O My Bag: Sustainable, Ethically Made and Gorgeous Bags

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O My Bag is a unique Amsterdam-based handbag brand. They make classic bags made of completely sustainable materials. In fact, sustainability and ethical practices are at the core of their mission.

O My Bag is a lot of things in terms of high ethics: they’re B-corp certified, they use Fair Trade factories for their products, their leathers are eco-friendly (one’s made from apples!), and they donate 1% of their profits to organizations in India committed to empowering and educating women.

Does your current favorite bag brand do that?

What is an Ethically Produced Bag?

There is no hard and fast rule for what defines ethically produced. For my own reference, I use my own judgement based on a few factors: working conditions, material sourcing, employee compensation and partnership with third-party agencies.

Working conditions: A company has to ensure quality conditions for their employees to be considered ethical. They have to firstly know where their clothes are being made and make frequent visits to confirm their workers are treated well. Intimidation tactics, blacklisting those who propose unionizing, and sexual harassment run rampant in textile factories. It’s brands’ responsibilities to make sure their employees are not subjected to those behaviors. As well as making sure their factories abide by safety codes and fire ordinances.

Material Sourcing: The next question to ask is, ”Where do their materials come from?” How and from where the textile/material comes from matters too! Many methods of sourcing materials are damaging to the environment. The pesticides used in cotton production lead to toxic water pollution, forests are pillaged with no regard for deforestation, sheep are tortured in some wool gathering, etc. A brand is only considered ethical when the materials it uses are also sourced ethically and eco-consciously.

Employee Compensation: Products are only as ethical as the means by which they were created. The majority of their means is the employees’ labor. It’s vital that the employees of a brand are compensated equitably for their work. Unfortunately in the fashion industry, unlivable wages are the norm. An ethical brand goes against the tide and compensates their workers fairly. That means a living wage (at least) plus overtime pay, which is often completely disregarded.

Partnership with other Agencies: It’s not enough that a company claims to be ethical and sustainable. They need to partner with other reputable agencies to prove they’re ethical and sustainable. Having other organizations back up their claims adds a layer of reliability. By including them, us consumers have another reference to make sure their products really are ethically made. And we have another organization to keep the brand inline with their values.

How O My Bag Does Better

O My Bag checks every ethical box. They are B-corp certified which means they are now ”legally required to consider the impact of [their] business decisions on [their] employees, customers, suppliers, community, and the environment”. Organizations go through rigorous application processes to qualify. Current B-corp certified companies include Patagonia, Veja and TOMS.

Every factory that produces O My Bag products is Fair Trade certified. In fact, they have provided 783 Fair Trade jobs to workers in India to date. Having safe working conditions for their employees is necessary to O My Bag; and they practice what they preach.

Their materials are in the same vein. They only use ethically sourced leather from the same factory since 2010. Their partner uses no toxic chemicals, and won them the 2015 Sustainable Leather Award! Not only do they excel in the conventional leather category, but they also offer vegan leather made entirely from apple skin. Innovative and ethical; what’s not to love?

The Bags

It’s not hard to love O My Bag. Their values align with their manufacturing which is (unfortunately) rare in the fashion industry. Their ethics and sustainability are trendsetters in the world of handbag brands.

Thankfully, their bags are pretty too! They make classic accessories that are sure to last for years. And if you get bored of yours, they have an in-house resale program to swap it for something else!

An incredible brand with incredible bags. We’re obsessed!