O My Bag

Loo­king for a tim­e­l­ess hand­bag that matches per­fect­ly with all your out­fits? Then we would like to intro­du­ce you to O My Bag. Foun­der Pau­li­en Wes­se­link foun­ded the hand­bag brand in 2011 and wants to give some­thing back to the com­mu­ni­ty and the envi­ron­ment with her social enter­prise.

O My Bag uses the Sus­tainable Deve­lo­p­ment Goals (SDGs) to eva­lua­te, opti­mi­ze and make their pro­duc­tion pro­cess more sus­tainable. In 2015, the Dutch brand even won the Sus­tainable Lea­ther Awards. This is an award for an inno­va­ti­ve idea within the Dutch lea­ther sec­tor with a posi­ti­ve effect on peo­p­le, ani­mals and the envi­ron­ment. An award to be proud of!

Materials

Lea­ther is a high-qua­li­ty mate­ri­al that is very dura­ble and – unli­ke other mate­ri­als – beco­mes more beau­tiful over time. An O My Bag hand­bag or weekend bag ages beau­tifully and beco­mes incre­asing­ly sof­ter over time.

The high-qua­li­ty lea­ther of the hand­bags and wal­lets is tan­ned vege­tal­ly wit­hout the use of harmful che­mi­cals. The tan­ne­ries of O My Bag use spe­cial envi­ron­men­tal­ly fri­end­ly and natu­ral pro­ce­du­res to ensu­re that no harmful pro­ducts end up in nature. 

The insi­de of the wal­lets and hand­bags con­sists of GOTS cer­ti­fied orga­nic cot­ton. Super! The brand also avo­ids arti­fi­ci­al che­mi­cals in its pro­duc­tion this way. And wha­t’s more, after use ‑with the excep­ti­on of the zip­pers and sewing thread- the bag is biodegradable.

Ethical

O My Bag has a long­stan­ding rela­ti­onship of trust with their pro­du­cers in India and Chi­na, inclu­ding EMA, the She­ong Shi Tan­nery, as well as new part­ners such as Map­le­tree. The avera­ge dura­ti­on of the col­la­bo­ra­ti­ons with their part­ners is 4.5 years. All fac­to­ries are SA8000 cer­ti­fied to ensu­re that workers work under fair con­di­ti­ons. In addi­ti­on, EMA is a mem­ber of the World Fair Trade Organization.

At O My Bag, the team stri­ves to make a posi­ti­ve dif­fe­rence in the world through its hand­bags, and with suc­cess! The Dutch com­pa­ny mana­ged to offer 783 fair jobs in India in 2019.

Animal welfare

Howe­ver, it is unclear whe­re the hides for the lea­ther came from, or in what con­di­ti­ons the cows were kept. So we can­not be sure that ani­mal wel­fa­re was gua­ran­teed. O My Bag did recent­ly expand their coll­ec­tion with bags in orga­nic cotton.

Circular Economy

The brand pro­vi­des cus­to­mers with han­dy gui­de­lines on how to best main­tain your qua­li­ty lea­ther goods. Small defects or scrat­ches in your lea­ther can be repai­red by yourself! 

Do you feel like some­thing new after a few years? Then you can hand in your O My Bag at one of the sales out­lets or send it in to the head office in Ams­ter­dam. In exch­an­ge for sen­ding in your old bag, you’ll recei­ve a 20% dis­count on a new product. 

If you live clo­se to the store, you can also trade in a hand­bag or wal­let for ano­ther second-hand item! All retur­ned bags are coll­ec­ted in a vin­ta­ge libra­ry, whe­re they can be sold or lent out. In this way, O My Bag gives old hand­bags a second life and the life span of the bags is signi­fi­cant­ly extended.

The O My Bag head­quar­ters and the two stores in Ams­ter­dam and The Hague run on

100% rene­wa­ble energy and also in terms of trans­port, the Dutch brand does its bit. The hand­bags travel by pla­ne from India to the Net­her­lands. Through which the brand emit­ted in 2019, 139 tons of CO2. This the brand com­pen­sa­ted by inves­t­ing in accre­di­ted car­bon off­sets. In addi­ti­on, the brand also invests in sus­tainable pro­jects such as coo­king ovens in India, to give back to local com­mu­ni­ty.