Can Clothing Help Us Avoid the Use of Plastic Bags?

The rise in plastic waste is a complex reality around the world. According to data from the National Tax and Customs Office of Colombia, between July and December of last year, the country's inhabitants used 688.6 million plastic bags. Adding that globally more than 70% of this plastic will end up dumped in oceans and seas, and up to 12% will be burned causing pollution and disease in different areas of the planet. All this panorama has been increased in the current times of Covid-19 by the use of millions of masks, gloves, bags, and packaging of this material.

Against this background, the 'Wearable Bags' project was born by McCann Colombia together with Fontanar Centro Comercial, and with the collaboration of the fashion designer Christian Colorado, which combines style, comfort, and sustainability. It is an innovative collection item of clothing, designed to carry purchases in a trendy and planet-friendly way.

This limited edition collaborates with the care of the environment, achieving that each Wearable Bag avoids the use of more than 167 bags per year, thus impacting locally and globally, since they are functional for making purchases in businesses and stores, in addition to its practicality. They can support up to 20kg, are made to last up to five years or 150 poses and are non-binary designs. A creation together with the important designer Christian Colorado, who belongs to the new generation of Colombian fashion designers who succeed locally as well as on the great catwalks of the world.

The creative team behind the idea, consisting of Diana Triana, César Cadena, Juan Prieto and Juan Cárdenas, states that “we are focused on generating ideas that add, not only to our clients' business, but also to the rest of the world, to the people and communities. With Wearable Bags we have the satisfaction of having contributed a grain of sand to a problem that has been asking us for strong actions for a long time”.

Colorado explained that “these are items that offer double function to those who wear them, as they are jackets that can be used as bags, thus offering multiple contributions to fashion. The first, and most important for us, is that it contributes to the environment, the second is style, and the third is the comfort they offer because people will no longer have to carry plastic or additional bags due to they can carry everything in their jacket. In this way we want to show the world that we can have style while taking care of the environment”.

The items of this collection can still be found in the Mega Sale of Fontanar Shopping Mall. Its Manager Andrea Sierra assures that “at Fontanar we stand out for being a socially and environmentally responsible shopping centre. For this reason, we are constantly looking for strategies and opportunities that allow us to contribute to our area and we find a great opportunity to do so with the help of Christian and the development of this new collection”.