Fashion. Love, Africa

Over 140 families call Kenya's Gioto Garbage Slum home. It's also the point origin of Fashion. Love, Africa's colorful, eco-friendly tote bags.

Yesterday we had the pleasure of meeting Ryan Clements, lead designer and project manager of Fashion. Love, Africa, a company that provides an opportunity for income for those that live their lives at Gioto. We love how Fashion. Love, Africa guides the local population in using sustainable materials to craft well-designed, functional and fun pieces.

Those totes? They're woven from the plastic bags that litter the trash heap. (The finished product is washed & disinfected.) Ryan explained to us that the various colors used for the totes come from different kinds of plastic bags. Metallic silver, for instance, is the kind of bag used for electronic goods.

Ryan shot an incredible amount of footage at Gioto, which you can view on this Youtube channel. Videos range from the creation of the bags to showing life at Gioto.

Psst... we have this bag on order. The blue reminds us of Morocco & we can't wait to use it at the beach. We also have our eye on this one...

Which one will you get?

Katharine & Ryan at FLA HQ