Southlake Hospital Fundraiser

Here we are at our table in the main lobby of Southlake hospital in Newmarket at our first fundraiser called PAY IT FORWARD. We were bowled over by the positive response to our eco-savvy products by Dr's, nurses, staff and visitors to the hospital. Many an eco-handbag will be under Christmas trees this year...and the best part, we are thrilled that Echoes was able to raise over $1,000 through a portion of sales for the new cancer centre being built at Southlake. Having been down this yucky cancer road myself, it's great to know that the new centre will alleviate all those trips to Princess Margaret or Sunnybrook for radiation. What a relief it will be for some who drive all that way for about a minute exposure to radiation for many days in a row. Look for Echoes products in Southlake's giftshop in the new year where 50% of the proceeds will go to the Southlake Foundation for the new cancer centre.

Welcome to our new friends at Casa Luna

This is a fabulous store with a real commitment to our planet. Casa Luna in Ottawa (Orleans to be exact) is our newest store carrying our eco-line of Echoes bags and we couldn't be happier. Casa Luna is all about high quality, handcrafted furniture and accessories that have been produced in a way that respects both nature & people. The reclaimed woods reinvented into pieces by craftsmen in Mexico, Brazil and South America are absolute treasures to be passed down for centuries. Their skilled craftsmen only use sustainable woods like pine or reclaimed woods like mesquite that has been discarded or salvaged from structures such as old hacienda doors. What a perfect fit for us to have our 'rescued remnant', vegan handbags displayed on such gorgeous pieces of furniture. We highly recommend a visit to Casa Luna if you're in the Ottawa area. The husband and wife team of Diane Dumas and Alex Grooscors are so warm and friendly and truly personify Latin hospitality.

...and pretty stockings all in a row

Hard to believe, but it's right around the corner...Christmas '08. To celebrate all things reclaimed & redesigned Vicky & I decided to do a unique ode to Christmas past with gorgeous stockings made from antique wool & chenille blankets. These heirloom inspired stockings are meant to be a keepsake for a new addition to the family who'll be hanging it by the fire for many years to come, or for someone who simply appreciates the workmanship and detail of a bygone era. They evoke an old fashioned feeling when there was much more time to do and take pride in such beautiful handiwork. Each of these stockings in this signature series is available in very limited lots that have been made by hand by the talented Echoes co-founder/owner Vicky Gerke. How pleased were we to have them included in Canadian House & Home magazine's spread "Dreaming of a Green Christmas." Store availability by request.

Salvage Savvy Kimberley Jackson

Located in one of T.O.'s coolest neighbourhoods 'The Beach', is a unique salvage savvy store called Kimberley Jackson. Already enjoying huge success in their cottage location in Huntsville, their store on Queen East is how to nab KJ goodies downtown all year round. The store is full of furniture & accessories made from salvaged architectural pieces so naturally Echoes in the Attic was a perfect fit. You'll find Echoes Eco-Bags as well as soft, squishy, down-filled pillows made from designer ends & antique chenille's all displayed on uniquely crafted pieces you won't find anywhere else in the city...or the planet actually. Each KJ creation is one of a kind, hand-crafted & finished not to mention, easy on the environment. 1854 Queen St. E. one block west of Woodbine.

The Toronto Film Festival

This year's T.O. Film Fest. is especially exciting for us at Echoes as we were asked to design special eco goody bags in combo with The Global Group (known for their eco-kindness through their fabric donations to us) and Grand & Toy who is filling each bag with environmentally conscious products.
The lucky recipients will be the V.I.P.'s visiting the cyber-cafe/press area...do you think Brad & Angelina might want a skookum, new, rescued remnant tote for all those diapers?

Simply Home in Leslieville Toronto

In the antique hot spot of Queen St. E. in Leslieville Toronto sits the sweetest little store called Simply Home. It's robin's egg blue/brown facade with a window box full of flowers can't be missed as the shabby chic wares spill right out onto the street. You'll find re-claimed furniture in historic greens, pale blues and whites as well as many accessories including a boat-load of Echoes pillows, both designer remnant & chenille plus handbags, totes & diaper bags. This store is worth a weekly perusal as their stock changes often...chandeliers, breakfronts, bark-cloth, chairs, side-boards, dinette sets, lamps. It's a small gem in an up and coming area known for it's unique cottage style in the city. You may wonder where popular Toronto Stylists score their pieces for t.v. & magazines...you've found it. Enjoy Simply Home!

Fab new store in Richmond B.C.

In the quaint little fishing village of Steveston B.C. there's a store that's suits us to a tee and we've wanted to be a part of for quite some time. Here's a shot of our bags hanging in "Pieces". It's new owners and I do their order completely over the net with rounds of pictures till they get just what they want. They have very good taste in my opinion. We're happy to say they're selling well and we're looking forward to our next shipment to them. I wouldn't mind flying their selections to them each month to hang out with my sister who lives there but, alas that carbon footprint would be nasty. If you're anywhere near this sweet little town, check out "Pieces" especially Canadian, accessories.

Echoes & Global

Here's a shot after many hours of 'mining' for remnants at The Global Group in north T.O. http://www.globaltotaloffice.com/ We've been given access to some discontinued bolts of fabric and had a blast designing new combinations for our Tote Bag.
Recently Global & Echoes co-produced a whack-load of tote bags for the World Wildlife Foundation of Canada's Volunteer Service Awards. Now their animal-lovin' volunteers are carrying around an Echoes tote with Global's sentiments on the label...Think Global - Think Recycled. Our successful teaming with Global nets us about 200 - 500 lbs of fabric every 2 - 3 weeks of rescued remnants diverted from the landfill. Thank you Global for being such a behemoth company with a planet conscience to eco-donate to the little guy like us!

Cottage North, Port Dover

Our 'intern' Kirstin and I drove to pretty, little Port Dover yesterday to load into Cottage North Soap Works. It was far (2 1/2 hrs) but worth the drive. What a pretty town and Cottage North...WoW! The scents, the sites, a total 'yum' for the olfactory. The owner Robin Laing, has consistently sold out of Echoes products every time she orders and that's been about 6 times since February.
If you're in the area of Port Dover, check out Cottage North and it's unbelievably sweet offerings.

Echoes on BT on Citytv at Dandelion Mud Pie

Hey how cool is this...here's a shot of how we spent our morning. The gang at BT on Citytv may be used to getting up this early (4am)...we're not, but no problem. We made it to T.O. in record time (of course no cars on the road at 5am) with my car full of models, my daughter, her friend and my niece...teens on no sleep equal a giggle-fest. Landing at Dandelion Mud Pie at Yonge & Fairlawn by 5:50 we rolled 'live' at about 7ish on a myriad of great eco-savvy wares including our own line of 'rescued remnant' handbags.
Jennifer Valentyne was great to hang out with. What a pleasure meeting her... interested in all things eco and wholly man, is she ever good at remembering names.
Hope you'll all check out this store as earth day approaches on the 22 and help stretch the meaning of the day out as long as we all can.

TLC Bags at the One of a Kind Spring Show

What a great time we had at the Spring One of a Kind Show. We love to see all the new creations...so many artistic people but we especially go to see our friend Tracy Lee Crandall of TLC Bags. This is her in her booth just before the crowds came and they came to Tracy's booth in droves. We were able to get this one shot before the doors opened, 'cause after that it was too crowded.
Her TeeBags were such a hit in the colours of springtime...citrus yellows & oranges, apple greens, and earthier sages & browns...absolutely gorgeous. We've been selectively placing small numbers of the eco-chic TeeBag by TLC into boutiques across Canada. They're very, very exclusive, but demand has been outrageous since being on LOULOU's & Canadian Livings Christmas Wish Lists. Remember you can see and purchase an excellent selection in our webstore.

Echoes at Cottage North in Port Dover

Check out our gorgeous chenille pillows and eco-chic, 'rescued remnant' handbags at one of our newest, cool boutiques. Since November we've added 9 new stores across Canada where you can access more of our recycled handbags and pillows and we just got these great pictures from Cottage North in Port Dover. We had to get them some new chenille pillows asap as the last ones sold out the day they were displayed. Robin Laing Cottage North owner, has a way with soaps, scents, bubbles & lather as the back of this beautiful store is her workshop where she creates the most incredible body care products available both in her store and at on-line at bereal.ca
What a great 'girls day road trip'.

Vicky & Laura go "Global"

Hey check out Vicky & me sittin' pretty...well sittin', at the head offices of The Global Group. We visited our newest eco-donor and checked out their chair. Later we headed over to the plant where they make all kinds of cool office furniture and save us their 'ends' or 'rescued remnants'. A few hundred pounds of fabric later the back of the car was full and we really are sittin' pretty now with scads of great recycled fabrics and remnants to make lots of pretty handbags with. Thank you Global...see you next week!

Echoes in the Attic gets "Global" attention

Ok, how great is this...an international company, Global Upholstery who makes most of the office furniture we buy worldwide is off-loading their large remnants to our little cottage industry company. We're always looking for eco-conscious donors to join our current roster Robert Allen Fabrics, Ethan Allen Furniture & Taylor Robyn Originals who all believe in passing on great sample fabric and off-cuts to us to divert the landfill. Once again we've hit the jackpot when we got a call from the manager of Global's Toronto plant back in December '07. We met this January and are astounded by the amount of fabric we now have at our disposal to turn into our handbags & totes. Cool vinyls, industrial strength upholstery weights that lend themselves to durable, long lasting products. The blend of all these company's fabrics are beautiful and our retail prices are obscenely affordable because the savings are passed on to the customer. It's win/win/win down the line.... the environment, our eco-donors, our Canadian business and finally YOU! Enjoy our cool new offerings as they launch in our almost 50 stores across Canada 4 e-tailers and our own webstore this spring.