TUCSON, Ariz.— In an effort to teach girls how to be business savvy and environmentally friendly, Sahuaro Girl Scout Council, Inc. has teamed up with a Tucson-based eco-design business.

“The message we want to give our girls is that with their ideas they can have a business and be helping the environment,” said Kristen Hernandez, retail and product program manager for the Sahuaro Girl Scouts.

Vy & Elle, a play on words, is a locally grown business owned by Nicola Freegard. Started in 2002, the business makes hand bags and accessories from recycled vinyl billboards and plastic bottles that would otherwise end up in a landfill and release toxins into the environment.

“It’s just awesome that the bags are so cool, but at the same time you’re thinking about the waste you are saving from going into the landfill,” Hernandez said.

The new program, developed over just a few short months, is the only one of its kind.

“I had been a supporter of Vy & Elle since I heard about them about five years ago. I own about seven of their bags,” said Kristen Culliney, community development manager for the Sahuaro Girl Scouts.

Culliney met Vy & Elle owner and designer Nicola Freegard at the Tucson Green Festival in 2008 and grew excited about the potential of teaming up with the company for a Girl Scout project.

“She doesn’t have a young girl’s line yet, so she is really using our girls as kind of a pilot program to see what is going to sell and to see what is a hot item,” Culliney said.

Launched late last month, the partnership between the Girl Scout retail store and Vy & Elle partnership is an effort to promote a green focus and expand the store at 4300 E. Broadway Blvd.

“We want our girls to come in and be the voice, and decide what they want in their shop,” Culliney said. “We want to turn our whole retail shop into a girl boutique where girls can start learning about how to work in retail before they are even eligible to do so.”

Girl Scout Store
Currently the store serves mainly as a supply outlet for scout leaders. Sahuaro program coordinators hope to turn store operations over to the scouts themselves.

According to Hernandez, the store is one of the biggest of its kind, with merchandise ranging from books to sweatshirts and hats, but she hopes to broaden the function of the store so the Girl Scouts can learn professional skills they can use for the rest of their lives.

“They are going to design a bag they think will best sell in the Girl Scout shop,” Hernandez said.

“Nicky is going to use our Girl Scouts billboards to produce 30 or 40 of the bags to sell in the store,” Hernandez said.


Product Design
Freegard will produce the designs using 20 Girl Scout billboards and old vinyl banners collected for the project.

“We are going to use the billboards that are up right now, the ones around town promoting our cookie sales," Hernandez said. "Everything is local.”

“We don’t want to make the design part too difficult where a kindergartener couldn’t participate,” Hernandez said. “The winning design could be done on a piece of paper with a crayon; it’s just all about the thinking process.”

Along with the design competition, Freegard wants to help teach the girls about recycling and how to run a successful business. Labeling herself as an eco-designer, Freegard hopes to offer insight to the young ladies about thinking outside the box.

“Every item we use, every part of our lives — clothes, surroundings, buildings, consumer choices — is affected by design, function and form, and therefore by the environment,” Freegard said. “I hope to offer insight into this way of thinking and help the girls realize that they have choices in their lives about what they can do and how much impact they can have.”

Hernandez and Culliney hope the girls who participate in the program will take away practical business skills.

“The girls are going to be designing the product, advertising the product, merchandising it, setting up displays within the store and monitoring sales,” Hernandez said. “It’s never too early to start building a resume.”

Hernandez said the new program, which will start in early April just after the girls wrap up their cookie sales, will be open to Girl Scouts of all ages. She anticipates the final group working on the project will comprise about 25 girls.

“We are opening it up to everyone, but I think our older girls in middle school and high school will be the most active,” Hernandez said.

Ultimately Hernandez and Culliney hope to launch the new project in Tucson, then package and market it to their national governing board and Vy & Elle as part of an eco-conscious, fashion retail badge — made of vinyl, of course — for the girls to earn.

“We want to pilot it here and if it’s successful we want girls around the country to get the same education,” Culliney said.

Other green projects the council is currently working on include a keyhole vegetable garden. “Not only does it teach the girls on a fun level how to be green, but that we care about our environment and how we can be good stewards of the land,” Culliney said.

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