Got Bag backpacks made of recycled plastic from Indian Ocean
The German company Got Bag was founded in 2016 with the aim of saving our oceans from plastic pollution to preserve marine flora and fauna by making with this backpacks and travel accessories.
“We turn trash into treasure” is the motto of the company born from the idea of Benjamin Mandos, the founder of Got Bag, who following his passion for water sports decides to oppose the pollution resulting from plastic waste, amazed by the huge amount deposited in the Indian Ocean. He thus created a business with a strong ethical bond, which consisted in collecting plastic from the waters of South Asia to create something new. In 2016, the first backpack made entirely from recycled plastic from the Ocean, the Got bag Rolltop, was produced.
Over the years a large Got Bag community has been created with a strong mission that thanks to well-organized cleaning programs in Indonesia, on the island of Java, involves more than 2,000 local participants who collect plastic directly from the ocean, from the mangrove area and river delta region. This material is called Ocean Impact Plastic, as a symbol that from now on will no longer be a threat to the ocean.
The innovation of Got Bag is also to collaborate with partners to be able to recycle more types of plastic and develop new cleaning programs. After collecting the plastic, the PET of Ocean Impact Plastic is cleaned, selected and transformed into small spheres and is the raw material of GOT BAG products. To date, other types of plastic that cannot be reused are recycled using the most appropriate solutions.
PET plastic produces small balls that are shipped to China for production, where they are processed in robust yarns. These are then transformed into fabric for backpacks and bags, with a water-repellent coating inside and an additional external finish repellent to water and dirt. Got Bag has been awarded the B Corp certification, an international award that gives merit to companies that meet the highest standards of environmental protection and social equity, have sound and reliable internal governance and demonstrate transparency regarding the activities they carry out.
Therefore, Got Bag products represent the very essence of sustainability, intervening directly on the environmental impact, creating chains of relationships and new working relationships, as well as raising awareness about a more sustainable fashion for a more sustainable world.