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A mountain of CO2 shame

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!

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That won’t clean you

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.

He speeks about this in this interview:

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!

 

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Laser engraving experiment

Ecowings lasered logo

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.

tas ligt klaar voor de graveermachine

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!

Ecowings logo op de tas

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.

 

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Webwinkelkeur Quality mark

Ecowings Webwinkelkeur

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.

Share your experience

You can now also share your purchase experience at https://www.webwinkelkeur.nl/webshop/Ecowings_1215274 !

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Customization for Harryvan

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!

 

 

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This way you can see the Funky Falcon even better!

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.

 

Bestellen

De Funky Falcon is voorlopig beschikbaar in 3 kleuren: legergroen, zwart en oranje.

Zou je liever een andere kleur hebben? Laat het ons weten!

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How Ecowings got birth

The founder and driving force behind Ecowings is Kapil Sharma. In 2010 he started his first experiments to make products from car inner tube. We asked him how Ecowings actually came into existence. This was his answer:

How did Ecowings took birth?

I did my design education at Symbiosis Institute of Design, Pune. After that, I got the opportunity to work with Tata Johnson Controls as an Industrial Designer. Later I joined Autoline India Limited which had design collaboration with Zagato based in Italy. These two organizations changed my mindset and I realised I should work on something which can transform the current environmental situation. Right from the beginning I was interested in design teaching and later I joined a fashion design institute where I started a completely new journey towards a sustainable and aesthetical world.

Where did you get the inspiration?

Everyday on the way to my institute via transport Nagar which had lots of Truck tire seller who used to sell second hand truck tires on the other side several Thela walas (four wheel cart) people used to sell scrap truck tire tubes to earn their everyday livelihood. This everyday action used to shake me from inside and provoked me with lots of curiosities as what happens when these tire tube goes into incineration or further processing. I started my research in this area and took it on the next product possibilities. I found this material extremely durable and waterproof which was plus point to craft any life style product.

How did you start production?

Product design journey started with very basic tools and I started several experiments with tire tube. Initial prototypes were not very satisfactory but I had strong gut feeling this is something which can create a huge impact and transformed into a value product. Eventually the first three finished products came out and my father encouraged me to exhibite it in a Green exhibition fair. I realized we have cracked the code and it can go further to form a larger business opportunity.

We did exhibition at many places and we had great experiences and feedbacks from the audience. In 2012 Angela Rooijmans entered in Ecowings and then gradually things turn in different directions and ecowings got acceleration. We entered into export market and we determined to come up great quality products. Day and night we worked hard to achieve the best quality stitching and design and today we are known upcycle leader in Europe.

Read the article about Ecowings in the Better India here.

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Dropshipping

Dropshipping
1. What is meant by dropshipping?

Someone buys an Ecowings product in the PARTNER webshop. The shipment of the product to the customer is done by Ecowings. PARTNER does the billing to the customer.

Note: Dropshipping is NOT the same as affiliate marketing. The difference is that dropshipping uses an OWN webshop. The webshop also positions itself as a company, and the customers place their order with the webshop,

 

2. Benefits of dropshipping

PARTNER benefits:

Do not keep stock
Expand the webshop offer
No need to send packages.
No financial risk.

Advantages for Ecowings:

Increase brand awareness and sales market
Using the marketing campaigns of another webshop

 

3. Division of tasks?

Ecowings provides:

Production & import of the products, and keeping track of the stock.
Sending the order to the customer in neutral packaging, accompanied by a printout of PARTNER’s delivery note.
Handling of the returned products.

PARTNER provides:

Including the products in the webshop, including creating product pages and product descriptions.
Including these products in marketing campaigns.
Informing Ecowings about incoming orders and returns.
Sending order confirmation to the customer.
Sending a delivery note to Ecowings.
Being the 1st point of contact for the customer with regard to any. returns and questions.

 

4. Compensation

PARTNER pays Ecowings the wholesale price + 20%, and a reimbursement of the shipping costs (for a package within the Netherlands that is € 5.85, a letterbox package costs € 4.00). These amounts are exclusive of VAT.

 

5. Order process

A PARTNER customer places the order on www.PARTNER.com
PARTNER will pass this on to Ecowings by e-mail as soon as possible. PARTNER uses the same delivery term for the products in the webshop as Ecowings (1-3 working days).
PARTNER makes a delivery note for the customer with the shipping details of the customer and the ordered product and sends it to Ecowings by email.
Ecowings ensures that the order is shipped to the customer in neutral packaging and includes a printout of the delivery note.
Ecowings informs PARTNER about the shipment.
PARTNER informs the customer about the shipment.

 

6. Stock

Ecowings ensures that the stock is kept up to date. If a product is almost finished, no longer available, or if there are other stock issues, Ecowings will inform PARTNER in good time so that PARTNER can adjust this in its webshop.

 

7. Customer Service

PARTNER is the first point of contact to answer customer questions.

 

8. Returns

Customers should always contact PARTNER first if they want to return something. For returns of Ecowings products, PARTNER will provide the address of Ecowings. PARTNER will inform Ecowings as soon as such a situation arises.

Returns after the customer has waived the purchase: Based on the law, the customer is entitled to a cooling-off period of at least 14 days. If the customer cancels the purchase within this period, the customer must return the order in its original condition. Ecowings will inform PARTNER about this after receipt of the order in its original condition. PARTNER refunds the amount to the customer (including shipping costs if it concerns the entire order), and Ecowings credits/refunds the invoice to PARTNER.

Returns due to an error in the ordering process: In case it can be demonstrated that the return shipment is the result of an error at PARTNER and/or Ecowings, the entire amount of the invoice (including shipping costs) will be refunded to the customer. Ecowings credits/refunds the invoice to PARTNER (incl. shipping costs).

Returns due to a defective product: In the event that the customer reports that the product is defective, the cause will be examined on a case-by-case basis and how to deal with it. Some example situations:

Damaged by post – complaint handling by Ecowings at Post.nl – customer gets a new product or money back.
Claim based on expected lifespan / warranty – complaint handling by Ecowings – if justified, customer gets a new product or money back.
Damaged by wrong customer product will not be taken back .
In the event that the customer’s claim is justified (in consultation with Ecowings and PARTNER) and the customer wants the money back, the entire amount of the invoice (including shipping costs) will be refunded to the customer by PARTNER. Ecowings credits/refunds the invoice to PARTNER (including the shipping costs).

 

9. Payments

Ecowings invoices all PARTNER orders in a relevant month in 1x via a monthly invoice for that month (last day of the month). PARTNER pays this invoice immediately (within 3 days).

 

10. Holidays, public holidays, etc.

In the event that Ecowings or PARTNER goes on holiday or if there are other circumstances that have consequences for the ordering and/or delivery process, the other party will be informed as soon as possible and a solution will be sought together (insofar as this is necessary).

 

11. Offers and Price Adjustments

Ecowings and PARTNER will keep each other informed of any promotions that are conducted in the web shops.

 

12. Evaluation

After 3 months Ecowings and PARTNER will evaluate the above. The evaluation period can be extended in consultation.

 

13. Termination

If, after the 1st evaluation, Ecowings or PARTNER wants to stop dropshipping, he must inform the other party at least one week in advance.

 

 

Do you want to become a dropshipping partner of Ecowings? Then please contact us.

 

<< Back to overview

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The new Wings Collection has landed!

Ecowings new Wings logo

At Ecowings we continuously try to make our products and the world a bit better. It all fits together. If our bags and accessories are beautiful and of top quality, they will sell better. Then we will need more rubber, which means that fewer discarded car tires end up in the waste stream. And we can help more artisans find a job and stimulate the local economy of Indore. We have used the past months to design and produce a new Wings Collection together with the Kapil team in India. We are very proud that after all that hard work we can now present our improved Wings bags and accessories to you!

Trusted and improved

Ecowings products are characterized by their robust and unique character. We have made improvements where possible. For example, the zippers are 100% waterproof so that the contents of your bag do not get wet in our little country. In fact, you can swim with your Wings if you wish. Furthermore, extra thick cushion bottoms have been sewn into the backpacks and laptop bags to protect your precious laptop and tablet even better. Finally, in addition to discarded car tires, certified Rpet (recycled PET bottles) is also used on the inside and outside. With this, Ecowings has taken a new step in the upcycling of waste.

New collection, new names

The introduction of our new Wings Collection feels a bit like spreading our wings. That is why we have decided to give our products new names. The Panda Laptop Bag is now called the Elegant Eagle, we have renamed the Dawa Shoulder Bag Stunning Seagul and the Rozer Pack Backpack the Funky Falcon. And don’t forget our new Click Kiwi! The handy and trendy fanny pack where you can store all your stuff. As you can see, we have chosen animal names to emphasize our pursuit of a better world for people and animals.

Wings by Ecowings

We call our new collection of bags and accessories Wings. Of course, that also includes a cool new logo. From now on, this will appear on every Wings product so that everyone can immediately see that we are dealing with an original Wings by Ecowings!

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Sunita

Written by:  Kapil Sharma – november 2021

5 Years back Sunita has joined Ecowings with no experience in upcycling or in bag making process. Before joining Ecowings she was working as a maid and used to wash dirty utensils at different places to earn some livelihood as her economic conditions were not very good.

She has two sons and one daughter along with husband and mother in law who is suffering from paralysis. Because her economic condition is not good and her entire livelihood is dependent on her husband, she has to contribute to her family and shoulder several responsibilities. She is completely illiterate because she was never sent to school as her parents left her in the beginning of her childhood. In view of such circumstances it was extremely challenging to move forward in life and cope with all these problems all together.

Learning the skills at Ecowings

She joined Ecowings with very basic common understanding like an innocent child who had a bundle of energy but not having any sort of skills. We involved her in various upcycled tasks and she absorbed every single thing like a sponge and groomed herself, accepted the culture of Ecowings and started to shape herself in such a manner so that she can deliver some measurable outcome.

She was introduced to various hand tools and their functions, understanding the measurements, reading the scales and knowing the millimeters and inches etc. How to develop the patterns and create the panels for bags and accessories. These were the challenging tasks in terms of learning and exploring yet she took all the challenges and grasped all the basic things bit by bit. Today she is one of the most skilled craftswoman who has five years of experience in bag manufacturing and has become a valuable asset for Ecowings who not only leads in Ecowings but also takes up most of the international projects right from its inception.

Lachende Sunita vrouw uit India

Interview with Sunita

We asked the following questions and innocently she replied to our curiosities.

Sunita, what you like the most in your life?

Bhaiya, I like everything when I am at Ecowings, because every day I learn new things here. Ecowings gives me new challenges on daily basis and iI try to solve the problem as best as I can. I love the process of craftsmanship of bags and accessories. It makes me feel extremely good till the evening I remain here under the Ecowings premises. I have made something from my hand and eventually it will be packed by me only with Ecowings brand tag.

What do you do after getting the monthly salary?

I generally deposit my salary to my bank so that I can save it for my family. I am very much eager to put forward my kids in good schools and day would soon come when my daughter would get married so for the same I need to save money right from the beginning.

After joining Ecowings did you realize any incremental growth in your social and economic status?

Of course. I got raised three times. And on the festivals also we received good amount of money along with gifts and sweets. There is lot of flexibility with Ecowings as Uma didi understands us very deeply and supports us at all level.

What you want to do in future at Ecowings? What are your expectations?

I will continue and love to do good job. Learn new things and skills.

How people see you in your family when you go back to your home after finishing your Ecowings taks?

They expect lot many things. I had to cook food for people then so much pending house hold work like washing cloths and taking care of my mother in law etc.

Once you deliver the full project, what do you feel afterwards?

What is going to be next? Ready for the next job work. I don’t want to sit without any work.

What are your key learnings at Ecowings?

Many. I learnt how to make men’s belt, notebooks, bag panels cutting, bag detailing etc.

What is the best thing you like the most at Ecowings?

Environment! Earlier I used to work as a maid and used to wash kitchen utensils. People used to call me ‘Bai’ which I never liked. But when I joined Ecowings in our society people don’t call me “Bai”. I feel lot of respect within myself and sometimes people don’t believe as I work in a Bag company.

Do you have anything in your mind which you want to do at Ecowings?

I want to see more people around me. It is always a great feeling when lot many women are working together here. We enjoy that environment a lot.

Which product do you like the most at Ecowings?

Panda!

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Notebooks for ANWB

We got the opportunity to make our Ringnote notebooks for the ANWB. They give these as a business gift to a number of valued relations. Of course we really enjoy working with a party such as ANWB, since they are in the car industry. A promotional gift of discarded car tires fits very well with this.

Adapted to the wishes of the customer

The standard green or orange lining is replaced for them by beautiful dark gray felt.

 

Grijze voering voor ANWB notitieboek van Ecowings

And on the back is the logo of the ANWB:

Ecowings Ringnote voor ANWB detail

For the packaging we choose a standard (environmentally friendly) brown box on which the ANWB will stick a sticker.

 

You can see the result here:

20211208_111553

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Your bag is as unique as you are

The special thing about Ecowings bags and accessories is that they are all a ‘one off’. You can see the rough life of the car tire in it. A colored stripe, a repair patch, a fold, a piece of worn tire and a unique profile. It is the history of the strap that is reflected in the rubber and that makes every handmade bag or accessory unique. Just like you!

Car tire looks like leather

Car inner tube is a very good alternative to leather: it is strong, waterproof and lasts a long time. But above all, the material has character! Each piece of rubber inner tube has its own profile. Just like with animal skins.

 

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