Purchasing a Neela reusable bag is a fashionable way to both protect the environment and support a Charlotte-based, women-owned business. Plus, they're cheap. See for yourself.

North Carolina natives and Charlotte-based eco-entrepreneurs Carla Manna and Renee Fischer describe success this way:

When friends and customers forget their Neela shopping bags in the trunk or at home, they say they won't accept a plastic or paper stand-in at the store. Instead, they juggle their purchases as they walk to the car.

The pair launched their company in May 2008 with the goal of making it easier for people to do their part in saving the planet. Manna had a background in textiles – she cut her teeth in the area working for Springs Industries – and finance wiz Fischer had relocated to the Los Angeles area, where municipalities have banned the distribution of plastic bags in stores.

So they developed a line of shopping bags that are convenient to carry (they fold up into an envelope), attractive (with about a dozen patterns and colors) and cheap – $7 each, at the low end of the tote market.

Read the rest of this Charlotte Observer article here.