From waste to fashion: Let’s Eco Party’s invention, TappoBag
The first stylish and eco-friendly Bag created with bottle caps
TappoBag is the successful invention of the Italian environmental organisation Let's Eco Party. Among its founders, Stéphanie Lazzereschi, Smiler for her friends, and her husband, who became popular for having in 2010 the first eco-friendly marriage in Italy.
The main aims of the association are to organise and promote sustainable events, environmental awareness as well as to spread ecological lifestyle and culture.
In order to finance its activities, Let's Eco Party launched a new project named I'm Back - Giving waste a second chance. It concerns the creation of jewellery - rings, earrings, and necklaces - out of recyclable wastes.
In 2012, Smiler realized that bottle caps were highly polluting and never used in fashion. This observation was the starting point for the creation of a brand of bags, TappoBag (literally CapBags). This initiative is patented and extremely original. Each bag is handmade, unique and in limited edition, and they can be easily accessed through DaWanda, the online marketplace entirely devoted to global designers, makers and artisans.
Each cap is linked to the others by a metal string and then sewn on the bag. Creating a TappoBag can take from 6 hours up to 4 days, according to the specific model. At the moment, Let's Eco Party offers 13 models, more than 20 kinds of fabrics and 30 types of caps. The buyer will choose the combination among these different elements and this will make the TappoBag unique.
A number of restaurants in Tuscany collaborate with the organization, collecting caps to re-use them, and the proceeds from the sales are devoted to the association and to the great variety of eco-friendly activities it organizes. For instance, creative recycle courses, events, and awareness-raising campaigns. Moreover, it works together with local authorities, Universities, NGOs. Another ambitious goal is the one to create a net of small micro enterprises whose productive process is sustainable and avoids waste of resources.
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