We’re so excited to add a little fun for the beach or pool with our handmade baskets from Madagascar. Our flip flop basket bags are big enough to carry all you need and guaranteed to stand out from the crowd.
Handwoven with sustainable raffia and with woven palm panels inside. They have a drawstring cover plus an inside pocket.
The oval base is double thickness and also has a leather trim to match the leather handles, to provide long lasting use.
FlipFlops are on one side only.
Approximate size: length of top 46cm x width of base 16cm x height 31cm (including handles 52cm)
Please note all our products are handmade so each one will vary slightly – in size and colour – making them chic and unique!
ABOUT OUR HANDMADE BASKETS
Handwoven with natural, sustainable palm and grasses. Eco-friendly and hard working with leather or palm handles. Our classic baskets will last for years and can be used for shopping, picnics, beach trips or storage around the home. Once you've used one, you'll only want more!
The work is done by a number of small family groups - no work takes place in factories - and all are paid a fair wage.
The items are from Madagascar and made from the native raffia palm tree that grows in the tropical rainforests. The tree has a short trunk which is used in house building if the entire tree needs to be cut down. However the branches can grow up to 18m long, so are usually cut leaving the tree to continue growing. Each branch is made of roughly 100 smaller fronds and the leaves are peeled before being dried in the sunshine. They are then cut into thin strips and washed to flatten the strips before being dyed in large pots over open fires. The raffia is then laid out in the sunshine to dry.
Weaving is done in homes on a hand loom - roughly 250g of raffia is used to make a 180cm x 62cm panel and takes a day to weave. This can only be done during daylight as none of the homes have electricity - or running water.
The flipflops are then sewn on to the raffia panels. Panels of palm leaves are woven together to make the inside of each basket and the raffia panels are then sewn to make up the bags.
The handles are all leather, made from the native zebu cattle.
NB: They can cope with a bit of light rain/damp and need to be thoroughly dried after but we wouldn’t trust them in a real downpour as the dye would run. The colours will fade in time.