Ms. Bay

Who/​what is Ms. Bay?

Ms. Bay was foun­ded by Sas­kia Aelen and Law­ren­ce Dedroog. They had been wor­king in the fashion industry for a long time and were – rightly – con­cer­ned about the unsus­tai­na­ble natu­re of fast fashion. In res­pon­se, they crea­ted a sus­tai­na­ble acces­sory brand that is eco­lo­gi­cally and ethi­cally responsible.

In their own words;

“We don’t just pro­vi­de the per­fect design, high-qua­lity mate­rials and impec­ca­ble execu­tion. We take care of our com­mon futu­re. Our ideo­logy is one of time­less design, social res­pon­si­bi­lity and envi­ron­men­tal awareness.”

Amen to that. Right?

Eco-logical?

Uhu, verry!

The main raw mate­rial of Ms. Bay’s pro­ducts is sal­mon skin. Wait. What?

Yes, sal­mon skin. A was­te pro­duct from the fishing industry. Only 1% of all sal­mon skins are recy­cled. So the rest just disap­pears in the trash can.

Not at Ms. Bay. Becau­se they turn that fish skin into super cute acces­so­ries. The fish leather looks like nor­mal leather, but to pro­cess it you need a lot less harm­ful subs­tan­ces. The sal­mon skin Ms. Bay uses comes from the sus­tai­ne­ble Euro­pean sal­mon fishe­ries and is pro­ces­sed in Euro­pe. The leather is tan­ned with 100% vege­ta­ble mate­rials (acid from plants, trees and fruit). The result: time­less bags that have little impact on the environment. 

The water used for the tan­ning heats the leather pro­du­cer with geother­mal energy (the heat of the earth). Ms. Bay has the pro­duc­tion done in India, but the way in which the raw mate­rials are ship­ped the­re and the way in which finished pro­ducts come back to Euro­pe, the brand is silent about that. Does this hap­pen by pla­ne or by boat? We can only guess.

Little is thrown away at Ms. Bay. Small sur­plu­ses of leather turn into sma­ller acces­so­ries, such as key rings. And are the pie­ces really too small to use, then the sup­plier shreds it and Ms.Bay uses it as a rein­for­ce­ment for the insi­de of the bags.

The lining, pac­ka­ging and pre­sen­ta­tion work are made from recy­cled mate­rials, such as poly-cot­ton and recy­cled cot­ton (whe­re does that come from, Ms. Bay?). And they are reused if pos­si­ble. The brand also uses chro­me-free 100% vege­ta­ble-tan­ned Ita­lian cow leather. 

The energy the com­pany needs comes from hydro­elec­tric power plants.

Great place to work?

Ms. Bay pro­du­ces its bags in Kol­ka­ta, India. The 3 fac­to­ries the brand works with are SA8000 cer­ti­fied. This means that the hand­bags are made in safe con­di­tions and at a fair wage. Every year, an inde­pen­dent orga­ni­sa­tion checks wor­king con­di­tions, envi­ron­men­tal safety and remuneration.

The Indian crafts­men Ms. Bay works with are not anony­mous emplo­yees, but have their own pla­ce on the web­si­te. Very briefly you can read their story and the con­tri­bu­tion Ms. Bay makes to their qua­lity of life.

Ms. Bay also takes care of the com­mu­nity of her emplo­yees: they dona­te school books or have drin­king water pipes laid to the villa­ge. Small sca­le, effec­ti­ve and with great impact on the village.

And does Ms. Bay complete the circle?

Not qui­te yet, but Ms. Bay uses sal­mon leather – which is a was­te pro­duct of the fishing industry. Wor­king with was­te, we like!

Ms. Bay mainly uses subs­tan­ces that are bio­de­gra­da­ble or reusa­ble. Recy­cled poly-cot­ton (a mix of pol­yes­ter and cot­ton) is used as lining mate­rial, but the brand stri­ves to switch to a less water-inten­si­ve and more envi­ron­men­tally friendly fabric such as lyocell.

Short/​overall

Time­less fashion acces­so­ries of sal­mon leather.