“Bringing real chances to communities from a business perspective”

Interview Siem Haffmans (aka Ragbag)

Congratulations with the Business Challenge prize. What kind of achievement is the prize recognizing?

The prize recognizes the work we are doing with people in developing countries, bringing real chances to help this communities from a business perspective. The advantage for us was that we already had a market presence and also spent time building the brand. There is a good story behind it; I don’t think we can save the world by recycling some plastics because there are a lot of plastics, and there are a lot of people. But you can do a step in cooperation. And that is the story; it influences a lot of people.

You believe that products are carriers of stories?

It should be a good product first, and then you can tell the story behind it. I like to communicate.

Ragbag works with in partnership with and Indian organization, how did you discovered the products, and what role does each party play?

I met a group of people working with recycled plastic about three years ago, when I attended an ecodesign symposium in New Deli and we started a cooperation agreement. They invented the material, and also seek to do production in a clean and fair way with proper wages. On the other hand, I bring the design, the label, and branding which is important, otherwise the product is anonymous. It is a good cooperation from which we learn from each other.

Your product has the essence in the plastic “rag-pickers”, what is the process behind the Ragbag products?

The rag-pickers represent a large group of people in India that walk around the street collecting all kinds of plastic bags. This material is brought to the outskirts of Deli. In this area there are many small businesses which buy what the rag-pickers collect. Relationships are important here, where people know each other. Bigger buyers acquire according to quality, color, and transparency of the material. There is a big system organized in which thousands of people are involved.

Bags are sorted by color, washed and dried in the sun. Afterwards they are pressed in a machine and patterns are created. This process involves 180 people which also have their own brand.

Your first product is a collection of organizers, and this year you launched a bag designed by Ellen Sillekens. What can we expect from Ragbag in the upcoming future?

I met Ellen while teaching, she already had experience in designing bags. I asked her to design a bag for young people to go around with in the streets of the city. We selected six colors for the first series.
We are now working on new designs like a backpack and a wallet that may be available at the beginning of next year.

What is the target group of your products?

We make fashionable products, so you would expect to attract young groups of consumers. But I don’t believe so much in target groups because when you design you may attract the interest of different people. As an example, after some of Ragbag products were shown in a magazine, I received an enquiry from a 70 year old lady asking where she could buy our organizers because she liked the story very much. This shows that you may plan to appeal certain groups, but other people may also be interested.

How do you see the issue of fair trade?

Fair trade was a sort of a niche, were people were buying fair trade products in special shops, and now it seems that it is getting into main stream markets. I did some projects with fair trade organizations, and in the case of Ragbag I decided to target mainstream selling points.

Your product tackles 2 sustainability issues at the same time. On one hand it recycles a waste material. On the other hand you are giving economical means to a less wealthy group of people. Which of the aspects is more important for you?

When you realize that it is possible to improve the chances of people, it is an important thing besides saving some thousands of kilos of plastic by recycling. The social element comes first for me.