Special bags to create awareness about breast cancer

MUMBAI - If you support causes and have a fetish for bags, luxury brand Hidesign has something for you - a collection to help spread awareness about breast cancer.

Twenty percent of the sales from the Pink Ribbon collection, as it is called, will be directed to raising awareness regarding breast cancer and its prevention. The collection will be available through October and November.

“Thirty-two years back, the brand germinated around the idea of age-old traditions of vegetable tanning and eco-friendly processes. This concern for the environment, health and social well-being finds newer meanings as we grow,” Hidesign president Dilip Kapur told IANS.

“With more than 90 percent of the Hidesign workforce being women, how can we not be sensitive to a cause like this,” he added.

The products that boast of styles ranging from signature Hidesign handbags, cross bodies, travel bags and wallets, have been on sale since Oct 15.

“The products have met with a great response. It’s too early for us to give it a number right now. We expect the Hot Pink bags to do really well. Our stores, website and Facebook pages have registered a very active response,” Kapur revealed.

So, how important do they think it is for companies and brands to come forward and support causes?

“It depends on the company. For us, it is in our DNA and we do not look at it as a marketing or commercial exercise. But yes, we do believe the larger community responds to companies that care about them,” Kapur said.

“At the local level, we have worked actively to protect Pondicherry’s heritage and the villages around our factory. On a larger level, being conscious of our environment is in our DNA: we started as a rebel brand that worked with vegetable tanning as an alternative to chemical tanning,” he said.

“Breast cancer affects us deeply: 60 percent of our customers are women and over 90 percent of the Hidesign community - people at our factory, our stores in India and internationally our distributors - is women. How could we not be sensitive to an issue like this,” he asked.