The Portobello Tote is Mulberry’s newest leather handbag. It’s 100% sustainable and 100% guilt-free. The bags are produced at Mulberry’s carbon-neutral factory in Somerset. In 2019, all of Mulberry’s UK operations, including its offices, factories, and retail stores, became carbon-neutral. The company plans to expand this measure on a worldwide scale by 2025.
The Leather Working group, a multi-stakeholder team that promotes sustainability in the leather industry, awarded the leather used to manufacture the bag, a gold-rated tannery. The European-sourced heavy-grain leather is a by-product of food production.
In addition to sustainable leather, Portobello Tote has also been stitched using recycled polyester fiber thread known as Epic EcoVerde thread. The bags come in an array of seven colors, including tangerine orange, crimson, and chestnut.
According to the creative director at Mulberry, Johnny Coca, the inspiration for the Portobello Tote came from the functional plastic bag, an everyday item that gets thrown away. “The Portobello keeps the beautiful utility of this silhouette and elevates it into an elegant tote that is, more importantly, made to last,” said Coca.
Anyone who purchases one of these bags can feel good about where the money is going because all profits from the bag sales will be donated to the World Land Trust. The World Land Trust is a non-profit environmental organization that first launched in the UK three decades ago.
Mulberry CEO, Thierry Andretta, said:
Through our Mulberry Green responsibility commitments, we are continuing our innovative approach towards design and manufacturing in a conscientious way, ensuring we will provide truly luxury, truly responsible products for our customers.
Anna Wintour, American Vogue editor-in-chief, believes it’s important to promote sustainability within the fashion industry. Wintour recommends shoppers to take better care of their clothes and pass them on to other people, rather than tossing them away. “I think for all of us, it means attention more on craft, on creativity, and less on the idea of clothes that are instantly disposable, things that you will throw away just after one reading,” she said.
The Portobello Tote bag retails at £795, for more information, check out the company’s website.
