Our First Bag Collab Is Here And It's Sooooo Damn Good!
By
Rachelle Hruska
Give a Damn!
Omg if there's one thing I've learned since starting Lingua Franca, it's that banding together with other friends who care is not only meaningful work, it's F-U-N, FUN! This thoughtful collaboration with MZ Wallace got its start back in April (APRIL!). Back then we had no idea that Trump would be appointing another Supreme Court Justice so soon or that we'd be devoting our precious time to pointless things like the minute details of a frat boy's 1982 calendar (I can't help it - this still freaks me out! Who still has those?!). But, we WERE already thinking about midterms. We were thinking and we were planning and we were working together, 'cause that's what women do! And this is what was born.
And, I get it. A bag is just a bag. But this bag is truly so much more. Really! We and our friends at MZ Wallace have promised 100% of the proceeds of this bag go to an organization that we all think is helping to move the needle in the right direction: She Should Run. If you don't know about this fantastic, non-partisan organization whose mission is to "expand the talent pool of women running for office in the U.S.," please get on their radar.
We made what we could (700 bags), but they are already going fast. If you have any interest in this bag, for yourself or for a gift - please snatch one up now! I can't bear to have my LF newsletter peeps miss out on this one!
And, if you're in New York, come listen to Erin (founder of She Should Run), Monica and Lucy (founders of MZ Wallace) and moi talk all about this wonderful collaboration and why we all give a damn and think you all should too! It's 5-7 this Friday in Soho and the details are at the bottom of the email. RSVP here:press@mzwallace.com. xo Rachelle
Please don't be mad at me if you don't order this right away and you forget to buy it and then we sell out and you miss out! We're doing the best we can!
A step by step look into making the give a damn! bag:
Some of you won't care, but some of you may? Below, a step-by-step look into how we went about creating the most important bag there ever was:
April 2018. My friend Monica Zwirner and I bring her partner Lucy and MZ Wallace team members, Sarah and Melanie, together to pow wow in our offices. We basically just tell each other how much we all love each other. I think there was some talk about bag sizes and colors. We start "THE LIST" of phrases to choose from. This was by far the hardest part!
After a series of back and forth emails regarding the phrase, color and design and processes, our bag is finalized! Kate and I visit MZ Wallace's studios to pick out final colors and make sure our embroidery looks dope.
I see the bag for the first time and freak out. I'm so excited I make Monica's dog Momo get inside and proceed to take a million photos. (Look at him!?)
I come back another day to meet with Erin, founder of She Should Run (in the white shirt). We (Monica is front left and Lucy front right) have so much fun it's a joke to call it work. I make them let me include Momo in our photo. We spend an entire hour talking about the state of our world and how women in power in all walks of life seems to be a really great answer to every problem. We also agree we want women to run for office, but none of us want to personally. Is this the problem? I debate that internally for a long time...
We finally did it. I'm so proud of these women and proud of this collaboration, and I can't wait to see it out in the wild! Now, the invitation I was promising you, please come and say hello:
