The Bag Issue - “The solution was in The Bag”

“For quite a few years I wanted to produce a magazine that had another use. A bag that you read and use seemed to be a good combination. The first Bag Issue has the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights published on it – a document that recognises poverty as a human rights issue. This may all sound pretty obvious, but it is surprising the number of organisations and governments who do not see that poverty is an abuse we should be moving heaven and earth to eradicate, in the same way that we eradicated smallpox. I hope you enjoy reading and using The Bag Issue, starting with this searing piece of journalism, beautiful in its fairness – the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is the best of places to start.”
John Bird, Big Issue Founder

Friend of the Big Issue and former guest-editor Trudie Styler has been a patron of Karm Marg (http://www.karmmarg.org/) for 10 years and last December joined John Bird to launch The Bag Issue.

The Karm Marg orphanage was set up in 1997 to give disadvantaged kids in India shelter, care, medical support and education, plus the skills and knowledge to create an income and build them a better future – hence The Bag Issue bags.

The bags are made from 100 per cent recycled elephant dung, banana fibre, hessian paper and jute. They have been designed by the children at Karm Marg, who have created their own label, Jugaad, which means ‘something made from nothing’.

It gives the children a chance to be creative, learn new skills and pick up ideas about business. The bags are manufactured at the homes of workers in the local village, women who live on subsistence smallholdings and rely on this employment.

The Bag Issue, with its replication of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights boldly emblazoned on both sides, is available to buy priced £2.99 plus postage and packaging. Each bag is created by children at the Karm Marg orphanage.

For details and to place orders, please contact Louise Woodhouse at The Big Issue: louise.woodhouse@bigissue.com or telephone: 07961 867834