At a Flatiron District leather factory that has been producing handcrafted goods for decades, an innovative, passionate project aimed at combating New York City’s plastic crisis is growing by the day. With Anybag, founder Alex Dabagh is creating his own place in the fashion industry and revolutionizing textile production by reusing single-use plastic.
Amid a series of alleged sustainability initiatives and greenwashing marketing, Anybag claims to produce fully recycled tote bags and accessories using a pure zero-waste model. By collecting plastic bags from a range of second-hand sources, Dabagh aims to combat both the city’s plastic waste sourcing and the environmental impact of fashion in his family-run, multi-generational factory.
When it comes to the types of plastics that get a new life at Anybag, Dabagh doesn’t discriminate: polybags, foil packaging, water bottle covers, bread bags, food carriers and hygiene product packaging can be woven into a completely new textile.
A look into the New York plastic world
According to the city’s Cleaning Department, more than 20,000 tons of plastic tableware are thrown away every year, polluting waterways, filling landfills and creating street litter. This pollution, coupled with the polluting state of the fashion industry, made Dabagh question his role in it all. “There are 8.5 million people living here in New York City, and I thought, ‘Where does the trash go?'”
Dabagh’s reflections led him to take the family business in a new direction, even though he was met with incomprehension from his employees and his father, who founded the main company, Park Avenue International, in 1982. “I saw a different opportunity and vision,” Dabagh said. “Let’s take plastic and see what we can do with it. If we can weave leather, why can’t we do the same with plastic?”
Anybag’s beginnings
In US early education, students are taught the three ‘R’s: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle; environmental slogans coined in the 1970s to combat increasing waste. This widely used concept was accepted as an individualistic solution to climate change, which is now known to have little impact on the plastic crisis due to the challenges of mixed recycling. So Dabagh, armed with his leathersmith skills and innate ingenuity, launched Anybag in 2020.
After sourcing a number of plastics from his inner circle, Dabagh partnered with more than a dozen local schools to source the desired material. This type of partnership would become one of the company’s many pillars, as Dabagh relies on other people’s waste to fulfill its mission.
Waste becomes added value
Amid spinning machines and collected plastic, making Anybags isn’t much different from making leather in a factory. “Making the bag is the easy part,” says Dabagh about the creation process.
From gluing to folding to heat sealing, there are multiple steps to creating a novel plastic textile, many of which were discovered through trial and error. “All the effort goes into making the textile,” says Dabagh, as the team can currently only make 16 bags per day. With a price range of $38 to $248 per bag, each Anybag is handcrafted and made to last. Although an unconventional material is used, the luxurious price is reflected in the expertise behind it.
In addition to Dabagh himself, Anybag employees are New York City-based artisans with four decades of experience making leather goods that typically sell to Park Avenue International’s clientele for up to $4,000. “We’re here in the heart of Manhattan, and what we do isn’t cheap,” says Dabagh. “The craftsmanship is no different… What we do with the plastic and the trash is regenerate it, reprocess it and give it a more expensive look and feel.”
In addition to redesigning the external plastic waste brought into the factory, Dabagh is looking for ways to reuse the internal waste, which accounts for about 10 percent of the scraps and selvages that do not enter the Anybag due to design limitations. The “waste of waste” can become a wallet or passport holder to further advance the circular economy.
Design for a lifetime
Each Anybag features a completely random design as they are made from different plastics, telling the story of their place of origin in New York City. The current core models – Classic, Mini, Weekender – have all been designed with an intuitive focus on utility, as tote bags are a staple of the urban wardrobe.
Dabagh intentionally avoided overloading the Anybag, instead focusing on the story it can tell. Because any damaged bag can be returned to the brand for restoration, Dabagh is committed to the mission of creating a more sustainable future. “To be sustainable you have to use what is there and not create something new; you have to take advantage of what we are sinking into.”
The business model
According to Dabagh, there are three elements of the company that keep it afloat: the direct sale of the Anybag product to consumers, a service for analyzing key figures and data and thus offsetting the customers’ plastic consumption for the shareholders, and the potential sale of fabric to the customers themselves.
Collaborations have always been an important part of Anybag’s history. At the beginning of June this year, Anybag teamed up with Madewell to produce two upcycled bags exclusively for the retailer. This latest collaboration is part of an extensive portfolio that already includes Adidas and Kora Organics, Miranda Kerr’s beauty brand.
“There is no profit margin. Right now it’s all about visibility,” says Dabagh. Since the relatively new company is still in its infancy, the real profit will only come when Dabagh masters the automation of the production process.
In addition to consumer-facing production, Anybag also produces customized bags for internal business processes to eliminate the need for plastic. Through a partnership with Ralph Lauren, the brand has removed all plastic from the US brand’s New York offices and transformed it into the durable Weekender and Classic bags, designed for carrying clothing samples and various administrative tasks.
Dabagh hopes to offer similar services to all types of businesses, from grocery chains to designer brands. For him, the cost is ultimately worth the longevity of the product, and avoiding new plastic usage is paramount.
From corporate collection to mass recycling, Dabagh urges companies to develop new ideas for waste recycling. Overall, he wants to “revolutionize the way the fashion industry disposes of all the textiles that come out of the factories; we want to reuse them instead of sending them to a landfill.”
The future of Anybag
Anybag is on the verge of long-awaited growth; a move to Brooklyn is underway. This change in location will increase capacity, scalability, space and the amount of plastic that can be converted into bags and marks the evolution that Dabagh is preparing for – more product means more impact as “the setup of the factory and the Building the community, everyone comes back to Anybag”.
In addition to plans for a larger factory, Dabagh also wants to expand into other categories, from ready-to-wear to home decor. The expansion of the textiles themselves is also in the works. “It’s no longer just about plastic, but about all the textiles and fabrics that we can regenerate,” says Dabagh, who has discovered that his process allows him to use anything from surplus fabrics to parachute material to make new items create.
“Others see waste, I see an opportunity,” says Dabagh. Since plastic is often doomed to become waste, Dabagh makes heirlooms out of it, and he will continue to find ways to do so.
This article originally appeared on FashionUnited.uk. Translated and edited by Simone Preuss.