Thursday, March 09, 2006

complete insanity

As Jillian will testify, when things start to freak me out badly, I internet shop. This time, it's a bag to carry my stuff on the plane to Italy. [What, I don't have enough bags? Shush.] I don't always buy, but I do look...rather obsessively.

I decided on Freitag, cause they're the coolest. Except I couldn't find a color combination I liked, after leaving my ideal bag [custom] in the shopping cart. Because it would have cost more than $200. Never mind.

I figured Freitag can't be the only company making bags out of used truck tarps, and it turned out that I was right. My best discovery came when I figured out, thanks to Google's translator, that "LKW-Plane" means "truck tarpaulins" in German -- the home of such bags, and then I was off to the races, babies. [Freitag, btw, is in Switzerland. Which, I hear, is a more expensive place to do business. Hence the higher cost.]

Without further ado, my list for your enjoyment:
- Kultbag -- my personal favorite, though they're totally out of stock on almost everything. The owner, Bernd, wrote me a nice note and told me an Asian wholesaler bought out everything they have, but they'll be restocked within a month. Definitely worth watching, cause they make cool bags, and very affordable. They also make bags with OLD AIR MATTRESSES as the front flap. Could you plotz?
- Cays -- cool, but only in German, so I never went past making my own customized bag. I prefer not to order stuff in a foreign language, in case they're also asking for a kidney along with my credit card number.
- Berlin Bag -- the ultimate winner. I uploaded my own image, got a 15 euro discount [they've got a sale on right now] and chose my own colors for the top, back and sides of the bag. The bags are smaller than Freitag and Kultbag offer, but they're still made with truck tarps and the custom front panel was too hard to resist. Not recycled. Can't have everything.
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eta contributions from the comments [thanks! keep them coming!]
- Atelier Scrap from Briana...brilliant French-Canadian company with a French-only website that's not quite ready yet. Definitely cool.
- Demano from Betty...brilliant Spanish [Barcelona!] company with a Spanish-only website that looks like it works quite well. My Spanish sucks, but when I have time, I'll take another look. I think you can pick from a selection of advertising banners and the style of your bag and they make it up for you. Look at the rainboots on the front page! Eee!

posted by amy [Knitty] @ 8:06 AM 12 comments

Comments:
Why OH WHY did I click the Berlin Bag link?!

Some serious coveting going on over here.
# posted by Anonymous zib : 12:27 PM, March 09, 2006
 
Thanks Amy, I'm now coveting more bike messenger style bags. LOL

PS Looking forward to meeting you tomorrow!
# posted by Anonymous Caren : 1:05 PM, March 09, 2006
 
Hi Amy - Quick question ... I went to purchase the "gold medalist" tee on cafepress and couldn't find it - are they sold out or do I need some secret code to get one?
# posted by Blogger Beth : 3:54 PM, March 09, 2006
 
beth,
those were removed from the shop and aren't available. sorry!
# posted by Blogger amy [Knitty] : 4:10 PM, March 09, 2006
 
There is also a Canadian company making bags with sturdy recycled materials - Atelier Scrap makes a variety of bags from those flags and banners hanging from lampposts.
In Toronto, I've heard they carry them at Propaganda (on Yonge, west side btwn Bloor and Wellesley).

http://www.atelierscrap.ca/
(website mostly in French and under construction)
# posted by Anonymous briana : 8:08 AM, March 10, 2006
 
for the next time: there's a couple of girls here in Barcelona who collect and reuse the flags the city council uses to advertise expositions, and turn them into bags.

http://www.demano.net
# posted by Blogger betty : 9:20 AM, March 10, 2006
 
Hey speaking of bags, did I completely miss the winner of the Tom Bihn bag contest?
# posted by Blogger Jerry & Maxy : 6:16 PM, March 10, 2006
 
Use Google language tools (http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en) to translate foreign language pages into English. Not always the best translations, but it helps one get the gist, if necessary.

Amy -- gotta ask you an off-topic fiber question, if you don't mind. Are you a sock knitter, and if so, since you're not loving the wool, what kind of sock yarn do you use? Any favorites? I ask because I'd rather not knit wool (HOT!) socks for myself.... (Feel free to answer privately, if you'd rather, at maryklarson [AT] comcast [DOT] net. Thanks in advance!) :-)
# posted by Blogger Mary : 11:47 PM, March 10, 2006
 
Mary -- the only sock yarn i've used is Cascade Fixation, and I love it. However, I do have two pairs worth of Sock Candy by the same people that do Socks that Rock (blue moon fiber arts), and i love their colorways much better. I have enough Fixation to last a few years, but the next pair I cast on will be Sock Candy. :-)
# posted by Blogger amy [Knitty] : 5:39 PM, March 12, 2006
 
Thanks for the info, Amy -- I knew you'd come through with good info! :-)
# posted by Blogger Mary : 9:42 PM, March 12, 2006
 
there's a brand called vy n elle that also sells cool bags made from old billboard materials. i like the berlin bag, though.
# posted by Blogger tweezer : 2:13 AM, March 14, 2006
 
Just wanted you to know, that berlinbag is adding bags made of used tarp to its site (see recycled section). We've bought piles of great used tarps and will make some great bags from it. Bags from recycled tarps are slightly bigger than the other ones. A bag configurator is not online yet, but will follow within a month or so. Until then, we'll start with some prebuild ones....
# posted by Anonymous Carsten Reinke : 3:05 AM, March 20, 2006
 
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