We once made this toiletry bag for Cisco on request. Then their logo was on the side. But we liked it so much that we also included it in our own collection. And we named it Chunky Chicken!
A sustainable toiletbag
Discover the sustainable side of personal care with our toiletry bag made from recycled car tires! This sturdy and unique toiletry bag not only offers enough space to safely store and transport all your toiletries, but is also environmentally friendly and reduces the amount of waste in the environment. The robust design is ideal for travel and outings and will keep all your personal care essentials safe and organised.
Whether you’re an adventurous traveler or just looking for a sustainable alternative to your current toiletry bag, our tire toiletry bag is the perfect choice. Order today and contribute to a cleaner and more sustainable world, while enjoying the practical and sturdy look of our tire toiletry bag!
https://www.ecowings.nl/wp-content/uploads/22EW04-Productfotografie-WINGS8363.jpg6831024Angelahttps://www.ecowings.nl/wp-content/uploads/logo-ecowings-durable.pngAngela2023-02-14 16:22:162023-02-14 16:22:16New in the webshop: toiletbag
Imagine a world in which raw materials are infinitely available and waste is no longer a problem. This is the goal of the circular economy – an economic system in which raw materials are reused as much as possible and waste is kept to a minimum. In this system, waste is no longer regarded as waste, but as a valuable resource that can be reused.
Upcycling
Upcycling is part of the circular economy and focuses on reusing waste and discarded materials to create new products. The difference between upcycling and recycling is that recycling processes materials into raw materials that can be used again, while upcycling preserves the product in its original form as much as possible.
Upcycling is a great way to reduce waste while creating unique and stylish products. It is a movement that is gaining more and more attention and is inspiring more and more people to think creatively about using waste.
God for the environment
One of the biggest benefits of upcycling is that it reduces waste. This reduces the pressure on the rubbish heaps and reduces greenhouse gas emissions, as waste processing is one of the main contributors to these gases.
Moreover, upcycling is also good for the environment, since a lot of energy and raw materials are required for the production of new products. By reusing waste and discarded materials, these raw materials are saved and less energy is used.
But also hip and stylish
Upcycling is not only better for the environment, but it is also affordable and stylish. Many people are surprised by the unique and attractive products that can be made through upcycling. Just look at our laptopbags, backpacks or accessories!
Upcycling is a great way to contribute to the circular economy and reduce impact on the planet.
https://www.ecowings.nl/wp-content/uploads/stapel-oude-banden.jpg8571200Angelahttps://www.ecowings.nl/wp-content/uploads/logo-ecowings-durable.pngAngela2023-01-28 16:18:542023-02-14 16:19:32How we can reduce our impact on the planet
https://www.ecowings.nl/wp-content/uploads/Foto-Uma-Kapil-Angela-sep-2022-c-scaled.jpg18282560Angelahttps://www.ecowings.nl/wp-content/uploads/logo-ecowings-durable.pngAngela2022-10-12 13:26:362023-02-14 16:24:12Visiting Ecowings in India
We are traveling to India from September 26 to October 6. You can place an order during that period, but unfortunately you have to wait a while before you receive it. We do our best to process all orders as soon as possible after October 6.
https://www.ecowings.nl/wp-content/uploads/Ecowings-travelling-to-India.png10801920Angelahttps://www.ecowings.nl/wp-content/uploads/logo-ecowings-durable.pngAngela2022-09-23 19:08:282022-09-23 19:09:18We are travelling
The theory of change explains how the company contributes to the image of the future world that they themselves have. It is important to map out the vision, impact, effects, output, activities and input. So on a conceptual level, the theory of change is about how your ‘intervention’ or product contributes to social change.
The vision is the starting point
In the vision, a company sets out what image it has for the future world. For Ecowings it can be said that the vision is based on a future world in which waste is dealt with responsibly, by reusing waste for new products.
Impact is about the effects that your activities achieve
This can be both intentional and unintentional and both negative and positive. It is important to be aware of this as a social enterprise, because impact can turn out differently than you had previously thought.
Ecowings makes an impact by selling bags. By selling bags Ecowings has an intended positive impact; every bag sold means that tires have been used for reuse instead of being incinerated. Burning 1 kg of rubber produces 1.8 kg of CO2 emissions. This saves 0.98 kg of CO2 emissions on average per bag.
An unintended negative effect of Ecowings as a company can be found in the transport aspect. The bags are made in India and often come to the Netherlands by ship or by plane. Due to the nature of the transport, such as polluting fuel, CO2 is still emitted. Ecowings is already aware of this. Partly because of this, Ecowings aims to sell more bags to consumers, so that air transport can be limited and more favourable transport by shipping can be used more often. When supplies are small, it is not profitable to ship the products. Due to larger deliveries, shipping can be used, which reduces CO2 emissions compared to transport by plane.
The effects
The effect within a theory of change is the change that results from the activities of the company. These changes can be divided into short-term, medium-term and long-term. It is important to be as concrete as possible and to limit the use of vague concepts by applying them as best as possible to the context. An effect is therefore the result of the company’s activities.
We have written the effects for Ecowings, whereby we have also made a distinction between short, medium and long term.
For the short term, we have formulated the following effects: – Creating awareness that waste can be reused and processed into beautiful and high-quality products; – Contributing to knowledge among people about the existence of the waste problem in the world in general and India specifically; – The start of a contribution that people want to prevent their own waste from ending up on the street.
We have formulated the following effects for the medium term: – Contributing to a culture change in which it becomes normal to deal with waste in a sustainable way; – Contributing to awareness of the waste problem, both on a local and global level.
We have formulated the following effects for the long term: – Contributing to a behavioural change in which it becomes normal to use upcycling techniques and the purchase of sustainable products; – Contributing to a full awareness among consumers that waste can be reused and processed into beautiful and high-quality products.
The output is about the direct result of the activities
It is important that it is easy to measure and communicate. For Ecowings, this concerns the number of bags sold in a year and the extent to which sales among individual consumers have increased compared to the previous year. Another important output at Ecowings is the amount of CO2 emissions saved per bag sold. This is on average 0.98 kg of CO2 per bag.
The activities
The activities in a theory of change are the actions, tasks and things that the company undertakes to contribute to the result and the effects. This concerns activities that have a direct influence on the target group, with an educational and social character, rather than just services and products. For Ecowings, the most direct activity is selling bags. The sale of bags has two important aspects. On the one hand, CO2 emissions are prevented. On the other hand, Ecowings’ way of working ensures that people in the workplace in India receive a fair wage for the work they do.
While explaining the activities, we also brainstormed about activities that Ecowings can set up to increase awareness of the brand and thus also increase the impact. We thought of this: – Upcycling workshops to introduce people to the use of ‘old’ materials for ‘new’ products; – Campaign to use waste to create new products – VR about issues in India; – Education in schools to create awareness from an early age – Get acquainted with Ecowings in a playful way; – More blog posts on the website/social media and more active use of the newsletter, in order to increase awareness and involvement and to appear faster on google; – Using ambassadors for the brand, in order to increase awareness.
The input is about what you need to be able to carry out your activities
The following factors are the most important input for Ecowings: – Old inner tubes to make bags with – Workers in India for the production of bags – Marketing strategy – Clear vision and mission – Social media access – Part of platforms to be able to sell bags
If the new activities are to be set up, more input is also needed. At this point you could think of: – Material to give workshops (leftover material from the production of the bags is perhaps an idea); – People who give the workshops; – Technology (including for VR); – Someone who is actively involved in maintaining contact with schools and companies and giving workshops.
Visual presentation
As a final step, a theory of change is often visualized in order to clarify everything that has been written above in one go and in an attractive way. We have also started working on this. We have devoted extensive attention to this, because we believe that a well-defined theory of change can be a good means of conveying the company’s story to the consumer. We were also told by Ecowings that they would like it if it was possible to use the theory of change themselves in their communication. We believe that our result has been successful and a clear overview of what we have described above. We therefore believe that Ecowings can make good use of the theory of change as we have formulated it.
Many thanks to Finn, Charlotte and Sanne for describing the Theory of Change and making this beautiful graphic!
https://www.ecowings.nl/wp-content/uploads/Ecowings-boompje.jpg8991259Angelahttps://www.ecowings.nl/wp-content/uploads/logo-ecowings-durable.pngAngela2022-09-13 16:31:482022-09-13 16:39:43Theory of Change
We were able to do a few nice assignments in August.
Rugzakken voor Johnnie Walker
First of all, we made backpacks for Johnnie Walker, with their Striding Man logo on the front. Our yellow zippers matched the logo perfectly in color.
Toiletry Bags for Cisco
In addition, we had a challenging assignment for Cisco. They wanted a toiletry bag with their logo on it. We didn’t have that model in our range yet, so a design had to be made first. The result is really great! So beautiful that the customer immediately placed a follow-up order! And we will also include the model in our range. Please be patient.
Als je ook interesse hebt in een product met jouw kleur rits of jouw label erop? Neem dan svp contact op.
Ghazipur landfill park is located in a suburb of New Delhi. The official name of this area suggests that it is an idyllic spot for a picnic on a beautiful summer day. But it certainly isn’t! The nickname ‘Mountain of Shame’ indicates that it is a place that most Indians prefer to avoid.
3000 garbage dumps in India
Ghazipur is one of India’s 3,000 garbage dumps containing more than 800 million tons of waste in total. The waste mountain of Ghazipur has a height of more than 65 meters and is therefore higher than the Taj Mahal. Every day, 12,350 tons of waste are produced in Delhi, 690 tons of which are plastic. 55% of this ends up on 1 of the 3 overcrowded waste heaps of Delhi (Okhla, Ghazipur and Bhalswa). The other 45% ends up along the road, in the rivers, and on small local waste heaps.
Extremely flammable
The waste heaps contain large amounts of methane, which means that they can easily catch fire, especially in the summer when temperatures exceed 40 degrees. In 2020, parts of the mountain were on fire 15 times.
Monday 28 March 2022 it was that time again: a gigantic fire broke out. After 4 days, the 90 firefighters still had no control over the fire. The burning mix of household, biomedical and industrial waste causes enormous pollution of ground and surface water. In addition, air pollution (and CO2 emissions) is incalculable. The mouth masks that the firefighters are wearing will not stop much. In the wide area people have stinging eyes and can hardly breathe.
In the Netherlands you don’t hear or read anything about this, but the BBC did make a short report about it.
It has to be different
It is time for a better system for waste processing in Delhi. The organization Swechha India has been fighting for this for 20 years and has also made the above film to put this problem on the map. It is now the case that all the waste is literally thrown into one heap. Then waste pickers go through to fish out valuables. Thousands of families live on these garbage dumps under the most appalling conditions. And there are also a lot of children.
Indore
There are already initiatives in various places in India to do things differently. Indore, the city where the Ecowings workshop is located, is a forerunner in this regard. Since 2016, Indore has been separating waste and converting waste into usable products as much as possible. Converting discarded car inner tubes into high-quality bags is of course a good example of this. Indore has been named the cleanest city in India by the Ministry of Urban Development for three consecutive years.
What a bag can do
In the delusions of the day you sometimes forget why you do what you do. Anyway, this video puts me back into action mode. The waste problem in India is so huge! It may be a drop in the ocean to buy or sell a bag made of car tire, but still! Not only do you save a lot of CO2, but we also show that things can be done differently. In India there is still a world to be won in the field of awareness. That’s why we do it together!
https://www.ecowings.nl/wp-content/uploads/delhi-Ghazipur.jpg613857Angelahttps://www.ecowings.nl/wp-content/uploads/logo-ecowings-durable.pngAngela2022-08-18 09:58:022022-09-09 10:23:38A mountain of CO2 shame
A river with white foam. Did Floddertje overflow the bath here? No, this is not the type of foam that you put in the bath and that will leave you nice and clean. On the contrary!
Invisible demons
This picture is from the movie ‘Invisible Demons’ by Indian director Rahul Jain. I have great admiration for this director. He not only shows you the environmental situation in Delhi, but you really smell and feel it. Beautiful pictures, sometimes very close-up and sometimes very zoomed out.
As a child I had to take a 15 minute bus ride to school every morning. And I remember seeing islands of foam lying in the river and I used to think: oh, this is so dirty, maybe the adults will take care of it. And at some point I became an adult and I saw that the islands of foam only got bigger.
As an adult, he now contributes to a solution by imagining the message in such a way that it actually gets through. As an environmental activist you can tell 100 thousand times that the environmental situation in India is appalling and that it is really past twelve when it comes to climate change. But you need artists to make it really touch you!
The film is still in some cinemas this week. Go see him!
Today I was a guest at Karin, owner of ATMK. They make beautiful wooden trays and have a machine to engrave logos on them. We wanted to try out whether it is also possible to engrave a logo in our bags with their machine.
Preparation
First of all, the logo is entered into the computer. You can of course make the logo as large and as small as you want. But the logo must ‘speak’, so thin lines should be avoided.
It is important that the laser head remains an equal distance from the area to be lasered, so the bag must lie flat.
And go!
The lasering of the bag was done quickly. It depends on the size how long it takes exactly. This large logo lasted just over 1 minute.
Mission accomplished
When the lasering is finished you have to wait a minute until the extractor is ready. The result was amazing!
Personalise your bag
So it is possible to individualize an Ecowings bag or accessory with your own name or with your company logo. Feel free to contact us if you want to know more about this.
Ecowings is affiliated with the WebwinkelKeur Foundation
Since 12 May 2022, Ecowings has passed the inspection of the WebwinkelKeur Foundation. This means that Ecowings complies with all the most important European and Dutch regulations in the field of distance selling.
We proudly bear this quality mark because it once again underlines the reliability of Ecowings.
It doesn’t end with approval alone. The WebwinkelKeur Foundation is a modern quality mark that continuously monitors the reliability of its members. Consumers can go there with complaints and they can (publicly) assess the affiliated web stores. As a consumer, you therefore have more security with an online store that is affiliated with this quality mark.
As an independent third party, the WebwinkelKeur Foundation guarantees the authenticity of the customer reviews and the reliability of its members. In short, another reason to buy from Ecowings.
https://www.ecowings.nl/wp-content/uploads/webwinkelkeur-1.jpg365512Angelahttps://www.ecowings.nl/wp-content/uploads/logo-ecowings-durable.pngAngela2022-06-02 15:22:052022-06-02 15:23:10Webwinkelkeur Quality mark
What a beautiful bag it has become: The Harryvan Laptop Bag. We are super proud of the result. We actually like the bag so much that we decided to include it in the standard collection. 50 units are currently being produced. They will be available in the webshop from mid-June.
Custom order
This bag was commissioned by Harryvan from Hoogezand, a leader in sustainable interior construction. They have the ambition to make as much use as possible of existing interior parts and to reuse residual materials. What they make is never standard and neither is this laptop bag. The bag, made from old truck inner tubes, discarded seat belts and recycled PET bottles, was developed and produced especially for Harryvan.
Harryvan and Ecowings met during a meeting of the Oxfam Novib Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs Network with the theme of Circular Entrepreneurship. Ecowings and Harryvan are both committed to fair trade and circularity. A nice match! When I showed my own bag, they were immediately enthusiastic. A few days later I got a call asking if Ecowings could make a bag for them, but slightly different from our current models. With their logo of course.
Of course we can!
The process starts with creating a design. The starting point was the Robby shoulder bag, but larger so that a 17″ laptop could fit in it. First, Kapil made a sketch. Based on that, we could discuss further: whether or not there were handles on the top? Where should the logo be? What color for the zip?
This was followed by a final design in which the further specifications were also determined: all supporting material from recycled PET bottles (Rpet), cushion lining at the bottom, double zipper, waterproof zippers, exact color of the logo, etc. In the end it was decided to make the zippers black. to do instead of red.
The actual manufacturing
After that, the price could be determined, and the team could get to work! Make the label, buy all the necessary materials, clean the rubber, make the moulds, cut the rubber, make the liner, sew the bag together, quality control, polish, pack and you’re done! It sounds simple but all in all it is a laborious process. After all, everything is done by hand.
In reality much more beautiful
During the process we were kept informed with photos. But when I actually had the bag in my hands at the end of April, I was still positively surprised. In real life the bag is just much nicer than in the picture. The rubber material makes the bag very robust and the waterproof black zippers give the bag an elegant look. A black beauty!
And above all, it is also a practical bag: with laptop protection and additional inner compartments.
Do you want this bag too?
Soon the bag will be available in the webshop, with the Wings logo. Do you want to reserve it in advance? Then contact us. This first batch, with the Harryvan logo on it, is for Harryvan’s relations in any case. They will receive it soon with this beautiful card. We wish them a lot of fun with it!
https://www.ecowings.nl/wp-content/uploads/Harryvan-tas-2.jpg18232552Angelahttps://www.ecowings.nl/wp-content/uploads/logo-ecowings-durable.pngAngela2022-05-11 14:44:562022-06-09 14:47:06Customization for Harryvan
We made a product video of the Funky Falcon backpack. This allows you to see even better what the backpack looks like! Thanks to Jean Haasbroek for the production.
Eigenschappen
De Funky Falcon rugzak is met de hand gemaakt van robuuste auto-binnenband en gerecyclede petflessen (Rpet). De Funky Falcon is voorzien van waterdichte ritsen en handige opbergvakken. Je 13-17″ laptop of tablet is maximaal beschermd door de ingenaaide kussenvoering aan de onderkant. De buitenmaten van de rugzak zijn: H40cm x B32cm x D10cm en hij weegt 500 gram. Met een gevoerde handgreep en gevoerde, verstelbare schouderbanden.
https://www.ecowings.nl/wp-content/uploads/Ecowings-funky-falcon-video-2.jpg519725Angelahttps://www.ecowings.nl/wp-content/uploads/logo-ecowings-durable.pngAngela2022-04-11 10:25:592022-09-09 10:28:09This way you can see the Funky Falcon even better!