Chico Bags
By Karina | November 17, 2008
You may have noticed that Team Tiny Choices really loves our chico bags. We’ve mentioned it before in passing. Jenn and I have passed Chico Bags between us as gifts for a couple of years now, and it is really and entirely the gift that keeps on giving. I found out a couple of neat-o things about Chico Bags and I’m excited to share them with you! (It should be noted that this is not a paid advertisement or solicited post. We just really like Chico Bags).
Item the First: Chico Bags, you may know, take back their bags for recycling. But did you know they take back ALL reusable BAGS for recycling? This is *great* news for me because I have a habit to overload my reusable bags profoundly and have had a few freebee canvas sacks entirely give up and rip in the handle area. They say that they don’t “want ANY reusable bag to be left in a dark closet or sent to a landfill.”
Item the Second (closely related to Item the First): So, what’s really neat is what Chico Bag does with thes bags when they receive them for recycing. They either distribute them to low income families so they can start to reuse them for their own reusable bag needs, or, they’ve partnered with a group located in northeastern PA called The Grateful Thread and there they are recycled into woven rugs. Rugs! and they are beautiful, and if I actually needed a rug I know where I would look first.
As Chico Bag describes:
In the mid 19th century, women of the coal mining towns of Northeastern Pennsylvania would weave and sew to help support their families. Today, women at The Grateful Thread weave and sew to support victims of domestic violence.
The Grateful Thread is a business initiative of Schuylkill Women in Crisis which serves Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. Your purchase of these fine products not only provides funds to support services, but also provides job training opportunities to victims of domestic violence and others re-entering the work force.”
I love this! I love that Chico Bag has found a group based in the US that is able to reuse and recycle spent bags into something wonderful.
Item the Third: We’ve talked a little big in passing about the environmental impact of stuff made in China, and then shipped over here. So, Chico Bags are made in China, which makes for some transportation impacts. And everyone knows that getting goods made in China these days is pretty iffy in terms of what secret ingredients are actually included, and how the workers are treated. So I’m pleased to say that according to their FAQs, Chico Bags is a member of the FLA (Fair Labor Association) a group which works with socially responsible companies to improve working conditions in factories around the world. The FLA inspects and monitors working conditions at factories in order to make sure that the fair labor workplace code of conduct is enforced.
And lastly, Item the Fourth: Their new bag is totally awesome. I love it! it’s a little larger than the traditional Chico Bag (so doesn’t fit as smoothly into the smallest pocket books), and it gives room for your produce to fluff up in transit. It’s got cool styling! and not only does it hold more, it holds heavier stuff, and has a roomier arm hole to really carry things comfortably. I highly recommend it.
Do you love Chico Bags too, or have you got another very favorite type of bag instead?
Related posts:
- Everyone’s Banning Plastic Bags
- DIY Produce Bags
- Tiny Choices Q&A: What to do with Mesh Produce Bags?
- “Help me stop using plastic bags”
- Easy Peasy Tip: Wash your Reusable Bags!
- Reusable Shopping Bags
- New York State Bottles and Bags
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I love my Chico Bag. But I think I maybe fill it with too many heavy things because the seams are starting to be stressed. Thinking I can repair them with heavy duty thread. Still, I do love the company. Benn Davenport, their blogger, is awesome.
Beth, next time you need a new bag, give their Vita bags a try– Karina gave me one for my bday and it’s awesome. As she noted above, it has some great features– holds 40 pounds, has real over-the-shoulder straps, and is somehow much roomier– all for a mere 5 oz more weight!
Wow, we really are a non-paid Chico Bag infomercial around here…
I use Envirosax and I love it. Also the fact that they are an Australian company and so I’m supporting a local company. I don’t think the Chico bags are available in Australia yet. But I’m thinking about getting these Onya Weigh bags (http://www.onyabags.com.au/shop.php?crn=208) for fruit and vegetables so you don’t need to take the plastic bags for fruit and veggies at the supermarket. But this is an Australian company so there might be something similar in the US.
I never had a Chico Bag before but was recently given a one as a freebie from one of the major utility companies here in CA. Go figure.
I love you, Chico Bag!
I would like to figure out how to make a bag myself out things I have at home, like an old tent!
I have both Chico Bags and Envirosax and love them both. Envirosax are so much larger, but are a little fussy to roll back up. Chico Bags are smaller, but putting them away by stuffing them in the sack is so much easier! I just bought a Vita, but am a little surprised at the feeling of the fabric. It feels much more ‘plastic-y’ than my little bags. Maybe it’s just that it’s not as worn as they are. We’ll see how time treats it.
I had a couple of Chicos a couple of years ago, but now, I am a big fan of Baggu Bags (http://www.baggubag.com)…they seem a bit better made than the Chicos, they don’t wrinkle, and now they come in three sizes, and a plethora of yummy colors!
Even though they can be a bit fussy, I like the Envirosax for the self-rolling aspect–no little bag to lose. Is the Chico stuff sack attached or separate?
It’s attached, and hangs inside the big bag it’s opened. Having a separate bag is why I’m leery to buy a Baggu bag. I am not good at keeping track of things!
I’ll be quiet after this, I promise, but
1) I love this site! It has given me several good ideas. (I turn the water off while I soap up because of you guys.) and
2) To see a side-by-side comparison of Chico Bags and Envirosax, you can see this. http://lloydandlauren.com/2007/11/17/envirosax-vs-chicobags/ I was frustrated that I couldn’t find a diagram online about rolling up the Envirosax before I bought them.
Ok, shuttin’ up now.
@Lauren, that was a great link! Now I don’t have to spring for Envirosax.
I vote for Chicobags because I am a lazy-assed SOB and if I had to do all that folding and rolling, the bags would never be neat. Ever. Chicobags work like a sleeping bag stuff sack. And the sack is attached to the bag. Love, love, love ‘em.
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I’ve had my chicobags for over three years now, and while some are strained at the bottom seams (same situation as Beth Terry), and one has a small rip, they are holding up great.
I bought RuMe bags for my aunts this christmas because of the colors/designs, but they need to be folded properly, and aren’t as squishy/easy/portable as chicobags. I like being able to latch my bags onto things (purse strap, outside of a pack). I absolutely love the colors (especially the purple) and wouldn’t trade the ease and compactness of the chicobags for any of the more patterned/larger bags on the market. They are also much easier on my hands than my homemade, knitted linen and cotton reusable bags.
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