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| "Multi-Color" Small Tie Tote, Recycled Juice Packs, $60 |
"Magnolia" Cinchy Tote, Recycled Rice Sacks, $95 |
"Panda" Limited Edition Messenger Bag, Recycled Rice Sacks, $86 |
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| 1. | Awesome bags Marty! Im from Buffalo too-its great to see how many creative people come from upstate NY. Love your products, good luck friend, Leann Marie Zafuto, artist & designer - Leann Marie from GA, July 23, 2008. | | 2. | Great Bagz! I LOVE the Panda-- he's too darned cute! Plus, you can't go wrong with eco these days. - Jeanne L from CA, July 25, 2008. | | 3. | I have a multi color tote, and I get stopped by Rebagz admirers(men and women)every single day. It's so cute and bold and people are stunned when I tell them it's made of recycled juice bags. Probably the coolest article of clothing I own! - Ann from CA, July 29, 2008. | | 4. | Way to recycle with style! Really amazing designs you've created, really using the materials (fabric) available to you. - Cathleen from CA, July 29, 2008. | | 5. | I have two of Marty's bags and aside from their beauty, I'm simply spoiled by their functionality. They hold up! I'm female --I shlep things! The lightweight and sturdy material was a brilliant choice and an added bonus -- beautiful and strong - like us! Kudos to Marty! - sherie pollack from CA, July 29, 2008. |
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| Rebagz™ Handbags are made from vibrant recycled rice
sacks and woven juice packs. Style comes first with us, and our “eco” focus is
the icing the cake. We just launched the Rebagz line last July and are now in
over 200 stores in 40 states and 4 countries. We’re fortunate in that a lot of
magazines have featured us and “Ugly Betty’s” America Ferrera chose to wear one
of our bags on her show – as if we didn’t love her enough already!
Our woven line is made from recycled juice packs, the kind you just stick a
straw in and sip from, while the rice sacks look as they did when they were
holding rice, amazing designs and all. These “fabrics” inspire me to develop
silhouettes that celebrate their beauty. My aim is to create handbags that are
as varied and versatile as they are stylish for women of all ages – and men too,
who are big fans of our messenger bags. We’re finding that the young crowd is
especially drawn to our bags because, as eco-conscious as they are, they still
like their handbags to look exciting and vibrant.
I was selling my handmade jewelry designs but wanted to expand to a larger
market. I’d already sold some handbags along with my jewelry and my dear friend
and co-author Christine Calla (“Beading Vintage Style Jewelry”/Sterling
Publishing), who’d grown up in the Philippines, suggested I head to Manila with
my ideas. While there, I discovered an organization that was working with the
recycled juice pack weave and began working with them to create my designs. I
started the rice sack line, however, from butt scratch, literally roaming the
markets in search of rice merchants to see what sacks they had – and then trying
to convince them to sell the used ones to me to make handbags. That request got
a lot of strange looks.
Given that I did humanitarian work in Mexico following the Zapatista rebellion
and that my mama was a serious recycler, the choice to work with recycled
materials was an obvious one. You have to remember that people have been using
rice, flour and feed sacks for hundreds of years to make rough clothing. Also,
we make sure the people who make our bags are treated and paid decently. We
wouldn’t have it any other way and don’t think our customers would, either.
I found an adorable rice sack decorated with the cutest panda I’d ever seen. I
couldn’t wait to work with this “fabric” and knew we could sell thousands of
handbags made from them. Then I found out the sacks were from a discontinued
brand of rice and there were only a couple of hundred sacks left. After tearing
a few chunks of hair out in frustration, I came up with the idea of creating a
Limited Edition line – Rebagz L.E. – for situations like this. Our L.E. handbags
celebrate the unique beauty and rarity of the Panda sack and others like it, and
remind us that many things around us have limits too.
I headed to Manila for the first time in April 2007 with only some sketchy ideas
for handbag designs. Yet I managed to launch the Rebagz line that July at the
California Gift Show when all I had was a part-time assistant. Another thing I’m
proud of is that, despite the recession, we continue to get lots of new
customers, which indicates to me that our bags are not only “eco-fashion
forward” but properly priced as well. The fact that our customers, our
employees, a number of magazine editors and even Ugly Betty are happy with our
Rebagz line makes me one giddy and grateful designer. |
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What is your name? |
Marty Stevens-Heebner |
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Where are you from? |
Buffalo, NY |
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Where do you live now? |
Los Angeles, CA |
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How old are you? |
46 |
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Do you have a design background? |
Yes. |
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Do you still have a day job? |
No. |
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What year were your bags born? |
2007 |
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Bag brand name: |
Rebags |
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What is their retail price range? |
$15 - $135 |
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Where can a shopper buy your bags? |
www.rebagz.com |
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For more information, contact: |
www.rebagz.com |
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Designer Archive:
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