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♻️🌊 Backpacks Made of Recycled Ocean Bound Plastics

🌍 World’s first backpack protecting the oceans, certified and controlled by an independent organisation

Everything at a glance

✔️ This collection made of recovered ocean bound plastic is a novelty, designed with planet and people in mind.

 

✔️ While there are already other brands using recycled plastic waste we are world's first bag brand with a fully certified and transparent supply chain for recycled ocean bound plastic.

 

✔️ Together we can achieve our goal of recovering 100 tons of Ocean Bound Plastic by 2025 (a backpack protects the oceans from Ø 2.5 kg of plastic waste).

 

✔️ Join us on our mission to protect the oceans, stop climate change and work towards a better use of resources in a circular economy.

 

 

Good style, modern city life, ecological sustainability and social cohesion do not have to be contradictions: we combine sustainable materials and minimalist design with functionality for every day.

 

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Here is an overview over the features of our OCEAN backpacks:

High quality made to last

The robust outer material can take a lot and will not let you down. Dirt can be easily wiped off and the structure of the fabric makes your backpack resistant to scratches.

Dry and safe on the go
- in any weather

Waterproof zippers and a water-repellent coating make your backpack rainproof. In this way, the contents of your backpack always arrive dry and safe at their destination.

Transport your laptop safely
- also without your backpack

With the removable, padded laptop sleeve, your notebook is always packed dry and shockproof. This fits 16'' laptops or smaller. There is space for pens or a jotter in the front pocket of the notebook sleeve.

Keep your stuff secure
but easily accessible

Keep your belongings secure and accessible in the frontpocket as well as in the secret pocket on the backside of the backpack.

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Be ready to travel

Attach your backpack to your trolley with the suitcase-strap on it's backside and be ready to travel. (Only OCEAN roll-top)

Drink drank drunk

Always find your drinking bottle easily accessible in the outer side pocket of your backpack. (Only OCEAN roll-top)

Extend your possibilities

Expand your storage space as required from up to 25 to up to 30 liters using the roll mechanism. Thanks to this flexibility, your backpack has the size of carry-on luggage for most airlines.

Chic on the outside
organised on the inside

Three spacious inside pockets with zippers and the outside pocket on the laptop sleeve stow all your little things safely and well organised.

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Products

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We need to act now!

 

8 million tonnes of plastic enter our oceans every year. This plastic affects us all: its in our water, our animals and in us. Something has to be done! Prevention and cleaning is the key to it as well as building up supply chains that allows to recycle plastic in an economical as well as sustainable manner and values plastic trash as the valuable source of resources as it is.

From Trash to Treasure

 

Inspired by other frontrunners in this field and since we have seen the plastic problem ourselves in India (where we are manufacturing all our bags) we asked ourselves: what can we do in order to stop the plastic pollution of our oceans and build up a supply-chain that is based on a recycling-approach? And how do we do it in India, where this supply chain for ocean plastic materials, which can be used to make backpacks, has not yet existed? After more than 18 months of intensive work and exchange with many players in India we had a clue how to make this work… we just had to connect the dots.

 

It all starts with collecting and catching plastic on coasts and rivers where this waste is bound to end up in the oceans. For this essential element in our supply chain, we have teamed up with the NGO Plastics for Change, which has been fighting against plastic pollution in India for many years (see box below to learn more about PFC). This plastic waste is sorted, cleaned and finally shredded into flakes before new yarn and then a robust, durable fabric is woven from it, which we use to make our bags. This recycling process not only helps keeping the oceans clean. It also helps reducing greenhouse gases and protecting our climate. Because: because one ton of recycled plastic saves 2 tons of crude oil and up to 1.6 tons CO2, which would be incurred by the production of new plastic. Ensuring highest quality standards of materials and making means producing a bag made to last, thereby saving resources and protecting the environment. "Don't buy more, buy better" has been our philosophy since our establishment.

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Verifiable effect for the planet

There is a lot of marketing-buzz out there and claims can be misleading. Furthermore, material suppliers need strict guidelines in order to reduce leeways as much as possible. Hence, the NGO Zero Plastic Oceans has created a certification standard that defines what “ocean plastic” or "ocean bound plastic" is and under what conditions its recycling has positive effects on our oceans. Additionally, Zero Plastic Oceans defined control standards (such as traceability of the origin of plastic waste) along the entire supply chain. To ensure that every part of the supply chain adheres to its obligation to the OBP standard, the entire value chain, from the first piece of plastic waste to the dispatch of the product to our customers, is audited. This is where Control Union comes into play, taking on this task as an independent, neutral organization.

 

We are very proud to be world's first bag company with a fully certified and transparent supply chain for recycled ocean bound plastic.

 

In summary: We have not only set ourselves the goal of making backpacks from recycled plastic and thus protecting the oceans. We also want our customers to be sure that we and our partners are generating the promised impact at every step of the supply chain. Therefore, we have built world's first fully certified Ocean Bound Plastic supply chain for bags and backpacks, in which every step of the supply chain is certified and controlled by an independent organization. Trust is good, but control is better.

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Together we can save tons of plastic from the oceans

About Fitz & Huxley

 

We not only want to produce beautiful, high-quality and functional backpacks, but also act in an environmentally and socially responsible manner. Therefore our production is SEDEX and SA8000 certified. These renowned standards ensure good working and social conditions in our supply chain and the processes involved, controlled by an independent body. The responsible management for the protection of the environment ensures the certification according to ISO 14001. We achieve high quality and few rejects through certification according to ISO 9001. You can find out more about our production here.

What our fans say

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Shipping

 

In the EU and to Switzerland we deliver your favourite free of shipping costs. Shipping is done with DHL and is due to DHL GoGreen climate-neutral. We also send plastic-free, of course, and our shipping boxes grow on the meadow! You read that right! We ship our products in a box made from 40% regional grass and 60% recycled paper - this is currently the most sustainable packaging. You can learn more about it here. When your parcel is dispatched, we will send you a tracking code with which you can track the delivery. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us at service@fitzandhuxley.com When shipping to the USA and UK, we have to charge 6.50 EUR shipping. Due to the distance and since Brexit, the shipping costs are unfortunately very high - we hope for your understanding.

Our story

 

„Hey friends, I am Lars the founder behind the Berlin backpack label Fitz & Huxley. The idea for Fitz & Huxley came up in 2012 when I was looking for a stylish non-sports backpack and couldn't find anything nice but suitable for everyday use. As long as I looked, there was nothing without synthetic materials - i.e. plastic - which came along with enough storage space for my university or sports equipment and then also convinced me visually. Two more years passed; At the time, I wasn't that happy in my job, which somehow seemed pointless to me. I kept discussing my idea and my different designs with friends. Sure, that was a new, different kind of backpack - but should that be enough to start your own company?

 

I made contacts in India through friends and after a long search I found a production partner who shared my ideas about beautiful, high-quality, natural materials and was able to meet my high demands on environmental and social standards. The first prototypes were made and I became more confident and confident about my project. I gathered my courage and my savings and ordered 400 backpacks. I fevered for three months every day and then flew to India myself to inspect the first production batch. Unfortunately, to my big disappointment, the first backpacks produced didn't look nearly as great as the prototype and I didn't know exactly why. I was devastated. Over the next few days I checked every single backpack and analyzed the problem: if the seams, rivets and leather on my very first backpack in Berlin were perfect, the leather here had scratches during the production process, rivets were partially damaged and the reinforcement of the backpack was not straight sewn so that some rucksacks didn't look bright and beautiful but sad and kinked. So the sum of the details made all the difference. I rescheduled my flight and stayed in India for three more weeks to repair or replace the backpacks with the production team.

 

That was in 2016. Since then, I haven't gotten tired of demanding the highest standards over and over again and thus demonstrating what a Fitz & Huxley can do from an ordinary backpack - that is, an object that you carry on your back to move things from A to B - differs.

 

I am very happy if you like our backpack designs and if you share our love for minimalist design and natural materials.

 

Best wishes from Berlin,

 

Your sincerely Lars“

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FAQ

1. Does the recycled material make my backpack less durable than if it had been made with new plastic?

  • Basically, the quality of the material in the manufacture of backpacks from recycled ocean bound plastic is a challenge. Due to environmental influences such as solar radiation or salty sea water, the material loses its quality, can become brittle and then only be recycled in a correspondingly inferior quality. This often occurs with stiff fabrics. Unlike other backpack brands, we use a flexible but abrasion-resistant fabric that has been developed for us, which does not break and is therefore very durable.

2. Why do you focus on the oceans? What about other environmental issues?

  • To stop littering the oceans has a multitude of positive effects on our planet. We protect marine life that for example gets caught in plastic waste or ingest plastic as supposed food, then cannot digest it and die on a “full stomach”. But we also protect ourselves - because we ingest microplastics from the oceans through the food chain.
     
    Researchers also suspect that microplastics in the nutrient cycle of algae have negative effects on the climate. Because: Algae - more precisely phytoplankton - use sunlight, carbon dioxide (CO2) and water to produce organic material in the photosynthesis process. This is what they feed on. Researchers fear that microplastics as supposed food inhibits this process. That could have enormous effects on our climate, because what many do not know: The phytoplankton in the oceans use about as much carbon dioxide as the land plants on the continents. Hence, it plays an important role in regulating our climate.
     
    Our recycling approach not only helps to keep the oceans clean and this marine ecosystem intact. Recycling also helps to reduce greenhouse gases overall and thus protect our climate. Because: one ton of recycled plastic saves 2 tons of crude oil and up to 1.6 tons of CO2, which would be used in the production of new plastic.
     
    Our high quality standards in materials and craftsmanship ensure that our backpacks and bags have a long life ahead of them. This saves resources and the environment. "Don't buy more, buy better" has been our philosophy since inception.
     
    We also save CO2 through our regional supply chain: all steps from plastic waste collection to recycling, yarn production, weaving to the final bag production take place regionally in India.
     
    In addition, we promote an understanding of garbage as a valuable source of raw materials among the Indian population. The fact that we pay people to collect rubbish leads to a rethink which in turn counteracts the indifferent disposal of rubbish in the environment.

3. Why do you use Ocean Bound Plastic and not fish the plastic out of the sea?

  • If cost weren't an issue, much more plastic would be recycled on earth. We want to make the greatest possible positive impact for our oceans and the environment by recycling ocean plastic. There are two main goals for us:

    1. We want to stop littering our oceans;

    2. We want to offer a good product at a price that is affordable for everyone.

     

    Only then will the amount of backpacks and bags sold create a real effect on our planet.

     

    Plastic waste that is today lying on the banks of rivers or beaches and is relatively inexpensive to collect (this is the so-called "Ocean Bound Plastic"), will be on the ocean ground tomorrow, where it can only be recovered with a great deal of effort and expense. Isn’t it smarter to collect the waste today then?

     

    In addition, plastic waste that has swam in the sea for a long time loses its quality due to environmental influences such as solar radiation or salt water and cannot be recycled so well for the production of a high-quality bag. That also drives up costs.

     

    With our approach of using ocean bound plastic, we achieve ocean protection at lower costs. These lower costs we pass on to our customers in the form of lower sales prices.

    With this approach we achieve our goals 1 and 2 and thus the greatest possible impact on our planet.

4. Where does the plastic for my Fitz & Huxley come from?

  • In the spirit of a regional approach that reduces transport routes and thus the emission of greenhouse gases, our clean-up has to be in India, where our backpacks and bags are manufactured.
     
    For our clean-up on the delta of the Netravati River on the Indian Ocean, we have teamed up with the NGO Plastics for Change, which has been fighting against plastic pollution in India for many years.

5. Why is the certification of the Ocean Bound Plastic supply chain so important?

  • There is a lot of marketing buzz out there and the claims can be misleading. In addition, strict guidelines for material suppliers are necessary in order to rule out black sheep. The NGO Zero Plastic Oceans has therefore created a certification standard that defines what "ocean plastic" or "ocean bound plastic" is and the conditions under which its recycling has positive impact on our oceans. In addition, Zero Plastic Oceans has established control standards (such as the traceability of the origin of plastic waste) along the entire supply chain. To ensure that every part of the supply chain adheres to its obligation to comply with the standard, the entire value chain, from the first piece of plastic waste to the shipping of the product to our customers, is audited. This is where Control Union comes into play, taking on this control as an independent, neutral organization.
     
    We are proud to have built the world's first fully certified Ocean Bound Plastic supply chain for bags and backpacks.

6. How do you ensure fair wages and good working conditions?

  • We don't just want to produce beautiful, high-quality and functional backpacks and bags, we also want to act in an environmentally and socially responsible manner. Therefore our production is SEDEX and SA8000 certified. These renowned standards ensure good working and social conditions in our supply chain and the processes involved, monitored by an independent body. You can find out more about our production here.
     
    Furthermore, our clean-up not only helps to protect the oceans, but also offers poor people a regular income. Many people in India are illiterate or have not learned a trade. Our partner, the NGO Plastics for Change, combats two problems - the littering of the seas and extreme poverty - with one solution: collect plastic waste and earn money with it.

7. Why do you recover an average of 2.5 kg of plastic waste when your backpacks only weigh about 0.9 kg?

  • The big challenge in recycling plastic is that it is often not sorted (for example, different composites are put together in a packaging) and that the plastic loses its quality due to environmental influences such as solar radiation or salty sea water. That means: not all of the plastic waste we collect can be recycled into a backpack. Only certain types of plastic in the right quality are suitable for this. Of course, the remaining waste does not end up in the ocean, but is recycled for the manufacture of lower-quality products or disposed of properly.

8. What makes my Fitz & Huxley so special?

If you have read the other answers to the FAQ, then you already know what makes the Fitz & Huxley OCEAN collection something special and ground breaking. We summarize it again for you:
 
- A sustainable product for everyone: sustainable products are usually more expensive or even really expensive. That makes sustainable action a luxury that not everyone can afford. We don't want that for our OCEAN collection! We can only save our planet if everyone can switch to sustainable products. That is why we are working with an innovative, cost-efficient approach to recycling Ocean Bound Plastic (see FAQ number 3).
- Protecting our planet: protecting the oceans means protecting the planet. Plastic or microplastics in our oceans have a variety of negative effects on marine animals and us humans. But especially on the marine ecosystem and thus global warming (see FAQ number 2).
- Garbage as a valuable raw material: in our profit-oriented world, producing “new” is often cheaper than recycling or repairing. Companies often do not have to carry cost for adverse effects on our environment. We want to lead the way and show that cost-effective recycling is possible.
- Certification and verifiability: our promise to you and our planet is certified and controlled. We are proud to be the world's first backpack brand with a fully certified supply chain, controlled by an independent organization (see FAQ number 5).
- Helping people to help themselves: the supply chain for recycled Ocean Bound Plastic we have set up with our partners is the first of its kind in India. In terms of modern supply chains and production capabilities, India has so far been mostly defeated in competition with its rival China. In India, the handicraft of bag making is still very traditional. We want to change that! Together with our partners, we are moving forward and initiating a development process in India.
 
By paying people to collect rubbish, plastic waste suddenly gains in value and hopefully in the long term will lead to a rethinking of the indifferent disposal of waste by Indian society.

At one glance: Our Environmental Commitment

Long-lasting design

Fitz & Huxley is an alternative to ever faster product life cycles and disposable fashion – in other words, “fast fashion”. For us, sustainability is not a marketing buzzword, but a self-evident secondary condition of all our actions. We make high quality bags that have a long life ahead of them. In addition, when designing, we make sure that products can be repaired and do not have to be thrown away.

Reusability and recyclability

We ship our products climate-neutral with DHL GoGreen. We also send plastic-free, of course, and our shipping boxes grow on the meadow! You read that right! We ship our products in a box made from 40% regional grass and 60% recycled paper - this is currently the most sustainable packaging. Since we did not use mixed materials in the design of our backpacks and bags, this makes recycling easier at the end of the product life. We are also evaluating to set up a take-back resp. recycling program.

Sustainable materials

We collect plastic waste that would otherwise end up in our oceans, recycle it and turn it into new bags. In this way we not only stop the littering of our earth, we also save valuable raw materials through recycling. This recycling process not only helps keeping the oceans clean. It also helps to reduce greenhouse gases and protect our climate. Because: one ton of recycled plastic saves 2 tons of crude oil and up to 1.6 tons CO2, which would be used in the production of new plastic. Unlike other everyday items, backpacks are ideal because they do not need to be washed and do not release microplastics.

Environmentally friendly factories

We not only want to produce beautiful, high-quality and functional backpacks, but also act in an environmentally and socially responsible manner. Therefore our production is SEDEX and SA8000 certified. These renowned standards ensure good working and social conditions in our supply chain and the processes involved, controlled by an independent body. The responsible management for the protection of the environment ensures the certification according to ISO 14001. We achieve high quality and few rejects through certification according to ISO 9001.

Sustainable Distribution

We ship our products climate-neutral with DHL GoGreen. We also send plastic-free, of course, and our shipping boxes grow on the meadow! You read that right! We ship our products in a box made from 40% regional grass and 60% recycled paper - this is currently the most sustainable packaging.

Something else

We want to establish greater transparency, traceability and control in supply chains. We have not only set ourselves the goal of making backpacks from recycled plastic and thus protecting the oceans. We also want our customers to be sure that we and our partners are generating the promised impact at every step of the supply chain. Therefore, we want to build world's first fully certified Ocean Bound Plastic supply chain for bags and backpacks, in which every step of the supply chain is certified and controlled by an independent organization. Trust is good, but control is better.

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