TEXTILE DESIGNER MAKES HATS OUT OF RECYCLED FIBERS

Textile designer and writer, Bernadette Casey of New Zealand is making hats from recycled coffee bags. That's something Wellington has no shortage of, says Ms Casey, director of homeware company Ataahua.

The eight-year-old company makes bed linen and tea towels, and was launched when Ms Casey returned from Australia to find she could not get good quality Pacific bed linen.

When asked to write an article about sustainable textiles for a book (called the Melting Point) Ms Casey questioned why the world relies on cotton and what alternatives are available.

That made her re-think the way Ataahua uses textiles. "We were using a lot of cotton, which accounts for three percent of world crops, but account for more than 20 percent of all insecticides or pesticides used.”

"We always used cotton but we are altering that now. We are reducing cotton sheeting and going more into "re-purpose products".

When asked to write an article for a magazine about the coffee industry and coffee sacks she started thinking about making hats with this fabric.

"I went away and thought about the sacks and came up with the hats, bags and lampshades."

The Trilby, Baker Boys and Commando styles are available in coffee sacks. Sales are coming in (from the web) from the US, Canada, Japan

Ataahua produced bags for the 2007 Oscars.

Information available at: www.ataahua.co.nz.

PETER GRIMM HEADWEAR ALSO USING COFFEE BAGS TO MAKE HATS:
The Peter Grimm collection looked great last week at the Magic Show. We were pleasantly surprised by its freshness and cohesive “cool” fashion statement.

Their recycled coffee bag hats have an authentic looking hang tag that reads: “Drinking Coffee Saves The Planet.”

Brian Greenman, Heather Lovern and Glenn Walker of Peter Grimm