Every few years, somebody in Asia comes up with a new style of purse or pillowcase or clothing item that proves popular with the tourists, and before you know it, copies pop up all over the local markets.
In Shanghai, one of our teachers produced and sold beautiful bags made from Chinese silk. It didn’t take long before copies of those bags were hanging in nearly every silk and souvenir shop in town. Once I was shopping at the underground “knock-off market” with one of her bags tossed over my shoulder, and a vendor actually whipped out a tape measure and recorded the bag’s dimensions before I could stop him.
In Turkey, we often spotted a unique piece of “mavi boncuk” jewelry at a market, and within weeks, the same design could be found everywhere.
In Siem Reap, Cambodia, Megan and I got swept up in the latest trend: recycled fish food/rice bags. We met Diana Saw, a Singaporean woman who started a social enterprise called Bloom three years ago. She buys discarded heavy-duty plastic bags with interesting designs and writing (mostly from Vietnam), and teaches disadvantaged Cambodians how to turn those bags into trendy purses, wallets, backpacks, duffel bags and other products. Her company’s motto is: “Buy something beautiful. Do something beautiful.” I bought a funky green backpack with blue Vietnamese writing and illustrations of sea creatures. Meg bought an expandable purse in blue and white.
Diana said she takes two steps forward and one step back in the effort to create a sustainable business that pays workers a fair wage. “There’s no copyright protection in Cambodia,” she said.
Sure enough, copies of her designs hang in market stalls throughout Siem Reap. In fact, Meg and I guiltily admitted buying a few of the knock-off bags in the market before we knew about Bloom. “I can’t compete with them,” Diana said. “I just wonder how much they pay the women who do the work.”
So, if your journeys take you to Siem Reap, I strongly encourage you to check out Bloom. It’s next to Warehouse Pub in the Old Market Area. Or if you don’t plan to travel there, check out the Bloom Bags website. Be sure to read the “behind the scenes” stories about the workers who create the bags.

These aren’t the greatest photos in the world (the camera’s settings were goofed up), but here are the Bloom Bags we bought in Cambodia.