SA township woman's Rooibos tea bag purses all the rage in Paris thanks to environmentalism and tourism
A 33-year-old Zimbabwean woman living in Cape Town is seeing her creation of purses made from Rooibos tea bags take off in Paris, one of the fashion capitals of the world.
Dube said when she moved to South Africa she got involved with a company called Original T-Bag Designs in 2006. Original T-Bag Designs was a company that started out as a social responsibility project by founder, Jill Heyes, to help impoverished women from Imizamo Yethu in Hout Bay earn money, by making unique arts and crafts from tea bags and boxes.
Like Dube, other artists from Original T-Bag Designs also use recycled tea bags that are donated by tea-lovers from all over the world to make anything from animal sculptures (out of paper mache – the final layer of which is decorated with a variety of tea bags) to gift cards, trays, notebooks, dolls, paintings, soap, fridge magnets, handbags and other décor items such as keepsake boxes, heart-shaped door signs/posts, coasters and even beaded jewellery.
The product creation is sourced from recycling of used products and it was thanks to tourism that the product spread to Paris (the product was spotted in Cape Town by a Parisian designer). A further reason for it taking off in Paris is because there is a growing awareness around environmentalism and re-using what has been discarded and this also makes the use of the bag an attractive proposition to buyers.
 |
SA township woman’s Rooibos tea bag purses all the rage in Paris | IOL Business Report A Zimbabwean woman living in Cape Town is seeing her creation of purses made from Rooibos tea bags take off in Paris. |