How Amtrak is upcycling leather seats into luxury handbags | WJLA

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If you love giving super unique gifts, or you have a weirdly strong attachment to Amtrak's Acela trains, we have just the gift for you. (Image: Courtesy Amtrak)

Amtrak has just announced a partnership with People for Urban Progress (PUP), to turn the leather seat covers from 20 Amtrak Acela Express train seats into luxury handbags. (Image: Courtesy Amtrak)

As part of Amtrak's sustainability efforts, the seats, which have been removed during the refurbishing of Acela trains, will be repurposed rather than discarded in landfills. (Image: Courtesy Amtrak)

“We have set a corporate recycling target of 20 percent by 2020, and this project will help us advance closer to achieving that goal," said Amtrak's Senior Sustainability Manager Kara Angotti. (Image: Courtesy Amtrak)

This is Amtrak's first partnership with PUP, who created the design and refurbishing process and makes all the bags by hand. (Image: Courtesy Amtrak)

The process of getting the leather luxury bag ready includes{ } "separating the leather from the foam seat, dry cleaning the leather utilizing an environmentally friendly process and then cutting the leather and sewing it together to create each product," according to Amtrak. (Image: Courtesy Amtrak)

PUP is well-known for their refurbishing projects, such as their work in 2008 with the RCA Dome, the former stadium of the Indianapolis Colts. (Image: Courtesy Amtrak)

Scrap materials from the dome were turned into wallets, handbags, office bins and more, saving 13 acres’ worth of material from the landfill.{ } (Image: Courtesy Amtrak)

Amtrak does not yet have a quantity estimate on how much will be saved from the landfill in their project. (Image: Courtesy Amtrak)

The only caveat is you'll have to wait until next holiday season to bestow your marvelous gifts on unsuspecting victims, since Amtrak expects to release 2,500 bags in small batch releases over the next 10-12 months. (Image: Courtesy Amtrak)

Currently, the line includes a leather travel kit retailing for $75 ...{ } (Image: Courtesy Amtrak)

... a leather tote for $185 ... (Image: Courtesy Amtrak)

and a leather backpack for $385. (Image: Courtesy Amtrak)

Amtrak has not ruled out releasing more designs down the road, which they say could sell for upwards of $750.

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