If, environmentally speaking, plastic has a half-life of forever, why not fashion it into an Yves Saint Laurent handbag? It seems so obvious now. Behold the Muse Two Artisanal Recycled bag, made by the impoverished yet industrious women of Burkina Faso, a small central African country, with the support of Les Filles du Facteur, a non-profit that promotes the social, cultural and artistic values of women and children around the world. These clever ladies have developed a technique for creating a textile composed of recycled plastic bags and fair-trade cotton procured by YSL. They then, quite brilliantly, turned the composite material into a very unique, innovative and fetching edition of the house’s iconic Muse Two purse.

The bags, only 60 of which have been made, are the latest in sustainability and corporate responsibility from Stefano Pilati. Already YSL’s creative director was responsible for Edition New Vintage, a capsule collection produced once a year from the house’s archival fabrics. And did you know the brand is a longtime supporter of UN Women, an organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women?

$1720 at YSL flagships worldwide and Ysl.com (UK/US)