Under the Bamboo Tree: Handmade Bags
March 06, 2008
Handmade bags and jewelry from Five Accessories are fashionable, exotic, and socially conscious
By Anne Marie D. Lee
For companies looking for something funky and cool to give away at events, how about a cute, silver thatched purse? If you really want a conversation starter, inform recipients that it's actually made from recycled potato chip bags, and watch the jaws drop.
While not all the handbags and accessories available at Five Accessories are made from empty bags of Lays or Doritos, they do all share traits of remarkable craftsmanship, in addition to a common heritage, that of having been made in smaller developing countries, like Bali, Honduras, Cambodia and Guatemala, where small dollar donations can significantly improve someone's life.
Started by Christine Hutchison, a socially conscious entrepreneur with a background in marketing, and her husband, Wells, Five Accessories is founded on principles of fair trade and eco-friendliness. For each accessory, $5 is given directly to individual schoolchildren in the community where the product was made, via money-wiring services, with documents signed by both child and school principal. Hutchison came up with the idea while on her honeymoon in Bali, where she and her husband met an inspiring tour guide, now business partner. The tour guide, named Kichen, shared a story that started 50 years ago when an American couple from Texas befriended him and out of compassion for his situation—a teenager from a low-income family whose father died at an early age—decided to send him $5 a month for years after they left. That $5 allowed him to go to school rather than work in his teens to support his family, and as a result he continued his education and now is a sought-after tour guide in his native land of Bali, where tourism is the single largest industry.
Having worked in marketing for a large financial corporation for 12 years, Hutchison says she understands the corporate incentive market and its needs. "Customized orders, bulk orders, we're prepared to deliver a customized gift. We may just require a little bit of a lead time." For a PR firm that was holding a women's dinner and looking for unique table gifts with a charitable, eco-friendly spin, Five Accessories produced 400 flower bracelets in recyclable jewelry boxes. Says Hutchinson, "We put our sticker on the outside of every box, and we also had our hangtag that told the story, nicely packaged also with the corporate logo. I put it on every place setting and it looked great."
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