We all know now that plastic bags are a menace and most of us want to stop using them – but there are difficulties!  We forget our shopping bags; we just don't have them with us when we buy something we weren't planning.  We don't want to carry bulky bags all the time.  Some people have bought bags made from parachute nylon, and do carry them, but when they are in a hurry, the bag is too fiddly to get out of its pocket, so they end up taking a plastic bag anyway!  At that point, the bag has failed.

Most of us want something that looks good too.  We need something that people will not only buy, but actually use more than once!  It needs to be easily washable and quick to dry.  And it needs to be inexpensive in the first place.  We feel strongly, that if we get it right, you will buy them for yourself and your friends and family – you will see how useful they are, and together we will banish the plastic bag, saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of marine animals. 

Marine wildlife often sees the plastic bag as food (jelly fish maybe) swallows it and suffocates.  The animal rots and the wretched bag goes on to kill again, and again.  Our oceans are dumping zones for our rubbish – out of sight, out of mind.  But a glance at any Council tip will show the extent of what is floating in our seas.

There are many shopping bags on the market and of course lots of people want to go for natural fibres.  The trouble is that cotton and especially jute are bulky to carry all the time; handles are often not integral and break with heavy loads.  String bags are great, but they break and small items fall through the holes.  The uncomfortable truth is that if bags are not convenient, we don’t use them. 

We considered silk as a natural fibre that is light, strong and foldable but silk deteriorates more quickly, is more costly and of course, is not cruelty free (the larval stage of the silk worm is dropped into boiling water alive so that we can harvest the silk in an unbroken thread).  It’s a complicated business!  We have spent a year trailing and researching different bags and their pros and cons; taking into account our customers’ feedback and have come up with this design. There is also a drawstring bag that will hold three Ever Bags, which we will be giving away to any customer who buys three Ever Bags.

The Ever Bag will replace Ecosilk bags on the website.  This is because our customer feedback told us that the bag needs its own little pocket and our own common sense told us that, with the latest rise in costs, Ecosilk would become too expensive to make it viable for everyone.  Ever Bags come in at a better price for us, and therefore, for you too.