Handmade Purse Materials & Craftsmanship
As a designer and manufacturer of Pendleton wool and eco-friendly canvas handbags and tote bags, I design every element with the highest standards of craftsmanship. Each bag is handmade to ensure quality and lasting durability, celebrating the characteristics of the fabric, and creating a truly distinctive product.
Utilizing only the highest quality fabrics and hardware, sourced almost exclusively from the Pacific Northwest and the USA, I offer hometown craftsmanship doing all the cutting, assembling, and sewing by hand. All materials are hand cut, including leather handles and tabs cut in Vancouver, WA by a leather craftsman. We do not make many reproductions of the same bag (leather/fabric pattern combination), so you will not see your neighbor with the identical purse or bag!
Land & Kamp hand-creates bold patterns and naturally cozy textures with handcrafted wool purses and lifestyle goods. All canvas, leather bottom exterior and Pendleton wool is hand cut, sewn and assembled here in Portland, Oregon. Our leather is from Maverick Leather in Bend and Oregon Leather in downtown Portland. Pendleton wool is from the local mills in Pendleton and Washougal, WA. Perfect Fit in Portland provides raw canvas for the liners. While Spoonflower prints the patterned exterior canvas on demand in the USA, with eco-friendly patterned canvas printing.
As the materials are locally and nationally sourced, our footprint is reduced, keeping labor to expert local craftsmen and money in local communities. This ensures the ability to provide education and skills to younger craftsmen learning to sew and create small batch production. When the pattern sizes are cut, I start with the largest pattern size and continue to cut the materials down with each smaller pattern to piece, creating less waste. The largest leftover scraps are donated to other makers in the community, ending with less than a trash bag of unusable scraps after cutting down 9-12 yards of fabric and seven hides of leather.
Pendleton Woolen Mills has always had a zero-mill-waste policy since 1909, with efficient use of all mill products. Trimmings, salvages, and headers have inspired crafters while fulfilling their goal of sending zero pounds to landfill. The Woolen Mill Store ships fabrics and raw materials within the United States only.
Spoonflower Eco-Friendly Canvas print-on-demand process is designed to minimize fabric and ink waste. They reduce material and water use by choosing a pigment printing process, only printing what is needed, and donating unprinted fabric waste. The pigment printing process utilizes little water to begin with, and is mixed with 4-8 basic colors, with no mixing in advance. This is an eco-friendly solution in the textile printing industry, unlike screen printing. Product safety is ensured with water-based inks and dyes, avoiding any fabrics with flame-retardant or harmful chemicals.
The wool store in Milwaukie where I purchase Pendleton material, also offers Commitment to Community Programming, designed to support our First Nations Communities, as well as educational and charitable causes. On all Land & Kamp products, 5% of the retail price (not just profit) of any product made with a Pendleton wool fabric that is native inspired goes back to MMIWhoIsMissing and National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center and Rising Hearts. Donations are made on May 5th, which is the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. See our blog on Creative Responsibility for more information on our support of indigenous cultures and sustainability.
If you are looking for the best quality eco-friendly handmade bags and lifestyle products available, shop Land & Kamp!
