ChicoBag Story

By Marion Harmon

The problem of too much trash is what inspired Andy Keller to invent the ChicoBag. It began with a trip he took to the local landfill while landscaping his backyard. “I was horrified by the volume of trash being buried every day,” says Keller “The plastic bags caught my eye, blowing around, stuck on the tie-downs. It was that day I set the intention to kick the wasteful single-use bag habit.”

Keller went to a thrift shop and bought a sewing machine, then sat at his kitchen table and created a prototype for a handy, reusable shopping bag. That was two-and-a-half years ago, and Keller’s original inspiration has led to a successful and rapidly growing business. ChicoBags have a compact design that makes them easy to throw in a purse or fit on a belt loop…

“The big picture is that I want to make a difference,” he says. “It doesn’t have to be in regard to the environment—I see it all tied together, actually, as far as social causes, health, the environment. Basically just recognizing the interconnectedness of humanity, to each other as well as to everything else in the universe.”

Chico Statement Fall 2007

Keller exhibits those values by hiring employees who share the same values; manufacturing the bags in a fair-labor, fair-wage factory in China; and fostering a recycling program for expired ChicoBags.

In addition to selling the bags to retailers, Keller prints them with logos for use as promotional items by companies and nonprofit organizations. The bags are also available at a lower cost for school fundraising. “This third part of our business is the one I’m most interested in,” says Keller. He offers schools an alternative to selling cookie dough or candy that is “more in line with educational standards and environmental goals.”