Recycled Virgin

Made you look!
And well you might…

Just look at these lovely bags — handmade in family-run workshops in Portugal, from recycled Virgin airline seat covers and other tough stuff.

Limited edition bags, too, so you can feel special as well as virtuous: Only 2,000 Virgin bags have been made, recycling about 1,000 seat covers that were liberated to the handbag-fashion cause during a recent renovation.

My personal favourite is the sleek black Romero style, crafted from old car seat belts and bicyle inner tubes, and lined with recycled Virgin seat cover fabric.

Who knows what jet-setting celebrity might once have rested his world-famous backside on a part of your Worn Again handbag?

But here’s the big thing:

Worn Again is a social business which was set up not only to transform consumption and manufacturing patterns through production of goods made from recycled materials, but also to generate income for Anti-Apathy, a registered charity, kicking sustainable lifestyles butt since 2002.

In this case, the goal is to help Virgin Atlantic meet its goal of cutting the waste it sends to landfills by 50%, by 2012. And, of course, to create a tough and stylish line of handbags, messenger bags, and toiletry cases so you can tote your gear without juggling and dropping all over the place.

Win-win, I believe!
Bonus — just think of the fun of explaining where your bag came from!

[via Springwise; H/T Sharon Hurley Hall]