I do find it a little ridiculous with these cheap bags being of such limited availability but I guess it's all about the money!...and yet still they manage to uphold the whole "eco-friendly" thing...that's fashion and trend for you!

Posted by: Nic | March 20, 2007 5:14 PM

I bought two on the AH website the second i saw it on the bag lady about a month ago, i suppose. They arrived on Friday, and i have to say i have been very pleased with the service from there. no frills in the package, but i didnt expect much.

And then today i had every lady in every shop i was in commenting on it, and i told them all they will be in sainsburrys in april, and i can be sure a lot of them will go buy it when released. So i think that they were planning the latter sales tact, and hoping to drill up some love for the bag first, so everyone really wants them on general release!!

and in case you were wondering, the bag is really well made, and does fit onto the shoulder also. and it holds loads to!

Posted by: emmao414 | March 20, 2007 7:45 PM

I believe that all the people that want one of these bags so badly do not have recycling in mind at all. After all, were the celebrities snapped with their bags while doing grocery shopping? Was the bag bulging with sticks of celery and a pack of cornflakes or was it in fact swinging limp probably containing little more than mobile, keys and purse? I am a serial recycler and I can safely state that the craze is for the fashion object, not for the cause. It is the object that has become fashionable, while the cause lies limp as ever. We cannot expect people to swap plastic bags for one of those when doing their grocery shopping. As the Catwalk Queen points out, Tesco and ASDA already have non plastic bags for sale if one is concerned about the environment; we don't see hordes of shoppers using them, do we? Paying for a shopping bag? 50p? 10p? 1p? Quelle horreur! Those who don't buy a canvas bag from the aforementioned supermarkets, aren't going to buy one of Anya's; those who are crazy about Anya's, aren't going to use it for milk and tomatoes. Therefore, yes, of course the principle is both applicable to the environment and commedable, but as-is it is simply a fashionable stunt.

Posted by: Stephanella | March 21, 2007 10:20 AM

I bought two of those bags yesterday, but to my horror, upon going to Dover St. Market to buy another two, discovered that they were selling them - in plastic bags! Large, clear plastic bags. Defeats the whole purpose, don't you think?

Posted by: Y | March 21, 2007 12:59 PM

Ugh wearewhatwedo.com handled this SO poorly. Do you know what really annoys me? The book you're forced to buy to get this. I mean, if I wanted the book, then I would buy it. I think for a site like this that purports to be enviro friendly, forcing purchase of uncess. stuff is hypocritical. Yes, i will recycle it, but why produce something to be destroyed?

Also, if they didn't prepare for the server volume which, lets face it, a monkey could have predicited, then they should have left it for a larger site. If you hvae 11,000 registered for 4,000 bags then you might want to check your server capabilities.

Posted by: Sally | March 22, 2007 3:19 PM

Of course any re-usable bag is better than plastic, but I was wondering if anyone knows if it happens to be made from organic cotton?

I can't find an active link to We Are What We Do. Can anyone provide me with that?

thanks,
Maureen

Posted by: Maureen | March 23, 2007 1:04 AM

I think people are forgetting that this initial release of 30,000 bags was not only the first step in a strategic media attack to launch WAWWD's large scale "Plastic ain't my bag" campaign in April, but also a venture from which neither Anya Hidmarch, Sainsburys or WAWWD have even covered their costs; obviously the intial order would be small as nobody knew how popular the bag would be.

Also, if the bag had been widely available, do you think it would have been nearly as popular, and consequently bought nearly as much media attention to the issue? By making the first release of the bag so exclusive, WAWWD has almost tricked those who wouldn't normally care about such issues into making a difference - when the huge release of the bag in different colours etc happens in the summer, thousands of people will buy the bag simply because they couldn't the first time around - inadvertantly making a difference to the environment.

And lastly, even if people are only buying the bag as a fashion item, and have no intention of limiting their use of plastic bags, they will probably be forced to change their habits once they realise how stupid they look walking down the street holding both plastic bags AND a now famous bag that proclaims "I'm not a plastic bag"!

That said, it's pretty easy for me to be so logical about the whole issue.. I managed to buy the bag during the whole WAWWD website fiasco! ;)

Posted by: Chantelle O | March 26, 2007 5:53 AM

in my opinion neither anya nor sainsburys can be that concerned about the environment if they are limiting the amount of bags sold to a few thousand. how much of a dent is that going to make when according to sainsburys the average person uses 167 carrier bags a year eh?

on the other hand, how much exposure is this going to give anya?

Posted by: caron | April 24, 2007 11:04 AM

Does anyone know if I could pre-order one of these bags for Canada?

I live in Montreal and would really like to get a hold of one, if anyone has one for sale or would like to give me tips on where to purchase it, please help

Posted by: K | April 25, 2007 4:30 PM

me0kat, you can see more ordering details on Anya Hindmarch's website for the US and Japan launch.. in MAY. can't see Canada on there thou..

Posted by: C | April 26, 2007 10:38 AM

the whole thing is stupid and mad. if you really care about the environment, you'll bring your own bag to the supermarket, whatever that bag is from. the first key to help the environment is to reduce consuming/buying new product if you can use the old ones. Now you ask me to buy these ugly cotton bags on ebay for £200 to be green? i'm really sick of the whole craze!

Posted by: Loretta | April 28, 2007 12:59 AM

It doesn't really matter where it's made, or what it's made out of... The point is, people who like this bag will want to use it and that in itself can reduce the consumption of plastic bags.
The goal wasn't to diminish child labor or cheap labor in China.

If people like this bag and decide to use it as an alternative to plastic shopping bags, then the message and goal is effective.

People who want this bag know its intended purpose and ultimately it's a personal choice to stop using plastic or not. The bag itself doesn't make a difference, it's the attitude people adopt.

The message is boldly imprinted on the bag so it's promoting awareness and a 2nd look at things.
Like if you bring it to a supermarket where everyone is packing their stuff in plastic, they might think twice next time.

Posted by: K | May 4, 2007 11:21 PM

where can i get this bag? i love it.

Posted by: aly | June 21, 2007 2:24 PM

admirable effort to eliminate plastic ......
regrettably you can't please everybody.....

There are many similar solutions to the plastic
bag issue here in the USA....all the upscale markets sell their own
branded canvas bag....

Posted by: Dale Rosenstock | June 29, 2007 6:27 AM

Many products are marketed using a low supply rate to increse demand. This time may not have been a deliberate Anya Hindmarch ploy, but I think its cool, it's all part of the process of bringing about a more sustainable way of living. Things like an alternative to the plastic bag have to be highly desireable and fashionable, before gradually the general population slowly takes more and more interest.

Will it be* a product that goes out of fashion as quickly as it arrived though? What do we do about that aspect of fashion? - do you want to be wearing last years look, five years ago's look? & Where will we get our kicks if we keep things longer?

*is it already??

Posted by: Ellen | July 29, 2007 11:41 AM

i have Anya Hindmarch bag for sell, that is US,UK,Japan and Asian version that is limited bag. if ur really interested pls email to me brandybest1688@yahoo.com.sg

Posted by: brandy | August 19, 2007 8:18 PM