Tag Archives: tote

Pre-Printed Jute Shopper From V Natural

27 Jan

This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of Proforma Simonetta Freelance, an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy (see proformagreen.com). John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry.

There are a number of pre-printed poly non-woven and recycled material totes on the market. A pre-printed bag allows the buyer to get more bang for their back as they are purchasing a pre-designed and decorated item to which they simply add their own logo or other information.

For those looking beyond poly or recycled content bags, Vitronic Promotional Group, home of the V Natural line, has introduced a pre-printed jute tote available with either leaf or ladybug motif.

This natural fiber shopping tote has a sizable 8″ gusset with 22″ handles. The overall size of the bags is a good 16″W x 8″D x 12″H. At this size it holds the equivalent of two standard plastic grocery bags.

The leaf or ladybug motifs would work well for any Ecopreneurist focused on gardening, growing, or natural produce demographics.

The bags themselves run EQP $5.13 per unit with one color additional imprint, so they certainly run higher than poly non-woven totes, however the added benefits of Jute’s natural insulating properties, low thermal conductivity, and antistatic characteristics are benefits that poly non-wovens do not offer. Not to mention the fact the non-woven bags are not a natural material.

If you are an ASI member Rory Campbell is the contact to talk to at Vitronic Promotional Group about these bags and the rest of the V Natural line.

If you are interested in these items to promote your own business, contact your local promotional items vendor or email info@proformagreen.com for information and pricing.


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Super-Size Jute Shopper By Sweda

22 Dec

This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of Proforma Simonetta Freelance, an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy (see proformagreen.com). John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry.

In 2010 Sweda will be increasing the number of eco-friendly promotional items in their standard lineup. One of the standouts is their new Super-Size Jute Shopper, a really big bag at 13-3/4”h x 17-3/4”w x 6” with a large 7”h x 8“w imprint area. This is a size we normally just see in polypro and non-woven bags.

For the Ecopreneurist looking for a natural fiber bag to help promote their business the Sweda Super-Size Jute Shopper is certainly a bag to consider. Take a look at the video for a short overview of the bag. Unfortunately the bags in the video are not imprinted, so you really don’t get the full impact of how pretty these bags can be. Bag colors are Black, Blue, Green, Orange, and Merlot. They EQP at $7.99.

If you are a distributor and want more information on Sweda’s 2010 lineup of eco-friendly items – including the Super-Size Jute Shopper – contact Lakisha Higgins, Sweda Strategic Accounts.

If you would like to purchase these items for your own business please contact your local promotional items provider or email info@proformagreen.com.

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Owl Line Expands Into Recycled Leather

3 Dec

This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of Proforma Simonetta Freelance, an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy (see proformagreen.com). John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry.

Owl brand bags made from 100% Post-Consumer recycled PET Fabric have been a very popular line in the promotional products industry since their introduction in 2008. Now, in time for the holidays, the Owl brand is expanding into a full range of items made from recycled bonded leather, to include wine totes, computer bags, mouse pads, and fine wallets.

What is recycled bonded leather? According to the website for OWL Promo,  OWL™ recycled bonded leather is “truly unique in the market. No paper, wood or other fillers, just 100% leather fibers. Leather fibers are bonded together with natural rubber from the rubber tree – no toxic chemicals or harsh glues are used. Colors come from natural tanning oils and vegetable tannins derived from tree bark, fruits, leaves and roots. All dyes and pigments used are lead free. So only OWL™ recycled leather has the look, feel, and aroma of natural, full grain leather.”

Continue reading →

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Voltaic Systems Offers Four Bags in 2009

5 Mar

This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of Proforma Simonetta Freelance, an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy (see proformagreen.com). John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry.

Voltaic Systems is offering four bags in 2009. Voltaic bag are really mobile solar power generators designed to charge virtually all hand held electronics. They are a great item for ecopreneurists working in remote locations or with businesses needing to work remotely.

A Voltaic bag will keep your phone charged and give you enough power to use your laptop and PDA when away from traditional power sources.

The Voltaic website proclaims that “embedded in the outside of these solar chargers are lightweight, tough, waterproof solar panels. The new Generator produces up to 15 watts, powerful enough to fully charge a typical laptop from a day of direct sunlight. No other solar bag can do this! The smaller bags produce 4 watts of power so 1 hour in direct sun will power over 3 hours of iPod play time or 1.5 hours of cell phone talk time.”

Another bonus is that fabrics used to make the bags themselves are made from recycled PET i.e. soda bottles.

What are the drawbacks? Mainly price. Even at EQP the Backpack model shown runs $226. There are a number of less expensive solar-charger-only products on the promotional items market, however the Voltaic line is certainly at the top with regards to quality, usability, performance and power.

Take a look at their whole line on their website. The site also has more background on Voltaic’s commitment to the environment. Voltaic does sell individual bags to retail customers, however if you are looking for a group buy for branded items I suggest you contact your local promotional items dealer or us at proformagreen.com.

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Video: Big Thunder From Bag Makers

15 Feb

Bag Makers, Inc. has come out swinging in the nonwoven tote category with their new Big Thunder nonwoven tote bags. These bags are made from #5 plastic and like other nonwovens can be recycled wherever #5 plastics are accepted.

The Big Thunder’s claim to fame is not that it is eco-friendly – it is as much as any other nonwoven tote. The Big Thunder’s claim to fame is that it is huge – at 13W x 10 x 15H – and made on 100 GSM material the highest in the industry for standard run bags. That is a whopping 10 inch gusset. The bags rings in with a EQP price of just $2.22.

If you are an green organization whose business requires a big bag to promote your big idea, your bag has arrived.

Here is Anna Marie from Bag Makers showing the Big Thunder off at the 2009 ASI show in Dallas.

For more information on the Big Thunder visit the Bag Makers website or email us at info@proformagreen.com

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Answers on Cotton: Gemline

29 Jan

This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy (see proformagreen.com). John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry.

As you know we really like the organic cotton totes from Gemline.

Well we often get questions about the source of this cotton and other organic cotton used in our industry so we decided to ask Gemline for some answers. Clif Jordan the Regional Manager (South West) for Gemline was nice enough to send some answers.

According to Clif the organic cotton for Gemline bags comes mostly from Pakistan and sometimes India. All cotton used by Gemline is fair trade product and is Certified Organic Cotton, which means a licensed third party international agency (in this case the Control Union headquartered in the Netherlands) certifies the cotton’s origin and its authenticity. Gemline also offers eco-friendly inks and provides more information on their inks on their website.

Although most bag construction is done overseas the imprinting is done in the United States, unless the order is large enough for a full overseas production, say 10,000+ units. Most orders are under 100 units.

If you want to contact Clif directly with questions on Gemline’s items his email is cjordan@gemline.com. The Gemline website also has details on many of their products, www.gemline.com. You can of course also contact me at info@proformagreen.com.

So the bottom line for Ecopreneurists is, if you have questions about your vendor’s sources ask them. If vendors can’t answer your questions, I suggest you move along to someone that can.

We have asked the same questions about organic cotton supplies to Norwood, Leeds and Debco Bag. We will post their responses – when we get them – as well.

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Recycled Messenger Bag New from Gemline

13 Jan

This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy (see proformagreen.com). John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry.

Gemline, one of our favorite manufacturers for the style and quality of their green line of promotional items, is starting 2009 strong with the introduction of a number of new, green products.

In 2009 Gemline will start carrying nonwoven totes (#5 plastic) as well as totes from 51% Recycled PET fabric, (Leads also sells 51% Recycled PET products which they carry in their very successful Owl line). Continue reading →

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Insulated Shopper from Hit Promotional Products

6 Jan

This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy (see proformagreen.com). John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry.

For 2009 Hit Promotional Products has come out with a Nonwoven Insulated shopper tote bag that their website claims is recyclable, reusable and hand washable.

The unit is made out of 90 gram non-woven, coated water-resistant polypropylene. They feature reinforced 23″ handles, a 9″ gusset, front pocket and zippered closure.

Since the tote is designed to keep food hot or cold it is a good promotional item for eco-friendly grocery stores, farmer markets, even travel agencies. Continue reading →

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Debco Green Lunch Totes

18 Dec

This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy (see proformagreen.com). John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry.

Debco now offers a number of lunchtime totes made from at least 25% recycled content. These bags demonstrate the growing trend to make practical, green items available to marketers.

And with the slowing economy I would remind Ecopreneurists that there is likely a much wider audience for these bags as more and more folks are bringing lunch to the office both for economic (it is cheaper than eating out) and health (bringing in healthy foods and avoiding fast foods) reasons.

Simple non woven insulated lunch coolers like the Debco Bag #NW4517 are EQP $3.04 with a one color imprint. The Debco Bag #NW6915 (a square shape designed) are EQP $3.42.  Available in black, red, lime green and royal blue, the bag we seem to be having the most success with is the Debco Bag #NW4694 non woven 100 gram polypropylene insulated cooler pictured to the right. All these bags are made from 25% recycled material, and Debco lists them as biodegradable on the Debco website. Continue reading →

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Debco: Is All Cotton Organic?

1 Dec

This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy (see proformagreen.com). John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry.

Debco is now producing color versions of the econo natural 4oz shopping tote. The colors available are black, red, green, lime green, navy, and pink.

The econo tote is very popular with Econpreneurist as the price of these units -$2.11- for the natural color tote places them in range of the popular non-woven shopping bags that are becoming ubiquitous in grocery stores.

Why the popularity? Because organic cotton – any cotton – is biodegradable while most non-woven poly bags are not.

So this post was going to be about me being so excited that Debco is now offering their econo natural 4oz shopping tote in colors, wonderful colors.

According to Debco their overseas supplier uses Azo free dyes on all their bags color bags.  This dye is supposedly eco-friendly and non-hazardous, but they have not conducted any lab tests to confirm this 100%.  However Debco has volunteered to have it done for any client that requests it.

But that is not what I am going to write about.

Apparently – and I don’t know if it is because these guys are based in Canada – Debco is making a distinction between bags made from 100% natural cotton and their organic cotton bags. A distinction I have not seen before. Continue reading →

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