­­Avoska, or a “maybe-bag,” is a Russian invention that no other country has borrowed. Avoska is a string bag that was immensely popular in the Soviet period, then lived through quite a long period of oblivion, but is now slowly making its triumphal comeback to the streets of Moscow and the pockets of residents.

The peculiar name of the bag derives from the Russian adverb “avos,” an expression of vague expectation of luck. The origin of the term is uncertain, with several different attributions. The most beloved one dates back to 1935, when popular Russian comedian Arkady Raikin demonstrated an avoska to the audience and muttered: “Here’s my ‘maybe-bag.’ Maybe I’ll get something in it today.”

Avoskas have long been used for housekeeping needs. When folded, it takes up no more room than a mobile phone and so it can be easily pocketed, bagged and pursed. In the Soviet era people used to always have a folded avoska with them – imagine wonderful sausages being sold and you have no bag on you (plastic bags don’t count – they were not even born back then)! 

The wonderful bag was born in the end of the 19th century. At first avoskas were… hairnets! But later, when the demand for these essentials slackened, two handles were added, turning the bun nets into bags. Avoskas were manufactured from various kinds of strings. With the advent of synthetic materials, some of them were made of stretchable string, so that a very small net could be stretched to a very large sack. Apart from the remarkable environmental friendliness of avoskas, one of their incalculable assets is universalism – men and women can now choose an avoska to their taste – bright red or navy blue, charcoal black or lavender, tiny so that they will only be able to place a single tangerine in it, or if so desired, it can be huge.

­The stereotyped exploitation of avoskas as a shopping bag is not the only one. In autumn, housewives sometimes keep garlic or onions in avoskas that hang as part of decoration on the walls. In winter meat and fish may be put in avoskas and kept on balconies in order not to occupy too much space in the fridge.

Avoska is practically a nano shopping bag. Thanks to the design (let’s call it design), milk cartons and other products in square cartons with sharp corners sink into the net cells and do not damage it, unlike plastic bags. Of course, not everyone might like the transparency of the bag, but in order to impress others you might as well buy healthy food and put it into your avoska for everyone to admire. Advantages on all hands!

­Today avoskas have not yet become commonplace on supermarket shelves. But they have ceased to be a rarity, and to have a negative connotation. In the very heart of Moscow, a 30-second walk from Pushkinskaya metro station, a tiny avoska shop was opened in December 2009. It is a small square room where a table, a telephone, a vendor and several hundred multi-colored avoskas are cramped together, giving the impression you somehow managed to squeeze into the insides of a huge kaleidoscope.

But the shop is not a common one. Every avoska sold there is hand-made by blind people (there are hand-drawn posters inside the shop that tell you this) and by buying them you help orphanages throughout Russia. Prices in the shop are more than affordable and start from 150 rubles and go no higher than 400 rubles ($5-$13). For this sum of money you can purchase everything from a tiny emerald-green version with room only for a notepad to big colorful avoskas with leather handles that are comfortable for carrying heavy things. Above the counter (which is tiny of course!) hangs a big glass jar that says it is there to collect donations.

When I visited the shop I bought several avoskas at the same time. The decision was easy. Show me a person who doesn’t want a trendy, environmentally-friendly accessory that may come in handy practically anytime. And then think about how and why the bags were made – and the decision to buy a couple is easy.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.