We save our materials from becoming trash

Discover how we source our materials for our sustainable statement items. Do you know what happens to surplus materials and the overstock of the fashion industry? They are trashed and burned in the landfill. That means millions of tons of fabric are wasted every year. What happens in the fashion industry also happens to other materials such as tarpaulin used for truck covers and party tents. The surplus materials of the production are discarded into containers and burned. Those materials are brand-new and never got to embody their purpose. This senseless way of wasting resources and emitting CO₂ was one of the reasons for us at GRÜNBAG to start our journey back in 2008. We are on a mission to change that, and give wasted materials a new purpose. At the core of that is that we rethink the potential of materials.

How does that look in practice? We can tell you one thing, our rescue mission is hands-on. We drive to our partners in Denmark and handpick the materials like tarpaulin and seatbelts - mostly directly from the cutting tables. Another main source of materials is the old lifeboats from our partner Viking Life Saving Equipment. After years of cooperation, their employees have trained eyes to spot the right materials for our bags when they do the sorting. 

Our white sails and colorful kites are some of our exquisite materials that make every bag pack truly unique. We sometimes even get private donations from boat owners and kitesurfers whose sails/kites had a life at sea and are now ready for a new purpose as bags instead of being trashed.

We have close relations with our partners and we handpick all materials. And this is just the start, imagine how many other materials there are out there that have rethinking potential. We are constantly looking into new ideas and materials to be rescued.