What’s Right with The Outdoor Industry
By Rocky Thompson on February 15th, 2007
If you could point to one facet of the outdoor industry as proof that things are on the right track, it would probably be messenger bags. There are a ton of small manufactures rising up to try to steal some of the market, and a lot of them are making their products exclusively from reused and recycled material (Freitag, Alchemy Goods).
It’s gotten to the point where a relatively big manufacturer like Keen is even beating the sustainability drum as they try to get their share of the messenger bag market. Their bags made from cast off pieces of their ungodly ugly shoes. The aluminum parts come from can recycling and the rubber bottoms from shoe soles.
Of course, I don’t think Keen is going to kill it in the messenger bag market just by using old shoe parts. These bag companies were born because riders were burnt out with the status quo—it’s a design-driven purchase, and Keen’s product just doesn’t look up to the task.
[...] Making your own shoes from tires sounds like a line uttered in a pathetically sad sentimental movie about a college debate team. But apparently the recycled messenger bag market is so saturated that Splaff Flopps decided to go into flip-flops alongside their urban shoulder bags. Their $38 Lazy Boy Flip-Flop is made with recycled car tires, bicycle inner tubes, and hemp. They’ve received some rave reviews from the guys at Phoresia. [...]