LA SOLEDAD, Mexico -- Candy wrappers, potato chip bags and cookie
packages that once littered roads and filled Mexican dumps are now
making fashion statements in New York, Los Angeles and Tokyo.
Indian men and women from the central state of Mexico have converted
the food labels into colorful women's clutches, shoulder bags and
hip belts that are selling on Web sites and in upscale U.S. boutiques
and department stores for up to $200 apiece.
The idea began here with the non-profit Group for the Promotion of
Education and Sustainable Development, or Grupedsac, an organization
that since 1987 has helped poor Mexican Indians become self-sufficient
through development projects that also aim to preserve the environment.
Making purses out of non-biodegradable packaging started about eight
years ago, after a visitor to Grupedsac's training center taught women
how to mold candy and food-wrapper chains into small change purses.
The classes inspired Edith Samanao, a social worker with Grupedsac
who at the time was teaching women how to sew and make stuffed animals.
"We realized that it was actually very easy to do," she
said, adding that soon she and her students were making larger purses
and designing and manufacturing backpacks, bracelets, earrings, and
placemats.
In early 2004, Grupedsac began looking in earnest for ways to market
the purses, initially distributing them to gift shops and boutiques
in Mexico, project coordinator Olivia Mogollon said.
Later that year, a daughter of Grupedsac Executive Director Margarita
Barney de Cruz brought a few purses with her to show to friends in
Palm Beach, Fla.,where they quickly caught the attention of retired
British textile manufacturer Stanley Cohen and his wife, Elaine.
The couple were so attracted by the bags' designs and socially conscious
origins they began buying them in bulk from Grupedsac in 2005.
The organization now provides the Cohens with up to 150 bags, plus
dozens of belts, a week. The Cohens resell them to Bloomingdale's
stores and small boutiques throughout Florida, as well on their Web
site, Sweetiepurse.com.
"Customers love them," said Stanley Cohen. "They sell
from age 8 to 88."
Miami-based entrepreneur Jonathan Marcoschamer began buying the purses
more than two years ago. He says he has distributed them to 250 high-end
boutiques in Los Angeles, New York, and other major U.S. cities, as
well as to other countries, including Japan.
Marcoschamer says the product appeals to the socially aware.
"In the U.S. and Europe and around the world, there is more
consciousness toward the environmentally friendly," he said.
"We try to communicate the fact that the products are one-of-a-kind,
made from materials that would have ended up in landfills, that are
now giving people the chance to earn a living."