Back to Home > Wednesday, Mar 15, 2006 email this print this '); '); } The hairdos were p... Carpetbags making a fashionable re

The hairdos were poufy, the heels high and the purses big. It was the mid-1960s and women dressed up to go everywhere - even to the grocery store.

Jerry Terrence will tell they toted his carpetbags - stiff, sturdy satchels fashioned from leftover carpet remnants. He says he and crews labored in an industrial machine shop, turning out more than one million bags during the late `60s.

He's not the first entrepreneur to use carpet for bagging something. In the 1840s when people began to travel extensively on railroads and needed to carry extra clothes, saddle makers turned still-good carpet into luggage.

Only this time, there are significant differences. The carpet is new and the prices are upscale with handbags priced at $200 to $400 versus the $12.95 four decades ago. Instead of making do with whatever equipment he could find, Terrence works with professional designers, trendsetters, pattern makers and seamstresses to create classy collections.

"The line just got picked up by Nordstrom - one Nordstrom store sold half their stock in a matter of hours - and they are sold at boutiques nationwide," she says. "Celebrities like Jessica Alba, Jaime Pressley and Lauren Holly are just a few fans."

There's "California Dreaming" with hippie-inspired "flower power" designs in bright colors such as hot pinks and beautiful blues. "Twist and Shout" bags feature horizontal lines in black and neon pinks and greens. "Shop Around" bags come in solid colors great for mixing and matching with outfits, while "Cherish" gives you two-tone colors in subtle hues. Styles include clutches and totes; every bag comes with an ID card, verifying its origin. Each bag is also named for a celebrity, including notables such as Natalie Wood, Grace Kelly, Tuesday Weld and Audrey Hepburn.

A new collection is due out soon, but Terrence declined to give any details, even though excitement bubbled in his voice when he talked by phone.

Terrence says his initial inspiration for carpetbags came from seeing the "The Carpetbaggers," a 1964 movie about a hard-driven industrialist. In truth, his motivation was driven more by all those carpet remnants left around the floor covering business that his family started in Los Angeles in 1918.

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