DUFFLE & CO
Duffle&Co
Established 2015 | New Zealand
Ebony Boutique Online are stoked to be bring New Zealanders Duffle & Co handcrafted luxury bags that don't compromise your values. After traveling through India, Nepal and Indonesia CEO and founder Danny decided he could reconnect craftsmen who had lost their jobs due to the tradeshift to China, with NZ.
Handcrafted
Each Duffle&Co bag is meticulously made and hand signed by the craftsman who made it. Just turn over your new bag and you'll see the signature of the person who lovingly made it for you.
Meet the Makers
Duffle & Co aim to empower artisans and their families (Sundari, Gito and their two daughters pictured with duffle&co CEO Danny). After losing their jobs working for two well known fashion brands, who had moved production overseas for cheap labour Sundari, Gito and their extended family were working and living in the same two rooms, unable to afford to send their children to school. Now they have a separate house, and over 15 more craftsmen from their community have joined the duffle&co team and are paid well above the minimum living wage, meaning their children are in school getting an education.
Materials
Duffle&Co bags are only made from natural, sustainably sourced materials. Only premium, full grain and top grain by-product leather, pineapple leather, and GOTS organic cotton canvas is sustainably sourced and carefully hand selected for each bag by their master craftsman.
Duffle&Co do not use leather from cows raised for hide. Only leather that is a by-product of the meat industry which would otherwise be binned is used. The leather is also 'end-of-roll' leather which is carefully selected by the master craftsman and repurposed by hand. This means Duffle&Co bags are high quality but unique with no two bags being the same.
Pineapple leather is a 100% vegan, sustainable fabric made from cellulose fibres of pineapple leaves. Again the leaves would be thrown away after the harvest, but now farmers make additional income from the waste.
The linings and brassware are the best industry components on the market and the bag linings are made from natural cotton canvas.
In order to reduce waste Duffle&Co aim to use as much of each material as they can, carefully cutting each item by hand. The leftover is used for keyrings, tassels or zipper ends.