DUMBO-Based Dynomighty Produces Recyclable Wallets, Goes Viral on YouTube

Here’s the situation: you need a new wallet, but it’s the recession. You don’t want to spend too much on it and you want it to last. What would you think of one that’s water resistant, tear resistant, lighter than water and expandable? Oh, and did I mention it’s only 15 dollars?

Impossible? Not for DUMBO-based company Dynomighty Design. They’ve been making the “mighty wallet” since 2005. Designed by Dynomighty founder Terrence Kelleman (pictured above left, with Tim Knock), the wallets are constructed from a single sheet of Tyvek (the same material as Express Mail envelopes) that is folded and glued in two places.

Kelleman didn’t start out designing wallets. A fine arts major, he worked at the MoMA and was inspired to create jewelry out of magnets. He sold his first bracelet at the MoMA design store in 2002 and has since expanded his jewelry line to include more bracelets, necklaces and rings.

He expanded his product line because “I had been fascinated by Tyvek,” he said. “I’d seen it used in some creative ways but not really as a robust product itself... it’s such a thin material, its eco-friendly, recyclable, super-strong, lightweight and super thin.”

So he began folding an express mail envelope, which took about a week, he said. “I was using my creative processes, which is diving head in and not letting go until I find a solution,” Kelleman explained. “The first wallet was more or less an accident.”

Since that time the wallet has been redesigned. “There’s no stitching, it’s folded and glued in two points on the inside,” Kelleman said. “It gives the wallet a lot of flexibility, so you can start out with a wallet that’s thin, but if you fill it with a lot of materials it can be as big as you need.”

One is made to look like an express mail envelope, one looked like a folded up piece of notebook paper, one looks like a folded up subway map and another has the first 3,000 digits of pi printed on it, which Kelleman calls “geek chic.”

Along with the wallets, Dynomighty also produces Tyvek luggage tags and totes.

... But How Do You Recycle It?

A common misconception of the mighty wallet is that it’s made of recycled materials, said Tim Knock, Dynomighty director of sales and marketing. It is actually the wallet that’s recyclable, he clarified.

“Most people don’t know it’s recyclable, or if they do they don’t know how to recycle it,” explained Kelleman. “One of our initiatives this summer is to focus on increasing awareness not only here in New York... to corporations who receive express mail envelopes, to say, ‘We are now a receiving center [for Tyvek].’

Dynomighty sends the used Tyvek back to the DuPont, the company that manufactures the material.

“We started it for our own products,” he added. “Our new initiative is to start doing more outreach.”

The goal for Kelleman is to eventually make the mighty wallets out of recycled Tyvek, possibly scraps and pieces left over. Those scraps would then be “reprocessed and turned into other product... giving it a second life,” he said.

Viral Marketing in a Down Economy

What’s unique about Dynomighty, Kelleman said, is that they have never taken a loan and don’t have investors. This means no advertising, so he has found creative ways to get the word out about his products.

When Kelleman made the first magnetic bracelet, he posted a video of it on YouTube. He made it himself, with his digital video camera, and as of today it has garnered two million hits, said Knock.

Since then Kelleman has posted many more videos of his products on YouTube, introducing them to viewers or showing viewers how they work.

“I’ve actually made a video on YouTube where I’ve showed people how to take their old express mail envelopes and convert them into wallets,” Kelleman said. “To demonstrate how strong these wallets are, we actually put two holes through the bottom and the top of one — Tim [Knock] hung from it in our warehouse... and it didn’t break. It’s on YouTube.”

And it’s not only Kelleman who is posting videos about mighty wallets; there are others from people who have purchased a mighty wallet. He saw one that’s “a nine-minute long video about someone receiving his mighty wallet and saying goodbye to his old wallet.”

The viral phenomenon that is the mighty wallet happens on other web sites, too. Knock said that someone posted about their wallet on the kidrobot web site (a store in SoHo), and “next thing you know, there’s two and a half to three pages of blogging about the mighty wallet. On another company’s website.”

Knock said that this summer, Dynomighty is looking to hire an intern to blog and tweet about the products and the company, allowing them to stay in touch with their customer.

“It’s not being corporate and behind the scenes, this is an item that’s a respectable price,” he explained. “People are realizing that. What can you buy for 15 dollars anymore?”

In this economy, Kelleman says his use of viral marketing coupled with the lack of investors has made Dynomighty strong. In fact, they’ve grown in the past year.

“It’s made us a lot better as a company — more resilient, more frugal, smarter about all of our decisions,” he said. “We’re not a big company. Every time we need to make a decision, we pull all our resources together.”

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Clean & Green the Gowanus Canal

The Gowanus Canal Conservancy sent word to the Eagle about its new volunteer program, "Clean & Green," to clean up the banks of the Gowanus Canal. It kicks off Saturday, May 30 from 11 a.m. — 2 p.m. and will continue once a month through October. Volunteers are needed! Tasks vary based on need at the different sites but will include: picking up trash and debris, weeding and/or planting. To register, email volunteer@gowanuscanalconservancyorg or call at (718) 541-4378. Sponsors for the program are also needed, for information, call Lauren Collins at (718) 541-4378.

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Cell Phone Towers: Hazardous To Health?

Eagle writer Harold Egeln wrote a story about the decision of Community Board 10 (which covers Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights) to support opponents of cell phone towers being placed in neighborhoods throughout the city. According to his report, Cell Phone Tower Opponents Celebrate as City Council Acts, "the board voted to back a call for stronger federal action to curb cellular antennae and support stronger rules on telecommunication towers placements." This rule is a response to concerns raised by protestors that cell phone towers pose health risks.

But do they? The American Cancer Socity (ACS) posted an extensive report on its web site about cell phone towers. Included is information on what they are, how they work, and whether or not they do cause cancer. Click here for the full report. The gist of it is that cell phone towers are unlikely to cause cancer (or other health issues), there is no evidence so far that they do, but the technology is so new that not enough time has passed to obtain much conclusive evidence.

Also in the report is a list of organizations to contact for further information.

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Slope Shop 3r Living Sells Eco-Friendly Products

Back before ‘green’ was on everybody’s lips and in everybody’s lives, the movement had to start somewhere.

Five years ago, Samantha Delman-Caserta (left) and her husband, Mark Caserta, decided to go into business together. They opened a mom-and-pop shop on Fifth Ave. in Park Slope and started selling eco-friendly products.

“We lived in the neighborhood. I had worked in retail for a long time, he was working in eco-politics in New York City,” she recalled. “We kind of married again.”

At the time, the types of goods Delman-Caserta was looking to stock in the store weren’t widely available; she had to search, ask questions and do research. “There was a decent amount already available but no one was really talking about it.

“You would find [these products] in little sections, because people thought they were cute or they had beautiful aesthetics, but no one was telling you why they were good for you, or why it was good to have them, or why it might be that it costs a little bit more,” she explained. “We decided that the need was really there.”

So she contacted suppliers and manufacturers to acquire products that matched several requirements. “Everything in the store has to fit the 3 ‘r’s’ [reduce, reuse, recycle],” Delman-Caserta said. All the products in the store are either manufactured with all natural or organic ingredients, made using recycled materials or made in a way that reduces waste to the environment.

But 3r’s stock also has to fit into two other categories. “We’re not an eco-luxury store,” Delman-Caserta said, asserting that everything she sells has to be affordable. “We’re really about the affordable and then we’re about aesthetics I needed to be able to work these things in my life as well.”

Upon venturing into 3r Living, customers are presented with a wide variety of merchandise, including reusable water bottles, bamboo kitchen utensils, reusable shopping bags, wallets and jewelry made from recycled materials, cleaning supplies, organic cotton sheets and books.

When Delman-Caserta and her husband first began planning for the store, it was important for them to actually have a location, and not just be online.

“Opening a brick and mortar was something that we felt we had to do,” she said. There was a pretty wide range of availability online, but she wanted people to be able to “come in and touch and feel and see and test and become familiar with [the products] and feel comfortable incorporating them into their lives.”

Now, with two locations (one in New Jersey) and a web store, Delman-Caserta is more than happy to share the stage with the many businesses that have joined the green trend.

“It’s our pleasure to have other people out there doing it with us. It makes people more aware, it keeps us foraging ahead and trying to find the new and the better and the different.” But she is quick to say that quality should stay high.

“We don’t want companies to come into the market and lower the standards,” she said. “That was our biggest fear — that they would force manufacturers to lower standards.”

Living Green

As part of 3r Living’s philosophy, Delman-Caserta and her husband set up a community recycling center (left) when they first opened the store, to collect batteries, small electronics and CDs to send out to recycling centers.

“The community recycling center is opened during our business hours seven days a week,” she said. “New York City doesn’t provide a program for [recycling these types of items] and they don’t provide education.”

The electricity in the storefront on Fifth Ave. is also completely wind-powered, and the paint on the walls is low-VOC.

Delman-Caserta, her husband and their three-year-old son, live eco-friendly at home. They use reusable shopping bags, have wind-powered electricity and furnish their house with antiques. Their son even uses a reusable water bottle.

“We try as best as we can to live as minimally as possible, because that’s the best thing you can do for the environment,” she said.

Shopping Locally, Buying Less

3r Living, despite the popular opinion about the resiliency of green businesses, hasn’t been immune to the current economic climate. And even though she does want people to shop at her store, Delman-Caserta doesn’t want her customers to spend what they don’t have.

“We’re not asking you to come out and spend money that’s going to put you in jeopardy,” she said. “What we’re saying is, if you’re going to go out and buy, think about what you’re buying and think about where you’re buying it and what it does for you. Buying from a major retailer, the money doesn’t come directly back to your community.

“Buying from a brick and mortar or a mom and pop shop in your neighborhood, I believe it’s close to 50 percent of the money that you spend stays within your community, if not more,” she noted.

“A lot of small businesses are just not going to be able to make it through the long haul. We just have to count on our neighborhood and hope that they all understand that shopping locally really does make a difference,” Delman-Caserta continued. “Even if it’s ten dollars it makes a difference.”

But, she said, “We’re not all about buying. We also hope that sometimes when people come in we inspire them to go home and see the different things that they already have in their home. Whether it’s finding a better use for them, using them differently, or just using them.”

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Bring Your Old Electronics to the Heights

The Brooklyn Heights Association, First Presbyterian Church, First Unitarian Church, Grace Church Brooklyn Heights and Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims are sponsoring an E-Waste Recycling event on May 16 and 17, according to the Brooklyn Heights Blog.

Collection will be in the chapel of the First Unitarian Church on Pierrepont St. between Clinton St. and Monroe Place, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 16 and noon to 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 17.

Among the items you can bring to recycle are: computers, air conditioners, TVs, batteries and cell phones. For more information, click here.

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Grand Central's Lighting Goes Green

It's not in Brooklyn... but Grand Central Station has recently upgraded all its incandescent light bulbs with the more energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs. The change should save the station an estimated $200,000 a year.

Read the report in the New York Times here.

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From Green to Pink: Cherry Blossoms Return to BBG

This weekend, tens of thousands of visitors will flock to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) to experience what has become one of springtime’s most anticipated events: Sakura Matsuri, the annual Cherry Blossom Festival.

While this year is the 28th annual celebration, the cherry blossom trees have been around much longer. “Some of the original planting started in 1912, and the cherry walk was actually planted in 1921,” said Mark Fisher, BBG director of horticulture.

Today, the assortment of trees in the garden is the largest and most diverse outside Japan. The festival, which will take place this Saturday and Sunday, May 2 and 3, will not only celebrate the trees, but also Japanese culture.

“We continue to add more projects and demonstrations and performers each year,” Fisher told the Eagle. “It reaches both the contemporary and the traditional Japanese culture.”

Among the attractions this weekend will include music from Japanese pop star Ai Kawashima; the Sakura J-Lounge, with a lineup of DJs spinning Japanese pop and rock; taiko (an ancient art of drumming) performances; traditional and contemporary Japanese dance; martial arts group Samurai Sword Soul; and the New York premiere of the film, Transcending — The Wat Misaka Story, a documentary about the first Japanese-American basketball player in the NBA.

Special this year is a collaboration between the garden and the N.Y. Anime Festival. Anime-lovers in costume will participate in the city’s largest cos-play (costume roleplay) photo shoot and visitors will be able to read and examine the Japanese comics, also called manga. Illustrator Misako Rocks! will also discuss inspiration for her manga and also lead a special children’s session.

“I’m very proud of [Sakura Matsuri]. I’m very excited because what it highlights for us — what people enjoy — are the plants. That’s really what we’re celebrating,” Fisher said. “Cherry blossoms symbolically represent the ephemeralness of life and how fast it fleets.

“I think we all start viewing it that way as we look at the cherries and enjoy the beauty — it only lasts just a couple of weeks,” he continued. “That’s it until next year, so it becomes special for all of us.”

For additional information and a full schedule of Festival events, visit bbg.org/sakuramatsuri.

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