Camo Chrome

Camo-ChromeBag maker Chrome continues to come up with innovative products. The company offered some upcycled bags made of vintage Warsaw Pact camo sleeping covers, and now it is keeping the camouflage theme going with its new reflective camo bags that reflect light from 100 feet away. The bags feature traditional camo, urban camo and even digital camo – and while these patterns are usually used to help the wearer/user blend in, these allow for the wear/user to stand out, especially at night.

These American made bags are available in three styles, but in limited quantities.

Chrome Reflective Camo Official Website

Weekend Reading List (08.24.2013): Upcycled Roof, Kobe Goes Anti-G, Cycle Cross

Upcycled Roof

Metrodome

From Gear Junkie: Metrodome Stadium Roof Material Made Into Luggage at Duluth Pack
In 2010, after a major accumulation of heavy snow in a storm, the roof of the massive Metrodome stadium in Minneapolis collapsed. More than three acres of the roof material, a Teflon-coated fiberglass fabric, had to be replaced. The material was headed to the landfill. But two people associated with the team made a deal to purchase the material for future use. Unveiled this past week, Minnesota brand Duluth Pack will construct a limited run of bags from the old Metrodome roof. Continue reading Weekend Reading List (08.24.2013): Upcycled Roof, Kobe Goes Anti-G, Cycle Cross

Billboards to Bags

TotemToronto based Totem Bags is yet the latest company we’ve seen that has been strong in the upcycling movement, and this start up from Melissa Richardson is using truck tarps, promotional banners, seatbelts and bike tires and creating durable bags while keeping those materials out of a landfill.

The company has been on the move since 2009, and received is first big break when the National Ballet of Canada handed over a stockpile of promotional banners that could be repurposed into products for the gift shop. The company has expanded its clients to include the likes of Chevrolet,Audi, IMAX and the Toronto International Film Festival.

While she started working in her home, today each bag in the line is handmade at a manufacturing facility, but Richardson still puts her stamp of approval on each item. In this way Richardson’s success is just about in the bag.

Totem Bags Official Website

SIA: O-range ‘Welded’ Bags Charge Us Up!

When it comes time to look for a backpack, messenger bag or a simple sleeve for you iPad (or other tablet), the choices that are out on the market can be mind boggling. The options seem endless, but there is hope around the corner. While walking the show floor at SIA, we noticed a booth of bags with a look that was different from any others that we had seen before – simple, elegant and functional. Just about every pocket, closure and strap had a purpose. Once we learned that the bags were Italian designed and manufactured, it made even more sense. The company, O-range, has a product line worth looking at when the time comes to purchase that next bag or sleeve. Continue reading SIA: O-range ‘Welded’ Bags Charge Us Up!