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Sustainable fashion:
How to create
a sustainable backpack
by cleaning up the ocean
with Benny Mandos
(Got Bag)
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Benny’s company is not just another backpack brand. They have for mission to clean up the oceans and they get their hands dirty: with their team and a network of 1500 fishermen they collect and recycle plastics from the ocean in Indonesia and turn these pieces into various sustainable fashion products.
Started in 2014, Got Bag has now more than 30’000 customers.
During this episode, we discussed Benny’s challenges and what he has learned on the way. Among others you will learn:
- how Benny and his cofounder started Got Bag beside his full-time job,
- how they manage to grow a profitable company and to fund it without investors
- how they organize the clean-up in Indonesia and their holistic approach to not only recycle PET but other types of waste in the ocean
- how they found and selected their partners all along the supply chain to make it as sustainable as possible
- how important certification and transparency of their supply chain are important for their team and their customers
- how he organized their Kickstarter campaign (and his pre-sales) before he quit his job
Finally, from his entrepreneurship experience, Benny shared with us 5 Do’s and 3 Don’ts about how to create a sustainable fashion accessory.
If you are interested in entrepreneurship, sustainable fashion, and you are passionate about our ocean, this episode is definitely for you!
The link to: Got Bag
The resources mentioned in this episode:
- The partner that certifies plastic recycling for Got Bag: CleanHub
- Benny’s recommendations
- books:
- Blogs / influencers:
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Why I (really) created this podcast
We are at a critical period for our planet and its inhabitants, and entrepreneurs and companies are going to play a massive influence on our future.
As always, there are two sides who can pull us in opposite directions.
On one side, there are entrepreneurs who chase and base their decisions on money, success, and fame.
On the other side, I believe there are entrepreneurs who truly care about making a positive difference on this world. Money is a mean and not an end to these entrepreneurs: they care about their Mission First, and their goal is not fame nor a quick exit for the sake of it. I call them Entrepreneurs for Future.
I want to do my best to support these Entrepreneurs for future.
On one hand, I do that with my company GT Impact, with which I help mission-driven companies scale up with digital marketing and growth hacking.
On the other hand, I wanted to start this podcast because I believe the best way to learn is by getting advice from those who have already done what we want to achieve.
Finally, maybe a secret reason for me to create this podcast: because it is a real pleasure and inspiration to meet and learn from these entrepreneurs.
I have indeed been an entrepreneur myself since I am a teenager, always launching projects based on my passions.
Music, for example, has guided me through my whole life. At 20 I started a non-profit organization to run techno music festivals in Belgium, where I was djing myself, then a few years ago I co-founded my first startup in Berlin, a music tech startup called Feelthebeat (Soundbrenner now). Currently I still do music with my indie folk pop band Lapwings.
Preserving nature and its wild animals have also always been one of my passions: I have been mesmerized by the beauty of the wild orang-utans I have followed in Sumatra, or by the wild dolphins I had the chance to swim with in the Golf of Mexico.
As an entrepreneur, I have bigger plans for GT Impact than “just” making it a great digital marketing agency for mission-driven startups, and secretly, this podcast helps me to learn and prepare the future…but shhh, that will be for another episode 😉
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