Chiara Colombi, Roz Pactor, Laura Bernardi; Photo by Meg Sullivan

The afternoon stop-by at BB1 Classics in Uptown Park was intended for me to have a quick taste of Italy……antipasto and prosecco, provided by Tony’s restaurant, and to meet these (2) women from Milan, Italy that had recently relocated to the states, Houston specifically, that Callie Saitowitz assured me brought a “bag of wares” that I had to see.   Such a lover of Italy am I that I am always amazed to meet anyone that could actually leave that country for Texas, but they had their reasons and most importantly brought with them a hot new concept in bag making, manufactured totally in Italy……the zip bag, made by Ghostzip.

Three friends from Milan had an idea:  a zipper that once done became a bag of many sizes, shapes and colors and other novelty items such wine canisters (this is Italy, so a must, right!) and even large bean bag chairs.  The concept must be seen to totally grasp it, but imagine someone handing you a handful of connected zippers that when you zip them they take the shape of a clutch bag, a tote, a cellphone holder…..are you getting it yet?  What also makes it so great for travel is that when you want to pack it or wash it, you can just unzip it and the space needed diminishes greatly.  Once you’ve seen it and experienced it you will see why this relatively new concept, only in the U.S. since March of this year (2012) and in Italy since 2009, that is surprisingly affordable, took off like a hot panini when introduced to a trade show in Milan and immediately sold enough zips to make over two thousand bags! Read the rest of this entry »