Yves Saint Laurent Muse Two Artisanal Recycled, $1720 via YSL.
Usually, women only ask two things of their handbags: That they be fabulous and functional. Increasingly, though, some women are making a third request of their clothing and accessories: That it also has a sense of social responsibility. Admittedly not everyone cares about what impact their purchases have on the world or on the people who produced them, but the number of people who do are growing, which makes it fashionable for global brand to debut products like the limited editionYves Saint Laurent Muse Two Artisanal Recycled Bag, which was produced by artisans in Burkina Faso with Fair Trade cotton and recycled plastic bags. For real.
Although I’m betting that most people will balk at paying over $1700 for a cotton handbag even if it is part of a 60-piece handmade run that’s only available online to US and UK customers, the more luxury companies undertake projects like this, the better. Mainstreaming responsible manufacturing processes is a slow process, but this bag makes it hard to argue that the results aren’t every bit as good as their traditional counterparts. Available via YSL.com for $1720.
