Pham Thi Hai Duong, 28, residing in Phu Yen Province in south-central Vietnam, chose to quit her stable job at a company in Ho Chi Minh City to pursue her hobby of transforming old jeans into eye-catching and fashionable handbags.
At the end of 2019, Duong found many jeans that were still good but outdated while tidying up her house. The thought of upcycling them into useful things and unique handbags immediately came to her mind.
When Duong posted photos of handbags made of old denims to social media, many people were interested in them and wanted to buy them.
As a result, Duong started designing unique bags from discarded jeans.
She bought jeans from second-hand stores before many other people have brought their old jeans to Duong and asked her to turn them into handbags.
Two backpacks made of discarded jeans. Photo: N.V. / Tuoi Tre |
Duong said the work could help take full advantage of jeans to create useful products while bringing economic benefits and contributing to protecting the environment.
From simple handbags, Duong later made professional handbags by improving their shapes and details.
Duong’s handbags are diversified, including backpacks, cross-body bags, bucket backpacks, bucket bags, oval bags, square bags, and round bags, among others.
She has made thousands of handbags made of discarded denims thanks to the knowledge got from a short-term design course and the internet as well as her ingenuity and creativity.
Many young people are keen on Duong’s products. Photo: N.V. / Tuoi Tre |
Duong assessed denim as an interesting material since it is the combination of both toughness and softness. Its thickness and durability makes it an appropriate material to make handbags.
Each pair of jeans has different details that can be taken advantage to create decorative details for handbags.
At the beginning, she found it hard to choose decorative details. She had to order them across the country for testing.
Duong said that her handbags have reached some overseas Vietnamese people thanks to social media. She has sold more than 5,000 handbags over the past four years.
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