This one of a pair of canvas bags that I have owned since the 90s. I have other canvas bags that I've had since the aughts, but these are the oldest. I have never had to repair them. I have walked with them, rode the bus with them, hooked them onto bicycle and scooter handlebars, and washed them in the washing machine. And still they are there to hold my grocery and other shopping.
Do you see bags like this sold or given as gifts anymore? Maybe if you searched online, but these are what used to be sold at the checkout for around $10, or given as thank you gifts for donating to a charity (I still have one from the NRDC that has black stains from banging against aforementioned bicycle tires, but is still going strong).
In the teens, there was a shift to bags like this:
I don't see bags like this bring offered very much anymore, either. These bags were much weaker than canvas. They would tear holes in them or rip a handle rather easily, but at least they could still survive the washing machine. They were sold with the idea that the lower price point (a dollar, usually) would encourage people to buy them who wouldn't invest in a $10 bag.
Nowadays, what stores offer are these:
These are somewhat like the previous ones except they have a plastic film on the outside. They are just as prone to the handles giving out, but the bag part seems a bit more sturdy ... until you try and wash it.
That plastic film will start to peel away like on onion skin. I actually don't have an image of that because I had to throw away the last one that did it, as the damage finally got to be too much. Once the film starts to go, the rest of the bag starts to go. And they will still tear at the seams.
I just finally cut off the destroyed handles on this one
So, why is this a big deal? The point of reusable bags is to be eco friendly, to use fewer resources and create less waste. A permanent bag will have a larger footprint than a disposable bag of course, but if you use it for years, like my old canvas bags, you then get more use out of the resources used to make your one bag than the many disposable plastic ones you would have used instead. And you didn't fill the ocean with all that plastic in the meantime.
But the cheaper bags break so much easier, the odds are pretty good it will wear out before you cross the threshold of using it enough that the footprint is smaller, at least, if you use them like me (they might live longer if you only use them to walk a few meters to and from your car rather than hauling them home on foot for a few miles). But even if you give it light use, if you try and wash these latest iterations (and you should, grocery bags get very germy if you don't), it starts to wear it out!
It just really annoys me when this "cheaper and shoddier" trend in manufacturing extends to supposedly "greener" options. It's the exact opposite of green if you are using more resources to replace your semi-permanent plastic bag before you cross the use threshold that makes it less wasteful.
Reusable items need to actually be used for a long time in order to be truly green. If people are just hopping on whatever is trendy and buying the newest water bottle because it's cool when they already have a shelf full of water bottles at home, they aren't being greener. They're being consumers, even if said bottle has a bamboo cap or whatever.
But the bag situation is a bit different because this is all that you see available anymore (again, barring searching something more sturdy out online. But someone who has only known these types of bags doesn't know to do that). I bought (or got as gifts from charities) my canvas bags in my early 20s as I was establishing my own adult household, and I've used them since. Someone doing that now would be replacing their bags every few years and not even realize that was different than it used to be.
A lot of the newer bags I own were giveaways, though I did buy a few. So yeah, I will use them. But having lived the eco life long enough to know better, I wouldn't buy one again.
Just an annoyance that the "if it breaks sooner people will buy more, yay profit" is so damn prevalent, even when you are doing your best to do the right thing.