Linda MacPhee, the successful entrepreneur behind MacPhee Workshop Ltd., has come up with an innovative response to Toronto’s recent ban on plastic bags. The clever bag is a reusable cloth bag that anyone can make at home from a single piece of fabric. Its simple design conceals a number of user benefits, and for Linda, strikes at the heart of the environmental issues being debated. Cloth bags are the obvious alternative to plastic, having less environmental impact than paper. But there are some well-known drawbacks to using them. The most obvious of these, is how easy they are to forget. Shoppers who are accustomed to having bags provided for them are not always likely to remember to bring their own bag – especially if that bag is hard to carry around. As well many are left in the vehicle when the shopper is in the store! Many environmentalists worry that this will result in an increase of paper bag usage.The bag is designed to be easily kept on one’s person at all times. It is made with a small front pocket, into which the entire bag may be stuffed when it is not being used. It can easily be kept in a purse, a knapsack or back pocket or hooked onto a belt loop or computer bag.
It’s a durable design, holding up to 30 lbs. of groceries when unfolded. This is because it is made from a single, seamless piece of fabric. No seams means no risk of seams tearing. The bag is as strong as the fabric it is made with. And the seamless design means something else, too: it is extremely easy to make. The handles are cut in one with the bag so cannot fall off. The bottom has no seam that can explode if overfilled….always an issue with the plastic ones! This simplicity of design – the ease with which the bag can be made – is, for Linda, its most important feature. It means that each of us, regardless of D.I.Y. skill, can engage as individuals in the solution to the bagging dilemma, rather than relying on business or government to do it for us.
Linda sees this as part of a larger trend in the fight for environmental sustainability. “People are making things for themselves, more and more,” she says. “They are growing their own gardens, making their own soap, and turning more and more to handmade products. The WORLD’S EASIEST SHOPPING BAG is something that people can make themselves – a handmade, individualized way of meeting a need that we used to trust to businesses.”
Linda is a featured designer and recognized celebrity at Creativ Festival. See her live at Creativ Festival this fall.