Durable and malleable, leather is an ideal material for reusing and upcycling. Seizing that potential, reMade USA just launched a line of stylish handbags made from used and scrap leather. reMade's bags were initially made from leather jackets found in charity stores, with details based on the original garments. The company now also gets cast-offs from the furniture and automotive industries.

reMade has around 10–15 different bags available for order on its website at any time, currently ranging in price from USD 125–365. If they'd like to breathe new life into a garment they no longer wear, customers can also supply their own leather jacket and request a design based on one of reMade's models. Hand-crafted in San Francisco, stamped with its own unique serial number, and lined with a recycled silk scarf, each bag is inherently unique.

reMade isn't the first to make leather jackets into bags. But as planet-friendly products jostle for attention, it's not enough just to be green. How to stand out and create a sustainable business on top of a sustainable product? reMade's founder, Shannon South, demonstrates the importance of building a brand: using good design and photography; showing the process and telling a story; and adding charming and recognizable details like a silk scarf lining. (Related: Luxe upcycling: from cashmere sweaters to (very) soft toys — From 1950s pommel horses to 2008 gym bags.)

Website: www.remadeusa.com
Contact: shop@remadeusa.com

Spotted by: Edward Cotton

There's nothing original about canned food—except when it's the restaurant that comes in a can. Sitting in Montreal's old shipping port, the Müvbox is a standard shipping container that's 8ft deep and 20ft long. The wonder moment comes when it is miraculously turned from a container into a 'chic fast food' restaurant in 90 seconds at the touch of a button.

Müvbox features a fully functional kitchen with enough space for four members of staff and a wood-fired pizza oven. The walls of the container collapse to create a covered patio with enough room to serve 28 people, half of whom can be seated at small bistro tables. The concept has some laudable eco features, too: the structure is a reused container and little construction is needed to install it. Müvbox's floor is made from recycled tires and its roof contains solar panels to provide up to 40% of required energy. And it's easily shipped by land or sea. The food is mostly local, too, serving lobster rolls, seafood pizza and other local lobster dishes.

Müvbox wasn't developed as a one-off restaurant: it's a business concept that can be used the world over. The price of the unit comes in at USD 150,000, and the basic design can be tailored to other business's needs. (Related: In Malaysia, shipping containers pop up as budget hotel rooms — Pop-up nightclub — Shop-in-a-box.)

Website: www.muvboxconcept.com
Contact: info@muvboxconcept.com

Spotted by: Daniel Jusseaume

Brides-to-be the world over have long dreamt of their walk down a red-carpeted aisle. A new Irish company, however, has found a way to do the traditional floor covering one better: personalised, hand-woven wedding runners.

Printed and hand-painted wedding runners have been around at least in the US for some time now, but WeddingRunner.com takes the personalization a notch higher by actually weaving a couple's names, initials and/or date right into the rug itself. Couples begin by choosing a design they like from the range of those offered on the site, along with specifying what they'd like to be woven into the rug and where. They then choose the colours they'd like for the rug's background, text and borders, and specify the length of rug they need for their wedding venue. All runners are a standard one meter wide and are sold by the running foot; pricing is EUR 19 per ft. Because each runner is custom made, delivery takes about 12 weeks. Bespoke runners with fully customised designs are available as well for an extra cost; delivery then takes about 20 weeks. Either way, after the wedding the rugs can be cut and sewn for use as a doormat, wall hanging or keepsake to be handed down through the generations.

All of which leads us to repeat a favourite refrain: everything—everything—everything can be upgraded! Even items that are luxuries already or have been upgraded before. Whether it's a handmade baby blanket or a carpet for a momentous day, there will be consumers out there willing to pay a little more for the extra touches and premium details that will stroke their gravanity and impress their friends. Time to put on your premium hat and start looking around! ;-)

Website: www.weddingrunner.com
Contact: info@weddingrunner.com

Spotted by: Bébhinn Kelly

Similar in many ways to Hollrr, the site where consumers help promote the products they love, Thinglink is a new global catalogue for design that enables designers, brands and enthusiasts to connect and converse on the web.

Currently in invitation-only beta, Thinglink launched at the Milan Furniture Fair in April with 10 design brands: Arabia Finland, Design Eero Aarnio, Fokus Fabrik, Helsinki Design Week, Iittala, Harri Koskinen, Martela, Selki Station, Ilmari Tapiovaara Design and Woodnotes. Designers and brands can use the site by uploading their catalogues and building a community of fans around their products. Enthusiasts, meanwhile, can use the free service to post messages about their latest design discoveries, flag products they own, ask and answer questions about new and vintage products, and share photos of their favourite design objects in real-life settings. The Thinglink catalogue includes a wide variety of products from classic and contemporary designers and manufacturers, ranging from serially produced products to limited edition items and unique one-of-a-kind objects; on Thinglink, any of them can become the center of a conversation, with photos and discussion by owners and fans.

Besides giving enthusiasts a place to connect and learn more about the brands they love, of course, California-based Thinglink also gives brands a way to keep tabs on consumers' impressions of them. Next step? Do more than just create conversation and actually put consumers to work for the brand—tapping into their design suggestions or their grassroots marketing muscle. Ask the crowds, and ye shall receive—just make sure to thank them in kind! ;-) (Related: Consumers get paid for input on new products.)

Website: www.thinglink.com
Contact: info@thinglink.com

Spotted by: John Greene

Of all of the examples we’ve seen of upcycling—turning waste materials into new products—teddylux is undoubtedly the most adorable. Each plush teddy bear, elephant and bunny made by the Georgia business is fashioned from a discarded cashmere sweater.

Cashmere animals can be purchased straight from the website for USD 50-60 each, with cashmere baby toys costing USD 15. For the same cost, customers can request the animal of their choice to be made from their own old cashmere sweater, which makes for a toy that’s both sustainably manufactured and highly personal. The site also accepts postal donations from kindhearted people clearing out their closets, reimbursing the postage for their offering.

Brooke Serson Cernonok, the company’s founder, has been making the toys since 2004. She expanded the operation in 2008, adding more designs to her repertoire, along with cashmere headbands decorated with vintage jewellery. More examples of businesses using recycling to give their products a green edge and a stronger story? Check out Virgin Atlantic's seat covers, reborn as bags and From 1950s pommel horses to 2008 gym bags.

Website: www.teddylux.com
Contact: teddylux@teddylux.com

Spotted by: Josh Spear

Seasoned entrepreneurs know there’s a big difference between a great idea in the mind and a successful product in the hand. Here to bridge that gap is Quirky, a service that uses a collaborative process to actualize killer ideas that might otherwise go to waste.

Anyone can submit their business plan and sketches to Quirky for USD 99, with the aim of being selected as the idea of the week. If it is, it will be listed on Quirky’s website, where a number of 'influencers' can vote and advise on the product's development. The cream of the crop are then put into production and sent to market, at which point the person with the original idea gets 12% of the top line revenue. 70% goes into Quirky’s kitty (this also funds production), with some funds left over to reward the influencers who helped make the product a success.

The site still has value for those whose ideas aren’t selected, as the USD 99 supplies the wannabe entrepreneur with a market evaluation and details of the community's response. And anyone can sign up as an influencer and make a few bucks based on their feedback, if an idea goes into production.

Asking idea-holders to pay a submission fee adds a useful element of self-selection, motivating people to submit only their best ideas and think them through before throwing them out into the either. And the selection process is one to observe and learn from, especially if you’re interested in tapping the wisdom of the crowds without ending up with something like The Homer. Meanwhile, Quirky’s parent company, Kluster, is building a business out of enabling selection processes. See NameThis for more crowd-selection at work.

Website: www.quirky.com
Contact: tinydino@quirkyinc.com

Spotted by: Troy Tessalone

The use of crowdsourcing for graphic design is a controversial one, as evidenced by all the debate our stories about SitePoint and crowdSPRING generated when we posted them. A new Seattle-based contender is taking a slightly different approach, however, by creating a virtual marketplace for ready-made print designs.

More along the lines of IncSpring, which allows graphic designers to find buyers for unused brand concepts, Seattle-based Inkd is a portal where graphic designers can upload and sell their designs to business users who lack the time or resources for a custom consultation, yet want something more attractive and original than the cookie-cutter designs found in their office software. Designers begin by registering with the site for free, selecting a template and uploading their brochure, business card, letterhead or other graphic design.

After review by the Inkd team, designs accepted for inclusion on the site then become available for browsing by business users, who can also search by industry or item type. Buyers can purchase and download the designs they like in a variety of popular formats—including Adobe Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop as well as CorelDRAW—and can tweak or customize as needed, even hiring the designer on a freelance basis for help if they want. For each sale, meanwhile, the designer of the item receives a royalty fee of at least 20 percent. Thousands of designs are currently available on the site, with prices ranging from USD 29 for letterhead to USD 99 for a brochure design. A few free designs are also available.

Given the many iterations most designs go through in a custom assignment, it seems likely that pretty much every designer under the sun has some leftovers on hand. Business users, meanwhile, will surely welcome the convenience and affordability of a ready-made approach. It's another win-win for both sides, and—given that the market for business print materials is at least USD 28 billion annually, according to Inkd—that can add up to a lot of joy all around! ;-)

Website: www.inkd.com
Contact: care@inkd.com

Spotted by: Miriam Brafman

We may live in a world of fast food, fast fashion and fast-moving change, but it's starting to look like things may be slowing down. Earlier this year we wrote about Welsh brand Howies and its line of clothing intended to be passed down through generations, and since then we learned of Brikolör, a brand-new Swedish company that designs its furniture to last 300 years.

Debuted last month at the International Furniture Fair in Milan, Brikolör aims to manufacture furniture "with a guaranteed emotional and technical durability of 300 years." A variety of colourful pieces created from ash and larch make up Brikolör's current six-prototype line, with prices ranging from EUR 500 for a varnished Älta-Älta stool to EUR 8,000 for a pattern-stained Hägg cabinet.

There's nothing like a recession and a focus on environmental sustainability to make consumers value longevity. Fast, you're history; lasting value, you're here to stay! ;-)

Website: www.brikolor.com — twitter.com/brikolor
Contact: info@brikolor.com

If fire protection kits can be upgraded with a splash of style, then why not first aid kits too? Canister UK's new OW! brand does just that with an assortment of all-in-one kits cutely packaged for various purposes.

Four OW! kits are available for GBP 5.99 each through Boots stores across the UK as well as online. The Home Sweet Home kit, for example, includes forehead thermometer, washproof plasters, wound pad and bandage, antiseptic wipes, safety pins, burns dressing and finger bandage, all in a cheerful silver and orange container. The silver and purple Cheeky Monkeys kit, on the other hand, adds children's plasters, cooling gel sheet and star stickers "for being brave!". Also available are kits for travel and sports. All four are "robust, recyclable and reusable"—as the site puts it—and "a far cry from one of those big old dusty kits you never use, which lurks at the back of your kitchen cupboard."

Ready for another rendition of one of our favourite refrains? Here goes: everything—yes everything—can be upgraded! Take a tired old product, add some modern convenience and stylish packaging, and you too could end up in a chain of 850 stores nationwide! ;-)

Website: www.owhealth.com
Contact: hi@owhealth.com

Adidas is no stranger to the street culture scene, and their latest move seems right on target: the Adidas Urban Art Guide to Berlin is an iPhone travel guide listing Berlin’s best graffiti.

Users download the application for free, giving them access to a Google map of Berlin that’s pegged with the locations of its urban art masterpieces. The map can be navigated in several ways: "Find artworks nearby" provides users with a map of art works in their immediate vicinity; "Tour guide" calls up a curated walking tour of local urban art; and "Gallery" gives users the option to browse the city's street art and then seek out their favourite pieces. Users can click on each marked location to call up images as well as information about the piece, the artist and further references.

The app’s interactive elements including rating and commenting functionalities, and letting users upload their own snaps of new art, which keeps the map cutting-edge at no extra cost to Adidas. Berlin is currently the only city on the Urban Art Guide's map, but plans are underway to develop similar guides for other cities.

Although a growing audience appreciates street art, few traditional guide books make any mention of it. So this is a smart move on behalf of Adidas, getting the brand straight into the hands of its target audience, while reaffirming its street credentials. Other brands—what kind of map-related content can you offer your (niche) audiences on the go? (Related: Free coffee for iPhone users at Swedish 7-Eleven — Louis Vuitton’s walking tours of Beijing, Shanghai & Hong Kong — trendwatching.com's take on mapmania.)

Website: www.urbanartguide.de
Contact: info@urbanartguide.com

Spotted by: Susanna Haynie