Urban Crafting

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Recently while browsing the web I came across an article about Rickshaw Bags. Rickshaw is a new San Francisco-based bag company inspired by the creative energy of their city, urban cycling and an intense desire to make great products. Rickshaw bags are made out of recycled water bottles. It got me thinking about locally produced goods and the value of the urban crafter. Living in the Midwest near so many farms and fields of fresh produce it is easy to take for granted the hard work and dedication of the farmers. Each Monday and Thursday from July through early October, local farmers and crafters in my town get together to sell their locally made products. Items include fresh produce, flowers, bulbs, jams, jellies, dairy products, meats, herbs and berries directly to the public. This farmer’s market provides an opportunity to sell these unique, local goods to the local consumer and helps to stimulate our local economy.

Many locally owned stores offer a wide variety of products and services but a lot of them sell products that are produced some where else. In a neighboring town, a locally owned winery has established it self in the area as a place to go an purchase unique and locally produced products. Their wines include a number of unique ingredients such as chokecherries, rhubarb and dandelions, which in turn produce unique and locally flavored products. What is really great about their store is that they partner with other local companies and sell their goods in their store. So not only do they make and sell locally produced goods, they sell other locally produced goods thereby multiplying the local aspect.

While it is great to seek out the locally made products, we sometimes forget why it is so important to our economy and our community. Buying locally grown produce ensure you get it at it’s peak freshness and it also ensure less fuel consumed to transport it to the consumer. Buying local helps to keep your community unique and helps to encourage local prosperity. Lastly it puts your taxes to good use, by reinvesting them into the community where you live. The fact is that buying locally made goods is cool, it helps your community as much as it helps you buy great local products. Sometimes these local companies will even let you tour their facilities to get a behind the scenes look at how they make their products. Rickshaw Bags is open to the public so we can see how their bags are made using recycled materials.

Rickshaw has a great bag called the “Zero Waste” Messenger Bag. This bag is solid, stylish, and sustainable. It is made with zero waste-using domestically sourced fabrics in San Francisco. This bag is 100% recyclable. It also looks quite sharp! 😉

Below are a few photos below of Rickshaw bags, and their factory, just so you can get a better feel for this company and their products. You can also view an article (here) written by the CEO on sustainable manufacturing.