Pre-Christmas Sale Events Round-Up

November and early December are the busiest months on our calendar. Echoes gets out there and interacts with customers to find out what you really want. Hands-free, cross-body, pockets, more pockets, longer straps, wider straps...you name it and we hear it. All this customer interaction helps us streamline and make our upcycled, vegan, Canadian, handmade ecobags even better.

You can follow us on facebook to find out all the specifics but in the meantime, here's the overall lowdown:

Nov 5 - Holland Landing Community Ctr 10am - 3pm

Nov 12 - Port Perry High School Craft Sale 10am - 5pm

Nov 12 - Bradford Arts Guild at the New Bradford Library 10am - 5pm

Nov 18 - St. John's Presbyterian Church Bradford fundraiser 7 - 9pm

Nov24 - York County fundraiser, York County Bldg Newmarket 10am - 4pm

Nov 25/26 - Warehouse Sale, 22 Gres Court Bradford, Fri 2 - 8 pm

Nov 30 - CBC Craft Sale, Front St. Toronto 9am - 5pm

Dec 2/3 - Warehouse Sale, 22 Gres Court Bradford, Fri 4 - 8pm, Sat 11am - 3pm

Hope to see you out for some great deals on Echoes 'upcycled ecohandbags for planet-lovers'.

The Falling Leaves drift by the window. The autumn leaves of red and gold - lyrics, Frank Sinatra

Fall is one of the loveliest seasons.  It brings with it enough chill to change from the sleeveless, cottaging, carefree days of summer to that feeling of feathering the nest and a change in wardrobe with layers, colours and textures of warmth.  Nothing like tossing on a great scarf over a warm jacket with an Echoes, warm-toned, cross-body flatbag and you're good to go.  Get out there.  Go walking in the autumn leaves.  Hold hands with a loved one.  Stroll the markets and see nature's bounty.  Get to a fall fair or cranberry festival  Just don't worry about what your carrying, Echoes best selling Zipster & Zipster Jr. add just the right hit of colour and pattern and keep your hands free for more important things.

Happy Autumn everyone! 

Nab your new spring Echoes Eco-Handbag

April 15th - 23 - Book an appointment to Nab Your Echoes Spring Eco-Handbag! Just in time for Easter, Mother's Day you can come and shop our huge selection of spring bags before we ship out to our stores! At Echoes HQ/Laura's home office we're knee-deep in bags and we'd love you to be sporting new, fresh colours, patterns and styles in time for capri and open-toed-sandals-season.

Email for your private shopping appointment echoesintheattic@gmail.com

Our favorite colour in spring is GREEN!

Basics Office Products EARTH DAY contest

Stop in to any one of 35 Basics Office Products and fill out a ballot to win an Echoes in the Attic Ecobag to celebrate Earth Day. See for yourself what beautiful diverted landfill from forward-thinking companies can be re-imagined into when they choose to eco-donate instead of trashing it.

Basics Office Products is giving away 35, one of a kind, Zipster Flatbags. The most popular Echoes bag just slings across your body so you can go...with a clear environmental conscience that you're helping us save the planet one handbag at a time!

YOU be the DESIGNER

Echoes strives to honor your individual style by designing one of a kind, or one of a few, upcycled eco-handbags. Inherent in our eco-donations of small, but gorgeous fabric sizes is the necessity to keep our 'runs' very exclusive. That being said, Vicky and I have often wondered if those of you who carry one or many of Echoes bags would ever want to have a go at being your own designer.
This is your chance. 'YOU be the DESIGNER' is a one-time chance to choose from our stash of gorgeous fabrics, bring your own or mix the two and make your own statement in a current Echoes bag style.
For a limited time, January 17th - 31st we're inviting you into our studio, otherwise known as Vicky's house, to choose your own fabric combination. We'll have the bags professionally sewn and you'll be carrying your own design within 3 weeks! What are the chances that someone else is going to choose exactly as you do?
For an appt. call Vicky at 905-775-0529 and prepare to unleash your creativity on your own Echoes eco-bag.

Echoes Brand New Bag Launch

Echoes has got a BRAND NEW BAG! We're thrilled to announce the launch of Zipster JR. A mini version of our most successful Hipster Zipper (Zipster) that launched this past spring '10. It's a cross-body, flat bag with two zippered compartments just like the larger version, only this one's for eco-fashionistas who just want to carry the essentials. Great for wallet, keys and cell for outings that you don't want to lug a bigger bag. The original Zipster is pretty comfy...doesn't bog you down at all and the hands-free part is always a fave, but the JR. is even less of a commitment. Watch for the Zipster JR, launching now in one of the amazing almost 100 stores across Canada carrying Echoes in the Attic's 'Salvage-savvy handbags for planet-lovers'.

Back to School

It's that time of the year again...back to school commercials are in full swing. Our fave...."It's the most wonderful time of the year!" Alas, it would be but my daughter is leaving the nest. Going off to University and I'm going to be going through some post-partum no doubt. We'll get used to it (I suppose) but the first two weeks are going to be a little rough for mom. I'm sure she'll be having a blast, so that'll ease my pain a bit. Not looking forward to walking past her room and wondering the name of cyclone that hit it.
She's leaving in fine shape for the daughter of a 'bag lady'. She's got a new Hipster Zipper, a couple of handy wristlets for ipod, camera, chargers, cords, wallet, cell, student card and 2 new laptops carriers for her precious MAC.
For all you mom's like me that have the bittersweet moment coming up pretty quickly (my daughter's been counting down since about 171)check out our eco laptop bags for organizing notes and keeping the pricey laptop in it's padded, ultrasuede compartment.
www.echoesintheattic.com

ZIP IT!

In the words of Dr. Evil "When a problem comes along, you must ZIP IT!" Echoes first Zipster Eco Bag. Cross-body ease and secure zip closure for luggin' and totin' all your stuff for day or evening. Check out the webstore www.echoesintheattic.com or find a store near you on Echoes 'stores' page of the website. One of a kind, upcycled, vegan, cruelty-free, factory-free ecobags. Now available in nearly 90 cool, boutiques across Canada! Salvage-Savvy Handbags for Planet-Lovers!

Echoes Mother's Day FREE SHIPPING on webstore purchases

To celebrate Mother Earth and MOM Echoes is offering FREE shipping on all webstore purchases till May 8th/10. We love our mom's, we love being mom's and Mother Earth needs us all to vote through our purchases on her long and healthy existence.
Echoes Salvage-savvy handbags for planet-lovers are made from a mix of sturdy materials from post-manufacturing and gorgeous designer fabrics. In other words...diverted waste stream donations previously on their way to a bloated landfill near you. Echoes steps in, stops this process and reinvents these spectacular fabrics in a line of one of a kind, eco purses, totes, diaper & laptop bags.
Echoes in the Attic - Canadian, One of a kind, Eco-friendly, Upcycled Handbags.
www.echoesintheattic.com

U of E - University of Eco

Over the shoulders of many new students on university campuses will be bags that are black, boring, and mundane......with few exceptions. The exception...eco-clever gals with an eye on the environment and a desire to sport a bag that NO ONE ELSE will be carrying. Some girls have done their eco-homework. Check out this beautiful, eco-chic 'Liberation Laptop Bag' heading off to a Canadian campus, made from 'rescued remnant', fabrics from post-manufacturing and designer sample fabrics in one of a kind combinations. These fabrics are diverted directly off the path to landfill. Our future really does look bright when our kids head off to pursue their goals and when that starts with being environmentally responsible we all get an "A".

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!

The Process

We often get asked about how we make our bags so we thought we'd share a little of our process.
Echoes in the Attic bags & pillows are designed in 'lots' of a particular style and a head first dive into the pool or 'stash' of fab fabrics. Many things contribute to the design session...mood, time of year, is the sun shining, did I pull something in yoga! I'm a fortunate fashionista with a life long addiction to other people's cast-offs. I just see something different to do with something found. Whether it's from a day spent scouring second hand stores and scoring the overlooked or heaping my car with the generosity of our eco-conscious donors. The fabrics are yummy, often very small but fab. I have to admit though I'm no sewer. My partner Vicky and my former sewing teacher (my non existent skill has no bearing on her talent) usually asks me to 'step away from the cutting tools'. She sews, she teaches, she's even found a way for us to get more sewn than what she could do alone to keep up with the orders. Our purses & pillows are hand sewn in the sweat-shop free workshop of our 'right arm' production guru and her team of stay-at-home-moms.
For me, the finished product arriving is just the beginning of photo's, numbering, cataloguing, selling and supplying to our now over 35 stores across Canada, our e-tailers and our own webstore.
It's a crazy pile of work but it's our passion! Who was it who said...oh ya, my son at 9 years, "One lady's trash is another lady's purse."