The craze began in London where Hindermarch created the bags. If the bags caught on, Whole Foods honchos in the US reasoned, they could inspire customers to forego the plastic grocery totes. According to an article printed yesterday in The New York Times, Hindermarch has mixed feelings about the reasons for her product’s success:

“To create awareness you have to create scarcity by producing a limited edition,” she said. “I hate the idea of making the environment trendy, but you need to make it cool and then it becomes a habit.”

The bags were in such high demand when they were sold in Taiwan that riot police went to the scene and 30 people were injured, according to the article.

At 4:30 p.m., I was approximately eight hours too late to purchase one of the 2,900 bags that were sold in New York for a mere $15. I considered myself lucky when I saw the bags in person as two girls on the street sported them proudly. One turned out to be an employee (don’t worry, she paid for it).

I did see many people walking out of the store with plastic Whole Foods bags (which can be returned to the store for 10 cents) but few carried reusable sacks.

If you weren’t one of the few thousand lucky enough to get one, don’t fear. You can still get one on eBay (the most expensive one is currently selling for $500). We know you’re itching to pull out that credit card, but before you do, we’d like to remind you that this idea is, shall we say, extremely low-tech.  You don’t have to have a Hindermarch original to carry your groceries in something other than a plastic sack. Any fabric bag will do.