Seat Belt Bags
Each year, U.S. companies throw out 7.6 billion tons of waste, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.Dana and Melanie Harvey are the founders of Harveys, a Santa Ana-based company that manufactures handbags from recycled car seat belts.
The 10-year-old company was founded after Dana, a skilled tailor, created a purse for Melanie, his wife. After installing seat belts in a 1950 Buick, Dana, 40, took some of the unused upholstery and stitched a handbag for Melanie, 38, who collected vintage purses.
Some of her friends fell in love with the bag’s style and durability – human seat belts have a tensile strength of more than 5,000 pounds – and asked Dana to make some extras. Since then, Harveys has produced almost 450,000 bags.
A few years ago, the company introduced the Treecycle Collection, which has become its best-selling bag. It’s woven from seat belt remnants the auto industry doesn’t use and that otherwise would end up in a landfill. Per year, Harveys uses just short of 1 million yards of seat belt webbing.
“To make a fashion statement with our bag and be social conscious is great,” Dana Harvey says. “People are using their power to make a difference.”
The Treecycle bag, which also employs water-based inks and a hemp lining, is available at a variety of Los Angeles-area boutiques and at www.seatbeltbags.com. It’s priced at $134 to $168.
