Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray launches enviro-chic bags. MJ Felipe, ABS-CBN News

MANILA -- Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray's passion for upcycling and recycling and love for textiles and Filipino craftsmanship continues, six years after her reign.

In collaboration with Megaworld Lifestyle Malls and Side-B, Gray designed, crafted and produced environmental-chic bags from upcycled tarpaulins. 

These functional bags were made fit for daily use like a tote bag, a sling bag for the tumbler or flask, and a three-way satchel that works as a backpack or a laptop bag.

According to the beauty queen, conceptualization of the bags was fast.

"Yung mga sketches na ginawa ko, I probably did it in a few days. Pero I guess yung collaborative process of like discussing on how to best utilize the tarps to make sure there is minimal waste. Paano yung mga limitations sa materials mismo, in terms of creating the number of bags," said Gray.

"That process took a few months, the tweaking of the design, of course once the first draft is made may mga comments-comments pa," she added.

For Gray, it is fulfilling to finish a passion project like this one.

"Being creative and giving back to the community I feel like that's a thread that really runs through lahat ng projects na ginawa ko ever since. I got a lot of personal fulfillment from it, siguro that's why I find ways to continue to do work in that space," she said.

How to avail of these bags?

"If you go shopping at a Megaworld Lifestyle mall, and you produce a receipt where you spent a certain amount. So for each bag, it's a different corresponding amount. I believe it's 3,000, 5,000 and 7,000 pesos and you also bring with you 35 recyclable plastic bottles. Then you can avail one of the bags. So the payment is almost the recyclable bottles," said Gray.