Designer handbags

five ACCESSORIES is a socially conscious company featuring handbags and accessories sourced through fair trade practices in FIVE countries.  Our mission is to help generate income for individuals in developing areas, donate a substantial portion of the revenues to worthy causes in those areas, and to foster the use of sustainable materials in fashion. $5.00 from every handbag sale is given back to the country it originated in.

In addition to our work with artisans in Bali, India, Honduras, and Cambodia, five ACCESSORIES is also partnering with several local organizations.  In April 2009, we launched an accessory line titled ‘Off The Street’, which is sourced and produced by vendors of StreetWise, a Chicago based social enterprise designed to help elevate severely impoverished men and women out of poverty.  By employing individuals that have formerly been homeless and using littered material “off the streets” of Chicago, we are offering a unique eco-friendly accessory line consisting of bracelets, buttons, belts, pins and picture frames constructed and adorned with items such as transit cards, bottle caps, ticket stubs from sporting events and other urban refuse.  As with all of our accessory sales, 15% of gross income will be donated back to the local organization, StreetWise.

If I were to define vintage it would be a sip of fine wine from my grandmother’s goblet, the lingering scent of tobacco from my grandfather’s pipe, a favorite family recipe, an old re-run of `I Love Lucy’. If I were to define vintage clothing it would be a dress that dictates trend from a designer or dressmaker who captured a stylistic moment, it would be a signature piece from a retired designer or a unique item that depicts the socioeconomic climate of its era. Vintage can, but does not have to bear a label, it is of a time when getting dressed was an art form and clothes were constructed, not just made, it is a time when we celebrated our bodies and revealed ourselves from the outside in, when women were demure, yet sexy, temperate, yet sensual, coy, yet poised. It is also fun, exciting, playful and outlandish. Vintage is what you make of it and what it makes of you. So come and discover the world of yesterday and see that while it is not brand new it is not yesterday’s news.

I enjoy going out on private appointments and getting to know the women this way and gain some insight as to who they were as individuals in the world and how they celebrated themselves through their personal image and sense of style.  Every item we sell has a history and a story and we feel privileged to be in the business of passing along a little bit of someone’s personal history along with their coveted treasures.

On the green side of things, we recycle shipping paper, ribbons, boxes, you name it, all in the theme of reuse and repurpose.  To wear vintage is to reuse and repurpose so we adopt this philosophy in all aspects of running the business.

We appreciate Karen’s eco friendly approach to operating her business. Check out Vintage Virtuosa to view all of her unique lines of vintage clothing today!