Ecolicious, Flying Koi by Doi and Doi & D’Angelo Artworks all sprang from the seed that was a 2007 news report.

Ecolicious sprouted first, after Carol D’Angelo saw a story about the frenzy caused by a canvas tote bag emblazoned with the words “I’m not a plastic bag.”

People were going crazy for the bag, created by U.K. designer Anya Hindmarch, who is better known for purses that cost $1,500 or more. The tote, seen by way of a marketing campaign on the arms of Hollywood celebrities, was being offered in Whole Foods stores for $15, hence the frenzy.

“We can do that,” D’Angelo thought, and Ecolicious was born in 2008.

She started with two canvas bags with an edge-to-edge design evoking island themes, and expanded with additional designs.

Now made with organic canvas and bearing the couple’s designs, Ecolicious’ own take on the tote is sold at Whole Foods Market in Kahala and Kailua.

Dexter Doi and D’Angelo, husband and wife, both are artists whose paintings adorn the walls of their Kaneohe home.

However, the Doi & D’Angelo Artworks also have taken the form of art cards, magnets and in some cases dresses and silk scarves, which the duo sells in stores and at select craft fairs. The pair creates T-shirts and, often with student intern help or freelance seamstresses, makes a huge line of up-cycled bamboo-handled zippered bags, electronic tablet and cellphone pouches and tissue-pack holders, to name a few. “We use every scrap possible,” Doi laughed.

The aloha-print fabric used for the bags, either the exterior or the lining, is recycled aloha wear purchased from Goodwill Industries of Hawaii.

D’Angelo is a retired instructor in the fashion department at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and a curator of its historic-costume collection. While largely retired, she returned to teaching at Hono­lulu Community College.

Given her familiarity with aloha wear, textiles and the local fashion industry, the Goodwill forays can be akin to treasure hunting when a famed designer’s textiles — say, a Mamo Howell design — turns up, she said.

Doi’s résumé includes stints as a commercial artist and graphic designer. He now is a textile designer.