money bags.

you don’t have to be rich to have a cool bag — and some of these are not just affordable but eco-friendly, recycled and handmade by talented craftspeople! I want them all…

1. I first noticed the beautiful handmade bags by kim white at the lovely brooklyn shop called cog and pearl (thanks for taking me there, claudia!). kim makes bags out of vintage floral and automotive fabrics and they are as sturdy as they are stunning. check kim white’s website for a larger selection (this one is $175 — not cheap but handmade and no one else will have it!).

2. ultratalented artist-musician sarah utter makes tons of great stuff that you can buy on buy olympia dot com. this one is just $24. we’d like a yellow ‘reading is sexy’ mug while you’re at it…


3. and 4. we travel the world with our camera safely snug in a truckette bag by queen bee creations/rebecca pearcy — people love this bag, especially children! these waterproof and durable bags are also sold at buy olympia dot com, at very affordable prices, especially considering they are not made in a sweatshop in cambodia. we like the new red tote ($38) made of recycled banner and we’ve always fancied a stylus truckette ($60) as well, but apparently our poppy one has no intention of getting worn out anytime soon.

5. yes, cath kidston is a little bit twee, but we still love her home stuff and artfully designed handbags. the cowgirl series reminds us of pam. the red and white stars pattern is copied often. this pale nautical print seems ideal for spring, don’t you think? there is a cath k shop in new york now, but for now these bags are darned expensive ($250) through the uk website.

6. delia’s tends to market their wares to my 14-year-old niece and her pals, but occasionally they have something that I like. and I have to say, even coco chanel would have to approve of this simple little stripey bag ($26.50), which seems ideal for late summer beachcombing.

7. food fight grocery store is a vegan-friendly haven I really wanted to visit when I was just in portland but never made it over there to buy vegan marshmallows and that sort of thing. we would be happy to carry one of these tote bags around if we didn’t already have so many canvas bags to shop with. it’s only 12 bucks!

8. matt and nat’s vegan handbags are so much cooler than those big colored leather bags! this one is $150.

9. american apparel sometimes has pretty silly advertisements but we like what they’re trying to do — outsourcing is so over, sweatshops are bad practice, so it’s great they’re trying to change things. we would probably want to go to the gym more often if we had this red lamé duffle, which is so affordable at just $26.

10. holly aiken is like the rebecca pearcy of raleigh, nc. I had a queen bee bag in a raleigh restaurant once and the waitress thought it was a holly bag. this one’s $112 and built to last.

try etsy for more ace bags by designers on the rise… as well as renegade craft fairs, crafty wonderland events, and those crafty bastards’ fairs.