She didn't end up working at the bridal shop and the tuition for photography school was too costly for her to afford. She found her priorities changing after getting married and having two children, but still felt the urge to be creative."I wanted to try to use the talent that I have and try to start making money from home, being with my family," King says.
Family affair
King started making the purses as a hobby from recycled fabrics that friends or Craigslist ad respondents donated, including shower curtains, tablecloths and old T-shirts. In April 2010 she started selling the purses at small festivals and local boutiques. Now, since the addition of her website theearthpurse.com in December, business is thriving.
To keep up with demand, she says making the purses has become a full-time job and family affair. King has even taught her husband, Dillon, to sew so he can help with the actual construction, rather than the smaller tasks she used to assign him such as cutting out fabric shapes.
"I wouldn't call us tree-huggers, but we are definitely doing what we can to do our part," King says.Larger sustainability on a smaller scale
While King started with donated materials to construct her purses, she now mostly uses materials that come from upholstery shops she found through Craigslist.
A seamstress from Allentown also donates her scraps to King. "She was really excited because there aren't as many people sewing," King says.
King discovered various interior design stores that are more than enthusiastic to donate their excess remnants, rather than throw them away. King says the scraps are too small for items like curtains that the design shops usually specialize in, but are sizable enough for her to construct purses.
"This is the perfect world on a small scale," Jill Reigh, certified recycling professional at the Pennsylvania Recycling Association says of King's endeavors.The business side of sustainability is growing tremendously, according to Reigh. She says the Pennsylvania Recycling Association helps to connect larger business owners with other businesses to reuse waste such as broken glass and tires that can be used in production needs for other products.
Reigh says King's use of upholstery fabric is important because most of those fabrics are not easily biodegradable since they are manufactured to be long-lasting and durable.
"Those little scraps they'd have to just throw out can't keep piling up over the years," Reigh says.Trendy and hip
But don't let the eco-friendliness of the Earth Purse undermine the style.
Home and Planet, an earth-friendly shop at 25 E. Third St. in Bethlehem carries the Earth Purses. Reetha Dubinkin, assistant to the owner of the shop, says they can't keep them in stock.
She says the trend of reusing is growing from an older concept that is now en vogue in the fashion world.
"It's gone from a small group of people that used to be called tree-huggers that were trying to save the world," Dubinkin says. "Now it's trendy. People think it's hip. It's definitely here now to stay."Future plans
King says she is slowly adding additional shops and thinking about expanding to different outlets. "I just try not to bite off more than I can chew," she says.
King takes pride in the time and diligence it takes to make the purses and does not want to rush the process.
"All of the purses are completely unique," she says. "I never make the same thing twice, even if I have enough fabric for two, I won't combine it in the same way."She is always looking for new ideas or different styles of purses to attempt.
"The wheels are always turning on what else I can make," she says. Administering the Earth Purse website also allows for her to put her love of photography into practice.
However grateful she is for the opportunity to combine all of her loves into one large effort, she remains focused on the larger picture.
"I can be at home with my family, using a skill that I learned and helping the planet," she says.Source http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/
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