Flip & Tumble

Posted by The Daily Obsession

on July 31, 2008

How many of you have reusable bags that you reserve for trips to the grocery store? And how many times have you forgotten about them? For me, it’s been too many to count. Despite my efforts of actually leaving them in the car, I still manage to forget them to bring them with me into the store, 9 out of 10 times. (Totally a bummer whenever I’m at Trader Joe’s…the parking lot is always busy, so if you run out and get them, you’ll leave behind at least one angry driver waiting for a parking spot when you head back into the store. Never fun!)

Then I discovered flip & tumble bags – the most genius reusable bags ever. Designed by Hetal Jariwala and Eva Bauer, who met while attending Stanford University’s Product Design program, these are basically bright, fun totes that can be stuffed into a compact ball in 8 seconds flat. It’s pretty amazing! (Watch the video.) You won’t have to mess with zippers, buttons or any of those doodads either. You just flip the tote inside out, and push it into an elastic pouch. Vice versa when you want to use the tote. “We played with a variety of compacting systems, but ultimately took our cue from sockballs,” says Eva.

Made of ripstop nylon, the bag itself is incredibly light in weight. Don’t let that fool you though; these bags are very durable and can carry up to 25 lbs each. That means I can fit just about all the produce and other grocery goodies for one week into a bag or two. Still, the very best part is that they’re so compact, that I can keep them in my purse all the time. It’s the ideal solution to the aforementioned issues! And when I head to the farmer’s market for produce, I feel that much better (by supporting the local economy and being eco-friendly)!

Available in five colors, these are perfect to tote with you to the gym, grocery store, traveling – you name it. I think they’ll really change the way you run errands, and if nothing else, you won’t feel so guilty about wasting plastic bags anymore. You can pick up yours for a mere $12 each at flipandtumble.com. You know that you need them!