Have you ever wondered what goes behind our bags? Who makes it? What material we use? How much water is waste? What chemicals are involved? And if the hands that make it work in healthy and humane conditions and get payed fairly? These are questions we have to ask ourselves (and brands) before adding another product to our lifestyle. As insane as it may sound, our shopping habits have a powerful impact on the future of our global economy and health, on our oceans and its creatures, on poverty rates and politics, and our planets as a whole.
When you shop with us, you’re buying a 100% handmade product. We like to be small and improve everyday our quality, empowering communities being sustainable. Our products are made with enviromental conscious materials, mostly cottons and natural fabrics. We are always looking for a new eco friendly material to keep the world better. We prefer to choose materials and manufacturing from other small artisans reality like us (check our latest collabs in Sri Lanka here) to produce long lasting bags, instead of cheep, poorly made bags, that soon will become waste.
“Before being a bag-maker, I’m a surfer and a traveller with a conscious environmental mind. My brand is a set of surf and travel bags designed to meet a simple directive: no 2 trips are the same, and the best bag can adapt to them all… It’s so rewarding to see Fede Surfbags traveling miles and miles around the world with my customers, still holding-up pretty good with all the hand-painted design on place!”
We love to be unique, and so our customers. That’s why we hand-dye our fabrics and we love so much custom orders! You will never find another product like this. The bag you’re buying is a product of Federica Ubertone hands, she designs and paints all the bags, before they go to the hands of wise tailors. So each bag is a piece of art, that may take also 2 weeks to make. Yes, just for one bag! So you’re not only buying a bag but a piece of art. For those who want to dive deeper in the world of Fede Surfbags, we made some pictures of the work in progress of our latest creation: The Pink Jungle Collection, available here.
When we say hand-painted…we use textile colors diluted in water. Not a single drop is wasted.
In 2017 we added to the HANDPAINTED COLLECTION, a collaboration with artisan around the world – THE SEVEN SEAS. A parallel collection made while on the road. Our brand is handmade in Italy, but it is deeply connected to surfing & traveling. We travelled to Sri Lanka and Mexico, to experiment new collaboration with local textile artisans. In Sri Lanka we made a workshop to learn the Batik technique. The results were few pieces of batik with travel inspired designs (on blog). In Mexico, we tested the “heche a mano” serape blankets, that ends up in a limited edition of surfbags, the Mexi (here). This is just the beginning of our adventure on the road, made with salty vibration under fair trade working condition. #MySaltyJourney
Therefore, Fede Surfbags, is not only a small business, it’s more a community who choose to shop small and travel light across this salty journey. Our mission is empowering communities in being sustainable, starting from shopping habits. Every single euro we spend counts. It’s our vote on the world we wish to create. Every day, we are adding to or reducing a company’s production without demand. That’s how powerful we are! Your wallet, no matter how big or small we think it is, can reshape the way companies do business. Think about it. You are not just a drop of water in the ocean but the entire ocean in a drop! #shopsmall #ChangeMaker
Love,
Fede.
Congratulations for your dedication developing this great job!! And always thing sustainable and simple! Well done!!!!
Thank you Francisco! ☺️??