Crowdfunding handbags made from recycled tires

It’s not often you hear about handbags on the Channel 19 blog. (In fact, a search of the term on the entire OverdriveOnline.com site yielded only this.) But this item caught my eye for sheer originality — and weirdness, I suppose. And interesting it is, for sure. 

Richmond, Va.-based entrepreneurs Angela Greene, Ken Kobrick and Vanessa Fore are using the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform to “reinvent and grow a unique business designed to turn recycled truck tire inner tubes into high fashion handbags, backpacks and other exquisitely well-designed and rugged carry items,” notes a press release. 

A look at the Kickstarter campaign for the Necessary Recycling venture, which hopes to raise $15,000 by early December (they’d topped $1,500 as of this writing), got under way recently toward acquiring 30 tons of discarded tractor tire inner tubes from around the world. To date, Necessary says, it’s “collected approximately 86 tons of tire inner tubes. Our first 2.5 years were spent searching for an eco-friendly cleaning solution. Thereafter, we set out to acquire all we needed to know about creating durable, yet environmentally conscious, high-quality products.”

Here’s a shot of one of their creations, dad’s baby case: 

You can check out more via necessaryrecycling.net. Rewards for contributing to the Kickstarter campaign include some pretty cool rugged utility bags, simple shaving kits/toiletry cases, and other bags. Find more about them via the campaign.