It’s in the bag

Designing and bringing to market environment-friendly bags in today’s global industrial context

Stopping producing “stuff” is not a realistic option. Designing everyday products is still in high demand. People need bags! A bag is an essential utility for anyone carrying belongings and a fashion accessory contributing to their identity. The design and production of bags are today victims of the environment-unfriendly ‘fast fashion’ movement. Developing viable eco-friendly textiles requires high budgets and time, and the global manufacturing and transportation landscape is not going to change for the better overnight. Acting in today’s context is all about daring to put on the market something that may not tackle all the barriers to responsibly designing and producing, but which ticks at least some of its boxes – the footprint of material resources and their transformation; the manufacturing and transportation impact; longevity, reusability and recyclability of products… eKodoKi got set a few years ago to meet these challenges, within the current framework of global industrial reality. Designing with constraints stimulates creativity. In a relatively short time, eKodoKi has designed three eco- & animal-friendly collections, and brought them to market on their D2C web shop.

Collaborating with three manufacturing partners for three bag collections

By designing and not manufacturing, eKodoKi develops products with flexibility, outside of the limitations of owning production facilities. eKodoKi seeks, finds and collaborates with manufacturing partners in different countries – carefully selected for their values, their expertise and craft, their materials provenance and quality, their team and work conditions, and their ability to take on-board custom requests and new challenges. Each bag collection is articulated around a different material: 1.The RE-BELT collection is made with upcycled discarded seatbelts, which then do not end up in a landfill. For the meticulous handwork required, eKodoKi has partnered with a social initiative that trains people in need to earn a living as freelance tailors. 2.Harvested respectively from the bark of cork oaks and paper mulberry trees, cork and hanji are renewable materials used as basis for the making of the main textiles in eKodoKi’s vegan KWORK collection. 3.Sheared once a year, sheep naturally provide us with a qualitative renewable material: wool. Durable and biodegradable, 100% wool felt is the most environmental-friendly felt, and eKodoKi’s only textile for its WOOLI collection.

Strong focus on the ‘how’

Our times do not call for coming up with new bag archetypes, but for re-interpreting those that stood the test of time – messenger bags, briefcases, backpacks, totes, crossbody bags, etc. – into responsible solutions. eKodoKi bags are reimagined archetypes, brought into the realm of environment-friendliness through the use of recycled or renewable materials. Balancing function with a style grounded in the ‘slow fashion’ movement, eKodoKi derived form and features from the qualities intrinsic to each core material: upcycled seatbelt bags boast a rugged urban style; cork & hanji bags display a sophisticated business casual appearance; and wool felt bags stand out with a monolithic natural look. eKodoKi targets conscious male and female city dwellers, who like to express themselves through modern lifestyle accessories and who are fascinated by materials. Curious about the use of resources, but unwilling to compromise on style, practicality or quality, they see eco-products as new luxury status symbols and conversation pieces. To feed their customers’ curiosity, eKodoKi provides them with rich story-telling information behind its textiles on its ‘about’ pages.