Donna Holmes made this bag for a firefighter who served during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. (Courtesy)

When Donna Holmes started her first job at a fabric store as a sophomore in high school, she didn’t know the impact it would have on her life — meeting her husband, learning to sew and ultimately leading her to connect with new friends from all over America with her side-hustle business, It’s A Bag.

Holmes, 59, and her husband Randy, 60, moved to Tyler from Yuba City, California, after his retirement from a career in law enforcement.

As a senior in high school, Randy was part of the freight crew at the fabric store where Donna was learning the ins and outs of the industry.

“You could imagine the bolts of fabric that would come in these refrigerator-sized boxes,” Holmes said. “They had stocking staff come and unload the boxes, and that’s where we met.”

She now works full time handling client accounts at a graphic design business called 413 Stengthgear. In her spare time she works at home with her online business, It’s A Bag.

It’s A Bag was inspired by her son, Christopher Holmes, a firefighter in California. He had seen fellow firefighters use duffel bags and toiletry bags made with the same fabric as his bunker gear. He knew his mom could sew, so he asked her to make him a bag. She said no.

“I told him no, because you look at the whole complete garment, and I wouldn’t even know where to start with something like what a fireman wears — the bunker gear — you want me to make something out of that? No, I don’t think so,” she said.

After some convincing, Holmes started creating the bags out of expired fire gear. She began collecting other materials, too, such as denim, upholstery scraps, old suits, blankets and military uniforms. She said she started upcycling these fabrics, a term that means to use recycled materials in a way that makes the end product more valuable or of higher quality than the original discarded item.

Making new items out of old fire gear is popular because the uniforms don’t last forever. According to the National Fire Protection Association, all “ensembles and ensemble elements shall be retired … no more than 10 years from the date the ensembles or ensemble elements were manufactured.”

So there is plenty of material out there, if only Holmes can get her hands on it. She says she’s starting to run out, and would appreciate any donations.

When Holmes receives a full firefighter’s suit, it gets fully deconstructed. She and her husband take apart every seam to make a totally new item.

She relies on fabric donations from friends and friends of friends. Her favorite part of the business is the connections she’s made with people.

“Bags are a way to connect and communicate with people and get to know them,” she said. “There’s a story behind every stitch, whether it’s where the material from the bag came from or who the bag is going to.”

Even in Tyler, far from her California roots, It’s A Bag has connected her back to folks out west.

“I have one customer who lives in Colorado who ordered a toiletry bag for her son. Through the course of messaging each other during the time of the Paradise fires in California, she said she had lived there, and that’s near where my kids live and near where we lived out there.”

Holmes also met a customer living in Oklahoma who had once lived in Yuba City.

Another aspect of upcycling fabric she enjoys is making a unique item that the customer will care for fondly. A repeat client recently ordered a fire gear bag to send to a friend who was a firefighter during the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City. She was able to find the black fire gear and a Brooklyn patch to make it personalized for him.

Similarly, Holmes was given bunker gear by a retired firefighter in East Texas. She was able to make the gear into a purse for the man’s wife, who now cherishes the bag as one of her most prized possessions.

“What I really enjoy is getting to meet people,” Holmes said.

To purchase bags or to donate fabric, contact Donna Holmes on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/itsabag/ or on Instagram at https://www.insta gram.com/its_a_bag/.

Twitter: @TMT_Sarah