The Circular Tote Bag

Our mission at The Swapshop is to reduce the textile mountains. While we've already come a long way with swapping, the piles of non-swappable clothes are getting bigger as well. Yet, we're hopeful about solutions. Since we started this adventure, we have been working together with some pretty amazing partners to find ways to reduce these hopes. Together with Occhio del Riciclone, based in Italy, we created the Circular Tote Bag. A line of bags made of upcycled jeans.

Upcycled

100% made of upcycled jeans

Artisanal made

Made in Italy with craftmanship

Naturally dyed

Dyed with organic materials

Watch the Circular Tote Bag come to life.

Circularity

The Circular Tote Bag couldn't have been more circular, since it's 100% made of upcycled jeans. This means jeans that would have otherwise gone to waste, are transformed into a unique and higher-quality product. Because the Circular Tote Bag is fully made of jeans, it remains recyclable at the end of its lifecycle!

Unique collaboration

The Circular Tote Bag came to life through our collaboration with Occhio del Riciclone and Humana People for People, based in Italy. Occhio del Riciclone is a social cooperative that promotes the implementation of reuse policies in the textile industry. They mainly do this through education and raising awareness on the issues of reusing waste. Humana People to People's main mission is to address significant humanitarian and development challenges. They invest in solidarity projects through the value generated from collecting, sorting and selling second hand clothes.

Made with craftsmanship

The Circular Tote Bag is designed and made by Francesca Patania. She is an Italian upcycle designer and expert with more than 20 years of experience in this field. She founded the Occhio del Riciclone Network in order to.. add text. Due to her expertise and craftsmanship, the Circular Tote Bag is a durable product of high quality.

Naturally dyed

The innovative Italian company Tonello naturally dyed the jeans. They used their innovative WAKE technology. WAKE is the first 100% organic dyeing system which uses only organic raw material without the addition of hazardous chemicals. The dying process is sustainable and circular. Very little water and energy are used, and no water gets polluted. Besides that, it makes each bag unique because of the natural dyes!

Partners

Close to zero impact

It doesn't get more sustainable than upcycled fashion accessories. To create the Upcycled Tote Bag, no scarce resources are being used. No plastics, no leather, no adhesives, no metals. Just upcycled jeans. The jeans are naturally dyed with organic materials and a minimum amount of water. And this makes a big difference compared to similar bags made of virgin cotton!