Recycled Denim Jean Shoulder Bag

These Fairly Traded shoulder bags are made from a mixture of recycled materials - denin jeans, car tyres and seat belts and are sure to be a real talking point amongst your friends!

The bag is created by a team of traditional tailors and is of top quality.

Firstly, recycled blue denim jeans, which have been recovered, sorted and thoroughly washed (using water and detoxicated cleaning detergents) are used for both sides of the bag.

This is a real pair of jeans - the front of the jeans featuring the zip area and front pockets can be viewed on one side and on the other side of the bag, the two back pockets of the jeans are used.

These pieces of denim are then sewn together with the sides and base of the bag, which are made from recycled car tyre and inner tubes. This material is chunky, strong and robust.

Finally, the shoulder strap is made from recycled car seat belts.

Inside, the specification is high quality. The bags are fully lined with a plain, black polyester material. There is one, large main compartment and a smaller zipped one, suitable for purses, wallets, keys etc. There is also a small pocket designed to hold your mobile phone. There is a zip closure to the top of the bag for extra security.

These Fair Trade recycled denim jean shoulder bags have been handmade with lots of attention to detail by skilled artisans in India.

Dimensions - width 38 cm  x  height 30 cm  x  depth 12 cm approx. The shoulder strap is adjustable and has a maximum drop of 55 cm from the top of the bag.

Thanks to Anita Ahuja, whose pioneering work transforms used materials into trendy textiles, beauty can still be found through recycling unwanted products.

The non profit organisation Anita established in Delhi in 1998 is named Conserve and comprises teams of people who reclaim plastic bags, car tyres, seat belts, denim jeans and other unwanted materials left on Delhi`s streets and deliver them to her workshop, where they are sorted and washed. Together with a team of traditional tailors, the Conserve staff cut and sew the non woven fabrics they create, producing fabulous fashion accessories for the western market.

It would be easy to mistake Conserve for a fashion label or a brand of sustainable textiles, but the products themselves are only a by-product of what Anita set out to do. Her aim wasn`t just to recycle Delhi`s unwanted products, but to help the rag pickers, a community of people that are the weakest and poorest in Indian society.

An average rag picker earns $25 a month. A rag picker working for Conserve will earn on average $70 a month. But even with a better wage, no one would be happy to stay in this work, and Conserve is not content to leave its workers at the bottom of the employment pile.

Many of them have limited access to education and health benefits, but the people who Conserve support are able to send their children to school and maintain a stable household.

Our recycled car seat belt shoulder bag is made by Conserve artisans.