Thrifty Thursday
I haven't done a "Thrifty Thursday" post in a while and with my latest acquisition I thought I should. A friend contacted me one day recently and asked if I wanted some Coach bag material. I thought, "Sure!"
When I went to her house to pick it up, it actually turned out to be three 30 gallon garbage bags and 2 small shopping bags full of actual Coach bags! Apparently, they were purses that customers had bought, and had found a slight defect in them and returned them to the store. Instead of reselling them at a reduced rate or giving them away to some charitable group, the store had sliced open every single bag and thrown them in a dumpster at the mall.. The price tags were still on and the bags were anywhere from $350-$450 each. There was about $10,000 worth of merchandise in the bags.
My friend couldn't stand seeing them go to waste and pulled them out of the garbage. lol Anyway, she thought I could do something with them.
Unfortunately, the bags were too destroyed to be able to repair them as pocket books. But I was able to salvage some of the hardware and a bit of the fabric for smaller projects.
All of the handles were intact.
I was able to keep some of the smaller straps and a few zippers. The outside zippers were all cut in half, but a few bags still had the inside pocket zippers in one piece.
I cut off tons of rings to be used in other projects.
I'm keeping some for myself and passing on the rest to a friend who makes handbags. I am glad that I was able to at least get some things from each bag. The wastefulness of retailers is sickening.
She also gave me the equivalent of two boxes full of upholstery fabric samples, including leather samples.
It has been a very thrifty week! :-)
When I went to her house to pick it up, it actually turned out to be three 30 gallon garbage bags and 2 small shopping bags full of actual Coach bags! Apparently, they were purses that customers had bought, and had found a slight defect in them and returned them to the store. Instead of reselling them at a reduced rate or giving them away to some charitable group, the store had sliced open every single bag and thrown them in a dumpster at the mall.. The price tags were still on and the bags were anywhere from $350-$450 each. There was about $10,000 worth of merchandise in the bags.
My friend couldn't stand seeing them go to waste and pulled them out of the garbage. lol Anyway, she thought I could do something with them.
Unfortunately, the bags were too destroyed to be able to repair them as pocket books. But I was able to salvage some of the hardware and a bit of the fabric for smaller projects.
All of the handles were intact.
I was able to keep some of the smaller straps and a few zippers. The outside zippers were all cut in half, but a few bags still had the inside pocket zippers in one piece.
I cut off tons of rings to be used in other projects.
She also gave me the equivalent of two boxes full of upholstery fabric samples, including leather samples.
It has been a very thrifty week! :-)
Wow, what a haul! It'll be interesting to see what you make. I see Etsy sales in your future!
ReplyDeleteI have a bunch of fabric samples books a friend gave me. I haven't make anything from them yet, but need to work on that.
Isn't that sad to see such waste? I'm sure you will find a way of using part of it.
ReplyDeleteWhat a brilliant thrifty find! I can't wait to see what you make with all of your new stash... :-) Have fun!!
ReplyDeleteAmazing how wasteful they are, but I have heard of that before. In fact, our pastor's wife gave my son a couple of shirts and jackets she was able to rescue...they must have missed them with their scissors! ;D
ReplyDeleteHave fun creating with them!
Blessings,
Nadine