Repurposed, recycled and reloved: Local woman transforms used leather items into one-of-a-kind bags

When Betsy Pozzanghera crafts one of her novel bags, there is always a captivating story behind the leather she used to make it. A cat-scratched couch salvaged from the landfill. A mother’s beloved fringe jacket and gloves. A souvenir animal hide from a trip to South America.

She calls this epic transformation … repurposed, recycled and reloved.

Pozzanghera’s interest in designing sustainable handbags was sparked after she completed an online leather course.

“I had some scraps left over,” she said, “and I thought, ‘Well, I can’t let this go to waste.’ ”

While on the hunt for additional sources of leather, she stumbled upon an old pair of boots in the closet, cut them up and created her first repurposed bag.

An innovative idea took root.

Pozzanghera began to scour Spokane-area thrift stores for used leather goods. In short time, she had produced nearly two dozen upcycled handbags. At the urging of her husband Steve, she started selling the artistic pieces at local craft shows and later founded B. Pozzitive Bags. A former environmental education worker who hopes to leave a small carbon footprint on this planet, Pozzanghera recently relocated her operation to an off-grid, solar-powered retirement home in Chewelah, Washington.

Her mission is simple: Love it. Share it. Pass it on.

“I did some research with the help of the Spokane Public Library,” she said. “I found out that about 17% of the waste and refuse is fashion in our area … I don’t want to add to that if I can help it, and I want to find a way to rescue some of those items that are going into that waste stream.”

Pozzanghera repurposed nearly 600 used leather articles in 2022 alone.

The items she selects are chosen for their details, colors and aesthetic appeal. They include, vests, belts, car seat covers and horse tack. She has even created magnetic snap key ring wallets from triangle-shaped leather furniture samples.

“I look on Facebook Marketplace. I look at yard sales, estate sales,” she said. “I don’t necessarily take something that I think somebody else can get use out of in its original state.”

Pozzanghera conceptualizes her own bag designs.

In addition to multiple styles and sizes of handbags with personalized options, she also sells coin purses, cellphone bags and a line of travel totes that fits nicely under airplane seats. These products and more will be on sale June 21 at Terrain’s Bazaar in downtown Spokane, where Pozzanghera joins dozens of other artists and vendors for the annual festival.

Pozzanghera’s products are crafted for durability.

“Even the leather that I use, which has already been used, it still has an incredible amount of life left in it and sometimes you can even hand that down to somebody else after you’re done with it,” she said.

Especially significant to Pozzanghera is her Ancestry Project, a custom upcycling service that breathes new life into treasured leather keepsakes and family mementos which hold deep emotional value to people.

More than just a bag, it is a memory to carry with you.

Margi Watters lives in Pennsylvania. She stumbled upon the B. Pozzitive Bags website while searching for somebody to transform her father’s World War II bomber jacket into a lasting gift for her son Bobby.

“It was always in the closet somewhere in our house,” Watters said. “When I grew up and moved out, it came with me … I would never part with it, because it was just sort of emblematic of my father as a person.

“I was starting to feel a little guilty that this thing was just literally collecting dust.”

Pozzanghera and Watters became fast friends.

The two women chatted by email and phone at length, and a plan for the vintage jacket took flight. The repurposed duffel bag Pozzanghera created was composed almost entirely from the original bomber jacket Watters provided and even included her father’s coveted pilot wings.

“There’s only one daddy and only one of these jackets and I have one son. He and his grandfather were close,” Watters said. “I really wanted to do something to sort of pass it through the generations.

“We worked together to kind of take this one-of-a-kind story and turn it into a one-of-a-kind bag.”

It was a gift that kept on giving.

“It’s a real honor for me to do that for people. I feel that it helps them connect to their past and their future,” Pozzanghera said. “You’ve got to be able to preserve those memories and not have them just hanging in the closet.

“I just want people to know that their leather items with sentimental value can be turned into something amazing.”

Cynthia Reugh can be reached at cynthia13048@gmail.com.