A mesh handbag popularized in the Soviet Union is staging a fashionable comeback.
Avoskas, string bags first made popular decades ago because of their light weight, compact size and ability to carry loads of up to 70 kilograms, were widely used as shopping bags.
The first avoska was invented in Czechoslovakia by Jaro Rousek in the early 20th century, according to Czech E15.cz, an online magazine. The enterprising Rousek began producing bags in place of hair nets, when sales of the latter fell sharply.
The handmade wares were typically manufactured from artificial silk yarn by people working from home to supplement their income. It wasn’t uncommon for children also to make the bags. In the late 1920s, the string bags hit the streets of Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, North Africa and even Canada.
Their first mention in the USSR was in the mid-1930s when highly popular comedian Arkady Raikin hit the stage with a monologue about the avoska. Performing his stand-up routine, he wore a string bag around his hands and remarked: “Here’s my maybe-bag. Maybe I’ll bring something in it…,” because the root word avos in Russian means “perhaps” or “maybe.”
“(The avoska) is very comfortable; you can put it in your pocket,” says Julia Nikishenko, a culture researcher, showing off her pale pink avoska. “In Soviet times shops didn’t provide bags. It wasn’t common to go shopping with a basket. Whenever you bought a lot of products, you should bring them home in something, avoskas filled this task the best from the first half of the 20th century. Then plastic handles were added in the 1970s for easier usage,” she adds.
In the Soviet Union, people didn’t just shop with avoskas but also used them for storage. Families who didn’t own a refrigerator used to hang avoskas with products out of the window in cold weather. The bags were often produced by the blind or people with partially impaired vision.
“In the last third of the 20th century avoskas came to symbolize a second-rate person, because other good-looking bags appeared in shops. They were made from ground cloth, nylon or macramé. Around this time plastic bags first appeared too. There were beautiful ones available at the Kyiv central department store before the (1980) Olympic Games. (Some) people didn’t put anything in them because they were afraid to tear them. And the plastic bags were washed and reused,” recalls Nikishenko.
More than 20 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a Russian project titled “Avoska Gives Hope” is reviving the mesh bags.
Evgeniy Rapoport, who heads the project, told the Kyiv Post that the endeavor was started to raise environmental awareness and encourage people to choose reusable, eco-friendly bags over plastic ones.
Nearly 15 million rubles (about $471,500) was invested in the project to begin with, he said, and some 20 to 60 people, depending on orders, help with production. The organization also employs disabled persons.
“(We employ) not only blind people, but people with different disabilities to work in our factory. Those, who have problems with vision knit avoskas, while others make handles and (do finishing touches),” he said.
The group’s first bag was made by famous Russian designer Denis Simachev. It was neon colored, unlike the drab ones produced in the Soviet era. Now bags are offered in more than 50 different hues and are made from cotton, nylon or synthetic silk threads.
Popular fashion brand KamenskaKononova told the Kyiv Post it supports the idea of breathing new life into avoskas.
“Everything that is not from plastic is good,” a KamenskaKononova written statement said. “Everybody knows that plastic doesn’t begin to decompose for at least 300 years, so any alternative to bags are welcome.”
What’s more, the company believes avoskas could be this summer’s new “it” item.
“While fashion is cyclical, it is quite possible that avoskas will return to our everyday life,” the fashion designers said.
Kyiv Post intern Oksana Torhan can be reached at [email protected].
