This is a guest post by Carolyn Algar.
For the past few weeks, I have been taking an ECOBag along with me on my shopping sprees (unfortunately these days shopping sprees involve a lot more window shopping). I have their standard wide natural canvas tote, but they do carry a wide range of other bags, from book totes to beach totes, made from organic canvas, recycled canvas, hemp blends and recycled plastic bottles.
All bags have double stitched seams and stress points for durability and are strong enough to hold 30 pounds (about 13kg). My tote is not at all bulky, so folds up easily to fit into my handbag or car glovebox for convenient storage. The standard wide tote has 22 inch handles, so it is easy to slip over your shoulder and is comfortable to carry. And since it is manufactured from natural cotton canvas, it can be slipped in with your laundry with no specialized cleaning instructions.
This particular bag is good to take along for walking around a mall, slipping in small items as you go, but I didn’t find it large enough for my grocery shopping. The base of the bag is not wide enough to layer items properly, and I was afraid of crushing fragile items. Their grocery totes or totes with larger bottom gussets would be more suitable.
The “fun” girl in me did find this bag a bit boring, but they have introduced a line of bags called “Totes with Quotes”, a fun alternative to the plain tote. Their colourful prints and quotes look fun on the sides of the natural canvas. Another fun product is their classic string bag. They carry them is so many fantastic colours – classic colours, jewel tones, pastels, earth tones. My favourite product from ECOBag is definitely their Milano style string bag. It has a 2 inch strap for added carrying comfort, but it is a really stylish looking bag. I’ve got to have one!