Duffle&Co: Offering Kiwis a real solution to fashion waste
What if we told you that you could reduce your fashion waste and earn money doing it at the same time? And no, we don’t mean spending hours listing your pieces on TradeMe for next to nothing. We mean Duffle&Co’s new initiative, My Circular Wardrobe.
Duffle&Co unite ethical craftsmanship with naturally derived sustainable materials to bring you luxury handcrafted bags that don’t compromise your values.
As of today, they are the first in New Zealand to partner with AirRobe, merging new circular economy tech with e-commerce. This offers Kiwi shoppers the opportunity to be part of a solution that’s good for the planet and their purses!
We sat down with partners Danny (CEO) and Emily (COO) to chat about the launch of My Circular Wardrobe, their new Autumn release, and what they like to do when they are not working hard.
Duffle&Co is the first in Aotearoa to partner with AirRobe, a new circular economy site that tackles fashion waste through tech innovation.
What is Duffle&Co’s My Circular Wardrobe all about and how does it work?
Emily: So, you visit the Duffle&Co website and you see a bag that you absolutely love. At the cart, you’ll have an option to select “Add to my Circular Wardrobe”. Once you purchase that bag, you get directed to AirRobe’s site where all of the product information, photos, the RRP (recommended retail price) gets saved onto that platform. All you have to do is fill in your details and you can then rent or resell your bags when you’re ready!
Danny: We love this concept because it makes slow fashion a bit more accessible and affordable for everyone. Luxury items are an investment that not everyone can make. But AirRobe lets you view the estimated resale value so if you purchase something for $500, you might be able to sell it for $300 six months later, which offers you more value for money. AirRobe also tells you how much carbon, water and textile waste you’re offsetting just by renting or shopping pre-owned pieces.
Select “Add to my circular wardrobe” when you shop with Duffle&Co to extend the life of your purchase!
How can My Circular Wardrobe benefit both consumers and businesses?
Emily: When you put as much love into your products as we do with our bags, you don’t want to see them go to a landfill. But people do get bored with their clothes and accessories - which is totally fine! At least now they can give it to someone else who’s going to love it while earning money from it.
Danny: Yeah, going circular has always been one of our goals at Duffle&Co. While that might not be a goal for every brand, having a circular wardrobe is a great way to add an element of sustainability to your business. By reducing the lifetime cost of each product, it could potentially increase your sales as well. And that adds an element of trust and brand loyalty which brands need now more than ever.
The Zahra in Vintage Tan is the first release of Duffle&Co’s new collection 'Autumn Garden - The Beginning'.
My Circular Wardrobe coincides with the release of your new Autumn collection, “Autumn Garden - The Beginning”. What was the inspiration behind this release?
Emily: Have you ever been to Arrowtown during autumn? It’s so beautiful because it’s surrounded by trees in a valley so you can actually see the leaves changing to these rich shades of autumn. It makes me want to curl up with a warm chai latte! So when it came time for us to design our Autumn release, I was really excited to explore this new style of The Zahra Crossbody in vintage tan colour. It’s a piece that ages so beautifully and goes with anything because of its natural colour. Unlike Fairtrade and Fair Trade, fairly traded is an unregulated term. Brands use this general term to refer to ethical trade, the fair trade movement, or any trading based on the principle of being 'fair' to producers.
Danny: It’s also made from this amazing full-grain leather which is some of the best leather you can get. We use leather offcuts discarded by factories in Indonesia and hand cut around any defects so it still looks brand new but has this awesome texture to it.
Duffle&Co works with naturally derived sustainable materials like pineapple leather to bring you luxury handcrafted bags.
At fair&good, we love connecting our community to the people who make their products. Could you tell us a bit about your artisans?
Danny: In 2015, I decided to move to Bali and a few weeks in, I met this 16-year-old boy selling bags at the side of the road. I thought they were really well made and he told me their “workshop” was just around the corner - we got there, and it was actually a house. That’s where I met Sundari, our workshop manager, who cooked up a nasi goreng (fried rice) as we sat eating on the floor. We couldn’t speak the same language or communicate much but there was a sort of mutual understanding between us and we’ve been working together ever since. When I first met Sundari and Gito (our head craftsman), all they wanted was to be able to afford a proper education for their two girls. And seeing that actually happen has been magical for all of us.
Emily: I think a lot of us view Bali as this beautiful, glamorous place but behind that, there’s a lot of poverty on the island. Our artisans have lived there all their lives but haven’t experienced it as a tourist - they haven’t seen waterfalls or visited cafes. So every year when we visit Bali, we organise a little tour so they can explore their backyard. We once took one of our craftsmen to a cocktail bar and he was blown away by the whole process! So we definitely have a very close connection to them..it’s more like a family, really. Each of our craftsmen even have a favourite piece so we let them pioneer that bag and hand sign it to acknowledge their amazing work.
It was meeting Sundari & Gito that solidified the beginnings of Duffle&Co.
As a couple in business, what’s your favourite thing to do together when you’re not working hard on Duffle&Co?
Emily: Great question! We try to keep our weekends free to spend time in nature because it’s therapeutic for us. So we try to do some surfing or go on lots of walks. We also meditate every morning, and maybe do a bit of yoga.
Danny: We’ve just moved to Mt Maunganui, so we might go on day trips to Rotorua, Raglan, or Auckland. Or have a barbeque with friends occasionally. Work-life balance is really important to us because we don’t work nine to five every day. Sometimes if we’re launching something big then we do end up working some weird hours, but I suppose it depends on the day.
Danny and his partner Emily now run Duffle&Co and absolutely love it!
What gets you up in the morning?
Emily: Honestly, just being able to do a job that doesn’t feel like a job is pretty exciting. Before I started at Duffle&Co, I had just got out of working in corporate because I felt like another number and it didn’t feel like I was making a real difference. But this doesn’t feel like work - I genuinely enjoy what I do every day which I know sounds cheesy but is true. Oh and also, coffee!
Danny: For me, if the surf report is good and I can have a morning surf, that gets me up! But in terms of work, I’m definitely excited about the future of Duffle&Co and what we can achieve. We love that our products can reverse environmental effects and help people. I’ve got all these different ideas about new sustainable materials that we could work with and we’ve even got some new Piñatex (pineapple leather) technology coming out soon so that really motivates me.
What are you both reading right now?
Danny: I recently finished Atomic Habits by James Clear but I do tend to get a bit too-goal oriented and focus too much on self-development. So I’ve been reading Kingdom of the Golden Dragon by Isabel Allende which has been amazing. It takes place in a fictional Himalayan country, and it describes an incredible journey. I think these types of books are really important for honing our creativity while still having a powerful message.
Emily: I’m currently reading The Valkyries by Paulo Coelho, which my sister recommended to me during Christmas. These fictional stories are really great for helping you wind down from the hectic day-to-day. But they are also filled with heaps of deep life lessons that make you reflect and think, my god there’s a different way to live my life!
Duffle&Co’s new Autumn release is available for pre-order now.
Learn more about AirRobe here.
