BEAMS reissues its 1986 shopping bag in biomass plastic for its 50th anniversary
BEAMS is bringing back the orange, globe-logo bag it retired in 2021 for its 50th year — this time in plant-derived plastic, pairing anniversary nostalgia with a sustainability story.
BEAMS said it will bring back the shopping bag it first issued in 1986 for its tenth anniversary, remade in a biomass plastic containing more than 80 per cent plant-derived material, with distribution starting 9 October to mark the Tokyo select-shop chain's 50th year since its 1976 founding, according to a company announcement dated 7 October.
The reissue keeps the original's bright orange colourway, drawstring closure for diagonal carrying and the globe logo BEAMS introduced that same year — a design the company linked to the Shibukaji street style of the period. BEAMS discontinued the plastic bag in 2021 as part of a push to cut single-use plastic. The remade version will be given with qualifying purchases at BEAMS stores and its online shop, through Rakuten Fashion during the BEAMS FESTA event from 23 to 26 October, and at Mitsui Shopping Park & mall locations from December, while supplies last.
Reviving a discontinued plastic giveaway in a biomass "sustainable" version is a small gesture, but a telling one for a chain using its anniversary year to recast nostalgia itself as the eco-credential — pairing a design cue retailers usually treat as disposable with the kind of material story that lets the bag double as marketing.