Basmati Bags came about by accident.

When it started I was eating a lot of rice (which came in those big burlap bags); I also had a housemate whose work in interior design left us with a lot of high-end fabric samples sitting around the house.

I needed a new bag, and I wanted something good-looking and eco-friendly. One day I was on my computer - I was googling all over the place trying to find a well designed, authentically sustainable purse...while also being inundated with emails from underfunded nonprofits struggling to survive. I couldn't find the bag that I wanted; I also couldn't see how to help all these organizations who were so desperately struggling to do good work in the world.

Perhaps it was because I needed a distraction, or perhaps it was frustration, or perhaps it was inspiration, but one day I decided I would try to solve at least one of my two problems by hand-sewing a bag from the burlap and remnants I had at home. There was no real design plan, no pattern, no entrepreneurial strategy; I just made one and that was that. That is, until one day soon after when a friend happened to see it and was totally into it. And then that friend told someone, who told someone, who told someone, and on and on.

At a certain point, it became clear that my simple little bag might be an opportunity for me to integrate issues that I care about: 1) raising the bar for eco-fashion, 2) having a positive impact on the environment, and 3) supporting non-profits through a conscientious business model. And so it was that the company, and our mission statement, was born. It’s been a wild ride, but one that's been both gratifying and exciting.

There’s so much enthusiasm for these kinds of ecochic goods, but upcycled products have a very unique set of challenges. But that's okay - Basmati Bags has required me to be both an innovator and a problem-solver, and has given me a chance to help validate for fashionistas, environmentalists, and other small businesses that great products and great works can - and should - go hand-in-hand. And that's effort well spent.