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If there’s one trend in the fashion and gear industry that won’t be going away anytime soon, it’s making goods out of recycled plastic. You’ve no doubt come across it in the past few months — especially the phrase “made from plastic bottles.” Everlane has been spearheading this initiative in clothing with its ReNew collection, and we’ve loved the outcome so far, especially the inside-out styled sweatshirt.
This week, Everlane started to branch out of recycled garments and into gear, with the new ReNew Transit Backpack. In keeping with the brand’s minimalist aesthetic, you’re not going to get any compliments on the design, but the colors are spot-on as ever (black, grey, “warm charcoal” and “warm quartz”).
The “Transit” label is applied here because Everlane wants it to be your new carry-on bag of choice. To make it flight-friendly (specifically TSA-friendly), the brand added features like an exterior laptop pocket so you don’t have to dig to pull it onto the conveyor belt, as well as a pass-through strap so it easily hooks to rolling luggage. A strap? That’s it? Yeah, the features here are decidedly simple, but many travelers have experienced the frustration of shelling out for a high-tech bag that doesn’t work well under security-line pressure, so Everlane is trying to fix that.
As for the recycled aspect of the ReNew Transit Backpack, Everlane mirrors other brands in listing up top that the bag is “100% Recycled Polyester.” But like other brands, that’s not entirely true. When companies say that, they usually mean the main fabric is recycled, but the other bits like zippers and buttons are not. Everlane is better than most, citing that some of the zipper pulls are, in fact, recycled polyester. They admit that there is new plastic being made for the zipper teeth — but the brand is on track to eliminate all new plastic by 2021.
This is the best they can offer for now, and their best is much better than a lot of other brands, at least in terms of new plastic production.
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