Ragbag®
Ragbag®
Ragbags are fashionable products made from recycled plastic bags by deprived people in the slums of Delhi, providing them and their families ‘means of livelihood’ and gain access to more opportunities. The production is done by rag pickers, collection centers where people wash and clean the bags and fabricators who make them into new products.
Ragbag products are designed by young European designers. The pilot-collection, which are now being tested in 20 shops in the Netherlands and Germany, consists of: city bag, organizers and wallets. Currently the pilot collection is being improved and extended with new designs for a rucksack and a shopper.
At this moment the project provides independent jobs to over 50 people (mainly woman). If the project is successfully implemented this can grow to 120-200 people in 2007. Whole families can be supported by developing the collection centers and small fabricators. Communities can become cleaner and better places to live in.
The Business
The pilot-collection is successfully tested in the market. Ragbag Organizers (250 pieces) are sold in 14 shops in The Netherlands and Germany. The shoulder-bag (500 pieces) is tested in the beginning of this year.
An investment (10.000 euro) in building the trademark, website and pilot-collection was done in 2004. The next step is to design, produce and market a launching collection in several European countries.
With respect to a fair income for the women who are doing the production, it seems possible to sell the products with enough profit to build up the brand and to invest in scaling up the production and to design new collections.
Production shoulderbag: 7,50
Transportation/logistics: 2,50
Sales costs: 5,00
Profit: 5,00
Retail price: 20,00
Consumer price: 45,00
Ragbags are positioned at young fashionable ‘post-materialist’ consumers, who are aware of the problems our world is facing, but who are positive and willing to change it in a better way. The products are branded with the ragbag® label, to make it recognisable and apealing to a broad public. The brand will try to create an active community of followers who share and build upon the ideas and vision.
Ragbags will be sold in interior design, fashion and gift-shops in European cities. The pilot-collection with organizers and bags is already sold to 14 shops in the Netherlands (Amsterdam, Haarlem, Den Haag, Utrecht) and Germany (Köln). Ragbags will not be sold in ‘fair trade’ shops. These shops have a more traditional and conservative image, which is not appealing enough to the target group of younger consumers.
The production process is invented and patented by Conserve India the partner-organisation in this project.
Plastic rags are collected, washed, dried and separated by colour. Conserve buys these sorted rags and a number of families survive on these earnings alone. The plastic bags then go into a machine designed by Conserve, which presses them into thicker and more durable sheets. No dyes or inks are required. It takes about 60 plastic bags to make one sheet. The sheets are then cut, lined with cloth and stitched or moulded into the various products
The ragbag products have to compete with other brands, such as Freitag and other bags made of recycled materials. The combination of the recycled material with the production in India makes them different and unique.
Conserve India is a Delhi-based NGO, founded in 1998 and working with low-income groups on recycling and waste management . Conserve is managed by Anita and Shalabh Ahuja. More info: www.conserveindia.org
iD-L inspired innovations is a Amsterdam based design office, founded in 1992 (named: KIEM). iD-L initiates and realises creative innovations inspired by social and environmental issues. iD-L is working on projects in Europe, Ghana, Sri-Lanka and India. Siem Haffmans is one of the four partners. More info: www.id-l.nl
The marketing-plan for the ragbag collection is using non-regular means, such as: free-publicity, brand ambassadors, internet and guerilla-marketing.
Free-publicity in life-style magazines; The story behind the ‘ragbag’ will be communicated to several life-style magazines in Europe (starting with: The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany).
Brand ambasadors; The ragbag products will be distributed to several trendsetting 'brand ambasadors', who will use them and talk about the products to friends. Brand ambasadors will be sought at Universities, Fashion and Art schools.
Website; The website www.ragbag.nl is already used to give information about the ragbag products. There is a shop-locator were people can find out were to buy the products. The grant will be used to add online sales to the website.
Guerilla marketing; The ragbag label will show up with a surprising appearance at happenings where the target group is present.
Development
At this moment the Conserve project is creating independent jobs for 60 urban women in New Delhi, providing them and their families ‘means of livelihood’ and gain access to more opportunities. If the ‘ragbag’ project becomes successful this can be scaled up to 120-200 women in 2006 and growing up to 500 in the years after. To realise this an investment in sheet processing machine and new sewing machines is needed. Furthermore a constant flow of orders, needs to be realised.
Anita and her team hope to get a grant to buy sewing machines. “At present, women gather in the homes of those who have machines and this slows down our production. We also need more sheet-presser machines and we need to expand our collection centres. But more importantly, the women who work for Conserve should become the shareholders of the company. If that happens then in our small way, we may get people to see throwaway plastic bags differently."
