Behind each of our products is a story. The Bikini Wet Bag may be small, but the story behind it is even bigger. Even though the product looks very simple, it took us over a year to find the right material and the right shape. This time, it was not the shape that defined the material, but just the other way around.
The idea for the Bikini Wet Bag started with our cotton bags that we included with every order in our early days. The cotton bags were a practical product to store bikinis in the closet or to hold various items such as charging cables or make-up in the purse. However, it always bothered us that they couldn't also be used to carry wet bikinis at the same time. Also, through a life cycle assessment of our products, we found out that the cotton bags had an incredibly poor eco-balance. In the end, this was the reason we replaced them with paper bags for shipping.*
So the foundation for the Bikini Wet Bag was laid, and we started looking for suitable solutions in terms of execution and materials. It was always clear that we wanted to use a recycled or upcycled material. Because even with small products, sustainability must never be forgotten. The first ideas were based on zip-lock bags and the recycled plastic you know from Aldi shopping bags. With this approach, however, we failed to find a supplier that didn't want to produce 50,000 pieces right away. So we then looked at our existing partners and a solution for a bag made of fabric. There are waterproof fabrics made of recycled plastic, but if they are to be really waterproof, they are always coated, for example with polyurethane. And that again makes them a less sustainable material and therefore not our first choice. Again, this approach didn't really lead to our goal.
Then last summer, at the Paddle-Paddle in Hamburg, we talked with our friend Henni about this issue and together, we came up with a new solution. Henni is a sailmaker from Kiel, who also runs her own label humble for handmade bags from leather remnants. At the same time, she had just released a small run of fanny packs that she made from discarded sails. We wondered if the same material would work for a waterproof bag, and she offered to test it out.
The first tests with the same material were unfortunately not a success. The white sailcloth is windproof and therefore also very waterproof, but still not leakproof and therfore not to be considered for our bikini wet bag. As luck would have it, Henni received another discarded sail at the same time. And this sail had a completely different material, very durable and absolutely waterproof - exactly what we were looking for. The tests continued and after three or four more prototypes we finally had defined the right shape and execution.
The final Bikini Wet Bag is now based on the principle of a pack sack. The wet bikini is packed, the side with the opening is rolled up and then enclosed with a rubber band. The band for this comes from our swimwear production and is a leftover from our new single layer swimsuit "Kelt light". In contrast to the common closure of a pack sack, we have opted for this simpler variant, which is more space and material saving. All seams of the Bikini Wet Bag are sewn with glue and a tape on the inside, which seals the bag just perfect – finest sailmaker craft!
Each of these Bikini Wet Bags was sewn by Henni herself and is available in our store in two different colors, yellow and black. We are incredibly proud of the result of this collaboration and look forward to further developments.
* If you've been missing the cotton bag on your last order, you know now what happened. Since there's still a small stock remaining, we decided to make it available in our store as a product. So, if you want one and promise it a long life, feel free to add it to your next order.
