Designing Handbags to Raise Money

In recent news, two individuals, one on a local level and the other a celebrity, have designed handbags to raise money for specific causes. In one case, Scarlett Johansson, the actress best known for Lost in Translation and more ecently Vicky Cristina Barcelona, has designed a handbag to raise money for relief efforts in Haiti, while a teen in Greenville, NY, designs handbags to raise money for his school. In either instance, the handbags are for sale and the money is going directly to a cause, either locally or on a national level as one of many relief efforts.

In the case of the Greenville teen, Liam Manak, a 15-year-old boy who has a dream of becoming a designer, has some of his handbags for sale at a local event. Called Valentine’s Boutique Monday, the event is designed to support local vendors in the Greenville area and also to raise money for a local private school, Tuxedo Park School. Manak’s handbags are entirely handcrafted from knitting and, at the event, will be retailing from $150 to $250 dollars. From the looks of the picture included with the article, many of Manak’s colorful knitted handbags can be used as mid-size purses or clutches.

On the other end of handbag creation is Scarlett Johansson who, unlike most celebrities, has stuck to the realm of performing – acting and singing – until recently. According to this article, her contribution to raising money for relief efforts in Haiti has been through creating a handbag design which, retailing at $29.90, will be sold in Mango stores. The handbag design itself includes ancient Haitian scripts, and the money from its sales will go directly to Oxfam for clean water and similar causes in Haiti. Although Johannson has posed with handbags for Louis Vuitton, this is her first attempt at designing fashion. Maybe a fragrance will be in the works next.