her countrymen and women would truly appreciate it.

XOXO Marty

I love Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, a BBC interview show that not only has great guests, but treats them, and us, to that uniquely British brand of intelligent, quick silliness. A few weeks ago, one of the guests was Dame Vivienne Westwood.


Viv is one of my all time favorite fashion designers, and people, for that matter. She was Malcolm McLaren’s partner when he managed the Sex Pistols. The shop they had together, named at various times Sex and Let It Rock, among other things, supplied the Sex Pistols with the clothes they wore at their first gig, thus cementing the link between Punk and Vivienne Westwood. Safety pins? Dog collars? Tartan fabric? Vivienne Westwood.


At any rate, Viv actually had contacted Jonathan Ross with a request to appear on his show. She wanted to talk not about fashion fabulousness, but about climate change. And I’ve now re-watched this interview on Youtube about 10 times: Part One and Part Two.


See, what’s so remarkable if you’ve been alive for a little while is that Johnny Rotten of The Sex Pistols sarcastically sang God Save the Queen to protest England’s conformity and deference to royalty in the face of rampant social injustice. And a little over 30 years later, Vivienne Westwood of bondage pants fame is sincerely singing the praises of Prince Charles because he’s working to reverse climate change through an organization called Rainforest SOS.


This endorsement was surreal to me at first, and then I decided I like Viv even more because she didn’t feel beholden to a radical pose from years ago, but has chosen a new radical pose that’s just as principled as the last one was! She’s been influenced by the work of James Lovelock, who is best known as the father of Gaia Theory. Gaia Theory is basically the idea that all parts of our planet form a complex interacting system, like a single organism. So, for example, if part of the earth experiences extreme drought, extreme flooding strikes somewhere else as the planet works to re-balance itself as a whole. Lovelock’s holistic viewpoint is unusual, and he need not hold back his provocative opinions, because he’s been working as an independent scientist free of corporate and institutional funding since 1964. I find his message to be a real downer on the written page, so his charming and cheerful and classically British delivery of apocalyptic predictions is the way I prefer to hear about them. Here’s an example from YouTube.

Apocalyptic climate change, royalty, eccentricity, surrealism, fabulous fashion, silly humor – believe it or not, we actually have a bag that sums it all up: the Napoleon Cinchy Tote. The cinchy shape is a nod to vintage handbags, and on this grand scale, made out of a rice sack, it’s a cheeky reference like one Vivienne Westwood would pull. Plus, Napoleon in a rice field? That’s funny and surreal, or apocalyptic if you think about the world’s landscapes collapsing in on themselves with violent change over time. At any rate, the bag is 25% off ($71.25) through the end of next Tuesday. Wear one and feel fabulous while you save the world!


All the Best to You,
Bonny

As a kid in Sacramento I developed a very full inner life that was fueled by the images I saw on the massive pages of Interview magazine. It was about 1977 or ’78, and something big was happening in New York and London. I stared again and again at the photographs of people with bizarre haircuts, and elaborate makeup, and shredded club clothing that was seemingly safety pinned together from whatever castoff bits were available. It was unbelievably gritty and fabulous to a young person who’d always had a safe and clean suburban life.


Eventually, what became known as Punk rock and New Wave hit the radar in Sacramento, and there was a store called Evangeline’s  that grabbed the glittering darkness of the 1980s and ran with it. At Evangeline’s you could buy buttons and t-shirts that said outrageous things, accessories in lurid day-glo colors, and cheeky graphic postcards from, among others, the late Philip-Dmitri Galas (brother of Diamanda). It was at Evangeline’s that I bought the perfect belt for the day. It was shiny, black, and springy. I could wrap it around my body about 10 times. And it fastened just like the plug on an electrical cord. It wasn’t until I was in college that I realized it actually WAS an electrical cord. I probably wouldn’t have ever thought of it, but I came home one day and saw that my roommate had used it to plug in our lamp.


Another thing I remember about this transformative time was the mysterious name Fiorucci. It kept popping up in Interview in conjunction with random silly pictures, and there were little cupids in sunglasses that seemed to have something to do with it. I didn’t know then that Fiorucci was both a store and a brand – they came out with an early, possibly the first, pair of stretch jeans in 1982. Sounds like it was a scene as much as it was commerce, for the Warhol set were regulars, and singer/performance artist Klaus Nomi even played their opening in 1977. Legend has it that Madonna bought her iconic black rubber bracelets there, too.

 
Fiorucci the store closed in the mid 80s, and the brand disappeared a little while later amidst financial troubles. It’s since been acquired by Edwin Co. Ltd. of Japan, who make jeans. I can’t read Japanese to know if they mention Fiorucci licensing, though there’s also a site at http://www.fiorucci.it that may or may not be official. In terms of evidence that someone is trying to do something with the brand, I would think I had hallucinated it, but there actually was a Fiorucci collection at Target in late 2005 or early 2006 – I have a t-shirt with a big pink sparkly lip print to prove it. 

I was recently reminded of the Fiorucci in my young mind by this week’s featured bag, our silver Chained to Me Clutch. It has a certain Warhol factory-Fiorucci -Debbie Harry circa-1978 quality not only because it’s silver, but because what’s more 1978 new wave than a darling clutch with a chain that’s made out of woven trash?  For that matter, what’s more 2009 than a darling clutch with a chain that’s made out of woven trash? New wave or eco-chic, it’s a classic either way, and it’s 25% off, or $45, through September 22nd.


All the Best to You,


Bonny

One of the fun things about what I do is getting to know our customers. Fortunately, given that we make our bags in an eco-friendly and human-friendly way, we seem to attract really terrific people – and one of those people is Carolyn Segal.

Carolyn became a customer earlier this year and I think we got to know her better because of some question about shipping. She turned out to be so great to talk to by phone and email that we started looking forward to her orders just so we had an excuse to say “hi” and thank her. Again. And again.

She’s a rather prolific handbag buyer. Carolyn even took advantage of our most recent ezine and ordered a few bags from our “Lion” collection, which is now on clearance. “I’m a Leo!” she told us by phone.

Her ebullience is hard-won, as it turns out. Jerry Segal, Carolyn’s husband and a renowned Philadelphia-area attorney, woke up from surgery 21 years ago to discover he was suddenly quadriplegic due to a mistake during the operation.

Can you imagine? How dreadful for him and for Carolyn as well. But they both possess indomitable spirits and, fortunately, there was a place called the Magee Rehabilitation Hospital not far from where he’d worked. With the combined determination of the Segals and the hospital staff, Jerry was able to walk out of the hospital three months later with the aid of crutches. He was even able to return to work and to his golf game.

To thank Magee, Carolyn and Jerry organized the first Jerry Segal Golf Classic back in 1990. Since that time, they’ve raised over $7 million for the hospital which has paid for new patient transportation, new state-of-the-art equipment, subsidized housing for patients’ families and over 50,000 meals for those family members.

And the 20th Annual Jerry Segal Golf Classic is coming up on Friday, September 25, 2009 at the Green Valley and ACE Country Clubs in Lafayette Hill, a beautiful suburb of Philadelphia. If you’re in the area, why not drop by and contribute to a great cause? (You’ll find several of our Rebagz at the silent auction.) And if you’re not anywhere near Philadelphia on the 25th, why not make a donation in the name of someone you love?

This is a chance to help create an extraordinary transformation for many of Magee’s patients. Imagine being carted in on a gurney, feeling hopeless, immobile and terrified – and then having a fighting chance at leaving the hospital on your feet and into the arms of those you love because of the amazing facility helped by donations like yours.

Here at Rebagz, we don’t know Jerry. But we do know Carolyn. We adore and admire her big heart, great sense of humor and dedication.

And we think Jerry’s a very, very lucky man for all sorts of reasons – but mostly because he’s got Carolyn by his side.

XOXO Marty

We have an amazing new Director of Sales and her name’s Bonny Baldwin.  Every Wednesday, I’m turning the blog over to her so she can talk about all things and bags eco-friendly.  So heeeeeeeeere’s Bonny!

We’ve had a little fire problem in Southern California recently – maybe you’ve heard about it.

Anytime I hear about a fire in the Angeles National Forest my first thought is of the big cats housed at Shambala and at The Wildlife Waystation. These two sanctuaries, in different areas of the forest, have the stupendous responsibility and expense of caring for scores of lions, tigers, and other wild animals that aren’t easy to house, let alone to load into a truck when there’s a fire threat. And this time, both sanctuaries were threatened by the Station Fire. As of today, the evacuation orders in their respective areas have been lifted, yet regardless, this was a costly and stressful disaster for everyone.

The Waystation is the bigger of the two sanctuaries, though I haven’t seen it. I’d love to, it’s just that sanctuaries are very different from zoos, and you can’t really drop in on them. I have had the repeated pleasure of visiting Shambala, in Acton, during their scheduled tour dates, and it’s a fantastic and eye-opening experience! Shambala and the Roar Foundation are Tippi Hedren’s grand calling. For those not well-versed in Alfred Hitchcock films, Tippi is most famous for having starred in The Birds and Marnie. Though before you start thinking this is some kind of fancy celebrity scene, know that Tippi is likely to greet you in full makeup, yes, but also in jungle boots and with a shovel in hand to clean up tiger poop! (She’s our kind of woman.)

A few things I didn’t know or think about until I visited Shambala:

· A full side of beef doesn’t go very far when you’re feeding big cats – you’ve got to have a lot of freezers!

· Housing and moving big cats is complicated, partly because their politics are. If you think about how hard it can be to get domestic cats to get along, you can see where I’m headed with this. When they introduce a new cat at Shambala, it’s a big undertaking to keep all of the cats and people safe from potential territory disputes. And you just don’t always know if cats of any size are going to get along until you try….

· Tigers love to play in the water. And they especially love to play with balls in the water. What kind of ball will hold up to tigers’ play? A bowling ball! Seriously – sometime in life you’ve got to see tigers bowling in the water.

This week, then, I’d like to draw attention to the big cats at our local sanctuaries by drawing attention to our selection of big cat bags. Our striking Limited Edition Tiger Messenger Bag is now $64.50, which is 25% off, through September 15^th. If you’re more of a lion person, our entire lion rice sack collection is 25% off, too! And if you’re moved to do so, please support the animals of the Roar Foundation, and/or The Wildlife Waystation in recovering from this very stressful time.

All the best to you – Bonny

How I adore the Wild Web Women at Web Marketing Therapy!  They’ve helped us optimize our web presence, so I was crazy mad for them even before they blogged about…um…me.  If you’re so inclined, you can check their blog out here.  They’re also offering a FREE 30-minute tutorial called “The Power of Web Analytics.”  Yes, I said FREE!  Just sign up here.

No matter what you do, though, you really should sign up for their almost-daily e-newsletter.  I learn something new every time I read it.  We all need to know how to work the web, and these women have all the knowledge about it anyone could ever possibly need – and then some.  Plus they have fantastic senses of humor and are lead by the fabulous Lorrie Thomas, who models one of our Rebagz Jasmine Cinchy Totes here:

We’ve been working with them for the past few months and I can’t rave about them enough.  I actually enjoy blogging now and am getting into the whole social media thing, and it’s all thanks to their inspiration.  They’ve really simplified and clarified things for me, and I’m so grateful.

Whether it’s blogging, tweeting, managing LinkedIn, Facebook (I call it f’booking) or any other way to socialize and market online, they are the experts.  I bow down and kiss their pedicured cyberfeet!

XOXO Marty

Rorey (our fantastic operations manager) and I are having a great time at the New York International Gift Fair.  Everyone’s in a great mood, buyers are responding really well to our two new Rebagz shapes – our new Sling Back Bags and Mini-Messenger Bags.

But what I’m most jazzed about is how people are going crazy about our upcoming “Statement Makers!”  They’ll launch at the end of September and will be the third branch of our Rebagz line.  Here are our QVC liaisons Diana Urbine and Pat Wagoner modeling two of them in our booth:

You’ll be hearing a LOT more about this new line in the coming weeks.  And just to give you another peek, here’s one of our new customers Bohumila with another “Statement Maker”:

We’ll be packing up our booth tomorrow – and I’ll actually be squeezing in 3 days of vacation!  But I’ll be back in the office next week and will start filling you in on the story behind “Statement Makers.”


XOXO Marty

This is going to be one of those news-y blog posts where I fill you in on where we’re going and who’s been saying really, really nice things about us.

Thank you thank you thank you!

LA Splash included our eco-chic handbags in their “Handbags Collection 2009 – Hot New Handbags for You to View” (scroll to the bottom of the page) and they also included my friend Sarah Shaw’s Handy Hold-All’s, which are fantastic handbag organizers. You need to scroll down a ways to find us, but given that the bags ahead of us have names like Badgley Mischka, Iman, Ariat and Guess, we’re just amazed we made the list.

Also, my friend Ana Caban featured one of Rebagz Small Cinchy Totes as a giveaway a week ago on her wonderful website La Buena Life. Yes, my bad for not alerting all of you – so sorry! However, check out her site because she does great giveaways every Thursday – they’re called “Tentacion Thursdays” – and it’s really, really easy to enter.

Over on Eco-Artware, long-time Rebagz customer Reena Kazmann gave my book “Altered Shoes: A Step-By-Step Guide to Making Your Footwear Fabulous” a lovely review. Thanks, Reena! If you’re into art, craft and design, you may want to head over to my official Altered Shoes website to sign up for my monthly Eco-Art Ezine.

We’re on Our Way To NY!

The New York International Gift Fair starts August 15th, and we’ll be in the juried Handmade Division (booth #122, if you’d like to drop by for a visit). Our operations manager Rorey got the components of our booth all packed up and ready to ship out. She then walked into my office with a large role of palette wrap – the thick plastic sheeting used to hold all those enormous boxes together on the palette – and basically announced it was my turn. So…

…around and around I went, while Rorey snapped photos, thank you very much. (Like the caption says, at least she didn’t shoot me from behind.) I actually hate the palette wrap because it’s a huge amount of plastic to use, but for now it’s a necessary evil if we want our booth to arrive in New York intact. Plus we do reuse it, since we have to stuff our Rebagz to make them look pleasingly plump for our buyers.

I’ll be sure to keep you apprised of all the comings and goings in New York. In the meantime, we’re grateful to Stu Stockelberg and the folks at Service By Air for taking such good care of our booth as it makes its way cross-country.

XOXO Marty

I admit it may seem a stretch to see designing and selling handbags as a means of bringing peace and justice anywhere, much less around the world. But I always feel that even small gestures can add up and make a difference. And that’s something you’re helping us do because whenever you place an order for our Rebagz Eco-Chic Handbags, $1 from that order goes to Global Exchange.

I worked with Global Exchange when I did humanitarian work in Chiapas, Mexico and I really like what they’re focused on – “Building People-to-People Ties.”
I first went to Chiapas on one of their “reality tours,” where “travelers are linked with activists and organizations from around the globe who are working toward positive change.”

They go to all sorts of different countries, and I know my journey with them was a life-changer. That’s a big term to toss around, but in my case it’s no exaggeration. It’s one of the big reasons I do business the way I do and make sure the people who make our eco-fashion handbags are treated and paid decently.

The reason I bring all this up is because Global Exchange’s membership coordinator Natalie Mottley recently sent us a very kind letter after getting our most recent check, courtesy of our generous customers:

Thanks so much for yet another generous donation to Global Exchange! We really appreciate your support and your partnership in our work for peace and justice around the world.

Really, she’s thanking you, and I thought you should know that. Every bit helps – even handbags.

Thank you for enabling me to give back to an organization that was so important in my life.

XOXO Marty