This past June, Treehugger reported that Timbuk2 was going to team up with RootPhito build a messenger bag by pressing (laminating) recycled billboards, grocery bags, posters, and the like. The bags will be called Lamitron, and their development process has been closely watched by influential bloggers including Cool Hunting, Wired and PSFK.
Here are a few prototypes:
I dig it. I dig it so much that I have postponed buying a new courier bag until these roll out. Think about it, an ad guy walking around with a bag made of deconstructed ads.
I signed up for their email and was immediately notified that Lamitron bags would be available for purchase as soon as Timbuk2 and RootPhi ironed out the production process. That original email is lost, but it included an image with yet another example of what the bags could look like (ever mindful that they are all custom):
(sorry for the fuzzy image…I had to do a screen capture)
As you can see, one of the primary materials RootPhi and Timbuk2 were playing with was the always hip, always branded Target shopping bag. Cool idea, right?
Not according to Target.
Today, Timbuk2 sent out another email notifying all those interested in Lamitron bags that Target tossed them a cease and desist order. It read:
Note the Lamitron bag in this email. The right panel, made of a Target shopping bag, has been blurred.
Obviously, Timbuk2 is taking this cease and decist letter seriously. Their tact and tone indicates they do not want to poke the beast for fear of legal repercussions, but come on…
Shame on you, Target. This is a new era, and you know that. Your marketing efforts are some of the most progressive in the world. You have a keen understanding of how to engage customers in new, interactive ways.
Timbuk2 may be another “company” rather than a “customer”, but what they offer you is a way to keep the Target brand relevant, fresh, and at the cutting edge of fashion and design. Why in the world would you ask Timbuk2 to remove your logo from their bags? It is a critical step in the wrong direction.
I have not control over the process, but I’m hopeful that, in an act of passive aggression, Timbuk2 and RootPhi stop by Wal-Mart on their way to the printing press:
4 responses so far ↓
1 marceau // Oct 17, 2007 at 12:27 pm
i agree rad. come on target. you work so hard at being associated with fashion (read running ads in vanity fair, etc) that once you emerge on the other side and actually BECOME fashion, you run away. you should be celebrating a victory of epic proportions, not sending out cease and desist letters.
lawyers. got to love them.
2 Laura // Oct 17, 2007 at 9:58 pm
I like the happy faces better then the bullseye anyway, but what’s to stop Safeway, Wal-Mart, K-Mart and other plastic bag mass producers from sending the same order…is there any trash safe to use??
3 bryan robison // Oct 18, 2007 at 4:38 pm
i received the same Timbuk2 email yesterday and couldn’t believe what i saw either. i love the concept of those Lamitron bags - both for the kitsch and recycle/reuse factors.
maybe Target’s trying to get their aggression out after the court ruling in california last week bringing the class action case against them for failing to have an accessible web site:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/14/california_target_web_accessibility/
4 Fused Plastic Bags | Crafterbation // May 2, 2008 at 2:06 pm
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