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Posted on | April 14, 2009 |

there was a veritable bevy of clutches, satchels and totes at bagtrends.com’s green arm candy party last night (pics to come), and my lady friends and i were particularly enamored with these yummy vegan clutches by NOAH (no animals harmed).

now i love animals as much as the next girl (just ask my pet squirrel Pee-chan, god rest his soul), but recently finding out that “vegan leather” most often means “plastic” was a bit offputting. i was surprised and happy when we asked the sales rep at the table about the plastic overlays on NOAH bags and he replied “well, it is recycled.”

that was all i needed to hear! both lillian and i had been on non-shopping binges, but these cruelty-free, recycled gems were too cute and guilt free to pass up (plus they were only $50)!

or so we thought…

eco-materials guru bahar shahpar was on the scene reppin’ showroom four hundred’s phenomenal ashley watson bags made out of vintage jackets, so i thought i’d stop by to say hello. upon showing her our new clutches, she inquired about the materials. “recycled plastic!” i chirped proudly. “that’s interesting,” said bahar “that kind of plastic is very hard to recycle - and i wonder what it’s recycled from.”

well color me dumbfounded! here i am touting myself as an informed and reformed consumer and i was so eager to buy this clutch that i didn’t even inquire about the recycling processes or what the plastic was recycled from. to assuage my guilt, i decided to do a bit of research and was horrified to find that the NOAH about page does not mention a THING about recycled materials.

it gets worse.

the plastic overlay on the bags is pvc, a toxic material that is about as evil as plastic can get.

i am disappointed in myself, but love my new clutch so much that i’m still clinging to some kind of hope that there is some kind of explanation…

Category: Confessions of a Former Urban Piggy, Events
Tags: arm candy party > ashley watson > bagtrends > bahar shahpar > clutch > green bags > no animals harmed > noah > plastic > purses > pvc > recycled plastic

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swyyne has always been an experiment for me. with all of the other super eco sites out there, i've been feeling like i want to contribute something just a bit different. so for now, here are my random musings.