The Most Wanted $15 Bag in the World
If you walked by a Whole Foods in New York City last night, you would've seen a long line of people waiting outside the closed storefront. If you walked by a Whole Foods in New York City early this morning, you would've still seen the long line of people, although this time huddled under umbrellas to protect themselves from a downpour.
What were they all waiting so diligently for? A bag. What kind of bag would only be sold at Whole Foods? Anya Hindmarch's $15 environmentally aware "I'm not a plastic bag" bag. As Hindmarch's tote bags tend to cost closer to $500 than $15, there's a bit more demand for her cloth tote bags sold at cost in order to raise awareness about the plastic bags we mindlessly throw away every year. It sells out in hours at any store it graces with its presence, nearly caused a riot in Hong Kong, and goes for hundreds of dollars on eBay.
As the New York Times says, "If you are reading this anytime after dawn on Wednesday, you are probably too late to make a fashion statement and simultaneously keep the world safe from plastic bags."
I guess I'll just have to stick with the cloth tote bag that I've been using for the past four years (whose purchase didn't require waiting outside a store overnight). It may not be as fashionable, but it does hold stuff, so I guess it gets the job done.
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21 Comments:
yeah, and you're probably much dryer, too.
lekkercraft at 11:50AM on 07/18/07
I saw the line forming outside of the Union Square Whole Foods at 1:00 a.m., had no idea that they were lining up for a bag!
Alaina Browne at 11:55AM on 07/18/07
bitter comment, but I have to say that this kind of hype for an overpriced consumer fashion item to show how much you care about the environment is absolutely ridiculous, infuriating, and ultimately extremely depressing. congratulations to those who now have their precious bags. maybe they could wear them on their heads.
intheyearofthepig at 12:03PM on 07/18/07
Serious Eater Rick just left me a cell-phone message informing me that the Chelsea Whole Foods had 2100 bags that were sold out by 9:30this morning. A security guard at the store said people started lining up at the Columbus Circle Whole Foods at 5:30 last night. This is madness.
Ed Levine at 12:13PM on 07/18/07
I'll just go to Ghetto-mart, buy a $2 plain tote, a sheet of iron on transfer paper and make my own:
"I'm not a an ugly overpriced 'i'm not a plastic bag' bag"
Steamy Kitchen at 12:14PM on 07/18/07
Have been using six canvas bags for my weekly shopping trip for years. Believe that I paid $4.95 a piece for them. Only at Whole Foods would people line up to pay $15. Are they organic?
Colorado Jim at 12:20PM on 07/18/07
@intheyearofthepig: I completely agree. For 4 bags of groceries you need $60 for bags? Around here, that's the weekly food budget for some families.
What a waste.
Lou at 12:21PM on 07/18/07
At Shaw's in Sharon MA you can get nice green canvas bags for $1
NanaJoie at 12:30PM on 07/18/07
Pffft. My favorite "fashion statement" is a little stuff-sack I bought at the co-op for $4, which I can carry in my purse and pull out in case of groceries.
"I am not a plastic bag." What a self-righteous piece of crap!
emily20008 at 12:34PM on 07/18/07
For anyone interested, I'm thinking of making knock-offs that read I Am Not an I'm Not a Plastic Bag Bag. They will be $30.
Adam Kuban at 12:40PM on 07/18/07
yes these aren't plastic bags and they are reusable forever (until they wear out) but i'm sure 9 out of 10 purchasers already have at least one bag (and probably more) suitable for the task.
j at 2:07PM on 07/18/07
What foodies don't realize is just how coveted Anya Hindmarch items are. If it takes an exclusive designer to bring awareness to fashionistas, why not?
Call it a waste or disgusting, but it's all relative. Skinny bitches everywhere are just as curious as to why anyone would wait on line all day for a shack burger or an overpriced cup of gelato.
All that said, I saw the line at WF Chelsea this morning. NO THANK YOU. I have my share of AH accessories. I'm not going to suffer a line of fools in a thunderstorm for a mass produced tote.
strozzapreti at 2:21PM on 07/18/07
It rained REALLY HARD this morning in NYC, with lightning, thunder, all that jazz. Coincidence, from up above? Hindmarch's quotes came off a bit snooty in the paper, too - her referring to her own bag as "cool" (which it isn't from any kind of design viewpoint) and subtley slurring the Chinese who rioted over her product as perhaps not knowing how to queue - I think greening actually took a step back after all this.
Sandro at 3:30PM on 07/18/07
I just don't see how this kind of campaign promotes awareness. I may be pretentiously presumptive, but I don't think a lot of purchasers of these bags are going to use them for their groceries.
At Apartment Therapy-kitchen, they reported that Whole Foods employees were having to stop bag purchasers from taking Whole Foods plastic bags to carry their new totes in. I had to read it twice because I couldn't believe it and I am struggling now not to write a string of curse words in a response.
Like Lou said above, what these bags cost = some families food budgets, and although I fully support capitalism and, although begrudgingly, the uneven distribution of wealth, and things like this make me sick.
But you are right, I don't realize how coveted these items are, nor do I understand waiting 2 hours for a Shack Burger (but I think Mr. Kuban and other bloggers have explained if you go at certain times you don't have to wait that long) or an overpriced cup of gelato, or, as much as I love his cookbook and admire him as a craftsman and artist and truly would love to experience the food of Thomas Keller, I cannot grasp paying $240 for a meal at The French Laundry even though I feel certain it would be a once in a lifetime experience, my budget just couldn't hack it at this point, maybe someday, but I doubt it.
Although I do not have a family of four to feed, my income and (self-inflicted to be sure) debt put me in the very low income bracket, and I don't live in NYC (although I do love the City) and despite way too much education, I don't understand a lot of things. This seems another instance where food politics reveals itself to be extremely classist and it is a difficult subject to discuss. Please forgive the bourgeois self-pity and self-righteousness, I know this is not a place for political discussion, this one just got to me.
But regarding food politics, @ Mr. Kuban, thanks for posting the link to Mr. Yang's article yesterday, an informative and thought provoking read.
intheyearofthepig at 3:31PM on 07/18/07
@Colorado Jim: Unless things have changed, the bags are not organic or fair trade (not that it ever claimed to be...eh, all it claims is that it's not made of plastic, woohoo).
roboppy at 4:01PM on 07/18/07
When the bags were for sale at Holt Renfrew up here in Canada, most of the people buying one carted it out of the store INSIDE a separate Holts shopping bag.
I hate how utterly greedy and ridiculous this whole thing is.
flye3076 at 4:48PM on 07/18/07
If I needed another cloth bag - I think I'd get one from Keith Knight
http://www.kchronicles.com/store/#bags
As it is, I already have a least a dozen that I've acquired over the years.
I don't need anymore as none have worn out, in spite of visits to the washing machine.
pageycooks at 5:34PM on 07/18/07
Oh, those eco-narcissists...
Myszka at 5:46PM on 07/18/07
How is a bunch of rich NYCers buying some overpriced faux-eco consumer good at Whole Foods any different than what happens at Whole Foods every single day? And how is a bunch of fashion-conscious folks queuing for low-priced designer gear different than what happens every time H&M starts a new line?
They're $15, which is cheap for a summer purse, and every person I've seen using one has been as a purse. I think the four-bags-is-$60 is missing the point - I don't think these are intended to be used as grocery bags. They're just a trendy tote that has an anti-plastic-bag slogan.
Maybe they won't make anyone think about our country's massive overuse of plastic bags, but even if only a few people get the message, there's been a net gain. If seeming eco-conscious and reducing waste becomes trendy, maybe more people will actually become eco-conscious and reduce waste!
producestories at 7:02PM on 07/18/07
I like plastic bags. I save them and use them as trash bags. That way, I don't have to buy Hefty garbage bags, it saves me money, and, since the bags are small they fill up fast, I throw them out every day. No accumulating trash in my house. They are very thin, and use much less plastic than real garbage bags do.
THINK A LITTLE SOMETIMES, PLEASE!
seyo at 7:03PM on 07/18/07
These self-righteous pieces of pop-culture effluvium are of course all over eBay, some upwards of $100.00. Which just proves these people don't care whatsoever that they are not plastic bags, just that they are made by some famous fashion designer. As Seinfeld said: "People. They're the worst."
Seyo, I use plastic bags for my garbage bags too. Once I have a big buildup of plastic bags in the house I'll use my cloth tote for a while until I need more plastic bags for my garbage cans.
K at 10:32AM on 07/20/07