The two founders of GOT BAG have been closely connected to the sea since childhood and wanted to actively do something to ensure that less plastic ends up in the oceans. Of course, a rucksack fits symbolically well, because it stands for the fact that we all have to shoulder the great task of preserving the water quality for the future of flora and fauna.

In fact, the idea came about rather accidentally. Above all, it made sense for the two of them because a backpack is ideally a particularly durable, robust and easy-care product. In the meantime, the employees and the GOT BAG customers are not only convinced of the original idea, but also of the functional backpacks with their minimalist, timeless design. The ROLLTOP has established itself as the ideal all-rounder.

We want to help rid the oceans of plastic waste. That's why we collect plastic in all shapes and types in our clean-up program, instead of just the easily recyclable parts - such as PET bottles. We have set up our own clean-up program in Indonesia, where fishermen, collectors and friendly organizations actively collect plastic from the sea and the environment. This includes mangrove regions as well as coastal areas such as delta regions with their rivers and coastal waters. By collecting plastic on land and in fishing villages, we prevent it from entering the sea in the first place and, starting from the coast, we can open up ever larger areas with our collection points.

By giving local people a direct opportunity to recycle and by creating basic structures for waste management, we take preventive action against the long-term threat to the sea from improperly disposed of plastic waste. In this way we create concrete added value: Beaches become cleaner, waste becomes recyclable and the environmental awareness of everyone involved changes for the better. Last but not least, we are in close contact with the local authorities, who support our work and work with us to find long-term solutions for waste reduction and disposal.

Above all, our work shows how companies can use recycled material to manufacture high-quality products and make a contribution to improving our environmental situation. It is a start that will hopefully contribute to political and social change and encourage many consumers to get involved. In order to achieve this rethinking, we need many actors such as politicians, legislators, NGOs and many people who are aware of the challenge and who are taking the necessary steps.

We are convinced that sustainable development and an innovative, strong economy are mutually dependent. We use our reach as a platform to find fellow campaigners for our mission. Although our approach cannot of course eliminate the gigantic amounts of plastic waste that already lie on the seabed and every clean-up project seems tiny in relation to the millions of tons that end up in the sea every year, every plastic cup and bottle collected represents an opportunity for us to preserve maritime life and habitats.

Research on the subject of marine plastic and ocean impact plastic is just beginning - and at the same time our work and the technical progress of production are progressing steadily. The structure of our clean-up program is also based on scientific knowledge such as that of oceanologist Erik Van Sebille, who documents movements of marine plastic over a longer period of time. Among other things, he shows that it moves near the coast, circulates from beach to beach and from mangrove to mangrove and in these different stages equally threatens the sea: http://erik.vansebille.com.

We classify general statements on the profitability of recycled plastic as difficult, since both science and organizations active in this area are still at the very beginning with their findings and are constantly developing themselves and their work. In our case, of course, a lot depends on local conditions and fluctuating influencing factors such as weather, season and the social situation. Based on experience, we would agree that for large productions that require constant quality, it should be a challenge to supply the value chain purely with marine plastic.

When processing the Ocean Impact Plastics, we therefore calculate with a fluctuating quality of the yarn and thus a higher failure rate. We deliberately refrain from using additives such as new plastics or chemical additives to change the mechanical qualities of the recycled plastic. Instead, we clean the plastic very thoroughly, pre-sort it and continuously optimize process parameters so that the quality of the yarn remains as constant as possible. Nevertheless, we can of course not completely prevent the textile for our products from being slightly different and showing small defects in the material structure.

Our GOT BAG main location is in Mainz, in the southwest of Germany. In mid-2020 we founded another location to open up the North American market. Our office there is in Portland, Oregon with two branch offices in Denver, Colorado and Toronto, Ontario.

Even if we do not (yet) have our own stores, the products can be viewed and purchased from one of the official trading partners. For exact locations, go to the store locator.

A life cycle assessment (LCA) can be used to record the environmental impact of a product, such as all greenhouse gases emitted from raw material extraction to disposal. It not only serves as transparent information for consumers but also forms the basis for measures to strategically minimize a company's environmental impact. We wanted to know the impact of the new black ROLLTOP 2.0 and how this would compare if we produced it entirely without recycled material, using only virgin plastics. To achieve this, we collaborated with ConClimate GmbH on such an assessment, based on ISO 14044. Thanks to the savings at the material level, the overall impact of our ROLLTOP 2.0 is significantly lower, by approximately 22%, than that of the hypothetical backpack without any recycled content. More information about the results can be found here on our blog.

All of our current collaborations can be found here . There we also explain why we decided to work with these partners and in what form we cooperate.

In Indonesia, more than three million tons of plastic waste are generated every year.¹ Around a third of this ends up in the sea at some point. With up to 1.29 million tons of new sea plastic being added every year, it is the country after China with the most plastic entering the sea in the world.² If action is taken here, this can lead to clearly visible positive changes.

In Indonesia, we have also found partners who can process plastic into pellets in a technologically sophisticated process. We were also able to identify organizations here that produce other new items from all types of plastic that we cannot yet use to produce our products or use them to generate heat.

¹ cf.: Hotz, Robert Lee: Which countries create the most ocean trash 2015. Published in The Wall Street Journal. Available online at: https://www.wsj.com/articles/which-countries-create-the-most-ocean-trash-1423767676 [Accessed 02/22/2022].

² cf.: Jambeck et al.: Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean 2015. Published in Science Magazine. Available online at: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1260352 [accessed on 02/22/2022].

We are constantly working towards certifications to reaffirm our sustainable practices and commitment to the environment. These certifications serve as external validation of our efforts and demonstrate that we take our commitments seriously and strive for continuous improvement.

1. B Corp™ Certification
   
   As a B Corp™, we are part of a global community of companies that meet high standards for social and environmental impact. The B Corp movement strives to transform our economic system so that it has a positive impact on everyone involved – employees, communities, customers, and our planet. You can view our score here .
   
   
2. PETA-Approved Vegan

Our products are certified PETA-Approved Vegan. We are committed to not using any animals or animal products as ingredients in the manufacture and processing of our products.

Our clean-up program is located on the Indonesian island of Java in Demak, Jepara and Bantul. The region of the clean-up program lies at the mouth of several rivers that carry large amounts of plastic waste from the interior of the country to the sea, in addition to the plastic that winds and rain carry from land to sea. The plastic waste recovered there tends to be less contaminated and decomposed.

According to our definition, ocean impact plastic is plastic waste that has been improperly disposed of due to a lack of waste management systems and is therefore either already floating in the sea or is still in coastal nature and therefore poses a risk of ending up in the oceans. We collect this plastic before it further threatens nature and in particular the oceans and destroys important habitats. Since all plastic is collected manually and depends, among other things, on tides and currents in the region of the clean-up program, the composition of the Ocean Impact Plastic varies.

Ocean Impact Plastic thus consists of plastic directly from the sea including the mangrove regions as well as from coastal areas and villages. We mainly collect the latter in the delta region of the local rivers and coastal waters. Since most of the local people do not have access to a functioning waste management system, they can also hand in their plastic waste directly to our collection points.

With our clean-up program in Indonesia in 2018, we became the world's first backpack manufacturer to actively collect and process plastic from the sea. As a result of our clean-up experiences on site and current surveys, we see at least as much leverage against plastic in the sea in preventing improperly disposed of plastic waste from the outset.

By giving local people a direct opportunity to recycle and by creating basic structures for waste management, we take preventive action against the long-term threat to the ocean from improperly disposed of plastic waste. In this way we create concrete added value: Beaches become cleaner, waste becomes recyclable and the environmental awareness of everyone involved changes for the better. Last but not least, we are in close contact with the local authorities, who support our work and work with us to find long-term solutions for waste reduction and disposal.

The total amount of Ocean Impact Plastic we have collected so far is tracked live on our website. Together with the Berlin-based startup " Cleanhub, " we are documenting the performance of the clean-up program in Indonesia to provide transparency regarding the amount and composition of the collected plastic and to promptly disclose its exact origin. This collaboration also allows third-party companies to offset their plastic consumption and thus indirectly participate in the clean-up effort. To date, we have collected and recycled over 1,000 tons of Ocean Impact Plastic.

PET (e.g. plastic bottles): 10 –15% - usable for the yarn of our products

PP (e.g. packaging film): almost 5%

HDPE (e.g. plastic bags): significantly less than 5% - but difficult to identify

LDPE/LLDPE (e.g. plastic bags): 15 –20%

Mixed: around 55% (foil and plastic bag remnants, various types of polyethylene, polycarbonate, polystyrene, polypropylene and containers without labeling and around 20% composite materials alone - such as sachets for shampoo or ketchup - which are particularly difficult to recycle due to the aluminum coating)

Buckets and pipes: about 5% (probably PVC, but again without labeling)

The core of our corporate philosophy is to address the plastic problem holistically: We provide individual recycling solutions for all types of plastic collected at our collection points. That's why, right from the start, we looked for innovative ways to not only recycle valuable PET, but all other materials as well. We were able to realize our project in Indonesia because we quickly found partners here who can process plastic into pellets in a technologically sophisticated process. We were also able to identify customers here who produce other new items from all types of plastic that cannot be used for the production of our products or who use them to generate energy.

We sell materials made of PP, HDPE, LDPE, PS and PVC to local companies who recycle them mechanically. They process them into so-called secondary raw materials before they can be incorporated into other, new products.

Composite materials make up a large part of the so-called residues, which are particularly difficult to recycle due to coatings and adhesives. So far we have therefore used them as fuel to generate energy from them – as an alternative to burning fossil fuels.

To make the yarn in our products, we recycle PET plastics, which make up around 10-15% of Ocean Impact Plastics collected. We have also been able to find buyers for the other types of plastic who use them for new products or to generate heat. However, this is a special challenge, especially for composite materials, i.e. mixtures that contain coatings or adhesives. According to our current state of knowledge, the so-called "residual materials" can only be stored or used to generate heat and energy - here they serve as an alternative to fossil fuels.

To this end, we are cooperating with the Berlin start-up Cleanhub and giving the residues of our Ocean Impact Plastics to Indocement, a subsidiary of the German Heidelberg Cement AG. This means that foil and plastic bag residues, sachets for shampoo or ketchup and other composite materials that cannot currently be processed into other products due to their aluminum coating, for example, are used for energy generation. Cleanhub, in turn, sells certificates to third-party companies, which use them to finance thermal recycling with indocement and offset their plastic consumption. In return, Cleanhub supports us by accurately documenting the amount of recovered plastic, making our clean-up performance transparent.

Our partner organization and foundation GOT BAG Indonesia coordinates all our plastic collection activities in Indonesia. The plastic waste is sorted, processed and pressed in our own on-site warehouse. All recyclable types of plastic are sent to GOT BAG Indonesia's recycling partners in the region. In addition, the foundation coordinates educational projects and educates schools about the effects of plastic waste on nature. We are in daily contact with the six permanent employees of GOT BAG Indonesia. Our clean-up managers are also on site several times a year to personally exchange ideas with our Indonesian team and to plan further projects.

Our products symbolize clean oceans and the responsible use of plastic. That is why we not only collect the Ocean Impact Plastic, which is recycled for the production of the travel and everyday companions, but also provide the most suitable recycling solutions for the plastics that cannot be used. Together with our customers, we ensure that they do not end up in the sea (again).

With the aim of a circular economy, our backpacks are largely made from recycled materials and are particularly robust. We follow a timeless, minimalist design language. In addition to our two-year guarantee, we offer you a spare parts service. We also take back GOT BAGs and exchange them if the functionality can no longer be guaranteed. We are already testing a sewing service for some cases and assume that we will also be able to offer a welding service in the near future. In this way we want to guarantee every GOT BAG as long a life as possible.

We want to raise awareness – both with our clean-up program and working with local authorities in Indonesia, but also by encouraging thought and wanting to make a difference together. Create an Impact.

Yes, our products are officially certified PETA-Approved Vegan. We are committed to not using any animals or animal products as ingredients in the manufacture and processing of our products.

In addition to the textile made of Ocean Impact Plastic, we mainly use recycled plastics for the production of the bags and backpacks. For some elements of the upholstery, we have not yet been able to find alternatives made from recycled materials that meet our quality and ecological standards. We are currently still buying these from the factory, but together with local partners we are looking for alternatives made from recycled plastic. In addition to the parts we make from Ocean Impact Plastic, we currently primarily use the following ingredients for our bags and backpacks:

Mesh Fabric - rPET & PET (Recycled Polyester & Polyester)

Padding (depending on model) – PE (polyethylene), EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate) or PU (polyurethane)

Straps - rPET (Recycled Polyester)

We make all the yarn for our GOT BAGs from Ocean Impact Plastic. The proportion of the total product varies depending on the model. This is due to the other "ingredients" such as buckles, zippers, straps and foam for padding. Depending on the design, these parts weigh a relatively large amount. You can find the exact weight percentage of the product in this table or on the corresponding product page in the shop.

We choose recycled polyester (rPET) for these parts where possible, but we are working to make or have these “ingredients” made from Ocean Impact Plastic as well. Since our specialty is above all the production of the yarn, we look for partners and work on it.

Our clean-up program doesn't differentiate between various types of plastic. Our holistic approach encompasses the collection of all plastics, regardless of whether they are recyclable or not. We've created the term "Ocean Impact Plastic" to describe our comprehensive collection concept. We've trademarked this term in Europe to prevent misuse. Are you part of a company interested in partnering with Ocean Impact Plastic collection or recycling? Feel free to send us an inquiry to hello@got-bag.com .

Yes, unfortunately that's possible. Especially with light-colored products, it can happen that dark or intensely colored clothing (e.g., new jeans, dark leather jackets, or other textiles with low colorfastness) transfers color pigments to the material of your product. This then manifests as discoloration or abrasion on the surface of the product.

Why does this happen?
Dyes that give textiles their color consist of tiny chemical molecules. These molecules are designed to bind to the fibers of the clothing. However, the strength of these bonds varies depending on the type of dye. Indigo dyes (denim), for example, have low colorfastness. It's also possible that excess (unbound) dye molecules haven't been completely washed out. Therefore, new and unwashed garments have a higher risk of color bleeding.

If such clothing comes into contact with your GOT BAG product for some time, these dye molecules can transfer from your clothing to your bag. Factors such as friction and moisture (e.g., from sweat or rain) or high temperatures can cause the dye particles to detach from the clothing more easily and quickly.

Such discoloration is not a material defect or quality flaw of your product. It is a characteristic of the garment itself.
We therefore recommend being careful when handling new textiles, especially light-colored bags.

Should such discoloration occur, try carefully removing the stains with a damp cloth and mild soapy water. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our Customer Happiness Team .

Since all of our products are made from recycled materials, small deviations in structure and color can occur again and again. This is not a sign of poor quality, just the result of using recycled Ocean Impact Plastic for production. Nevertheless, it is of course our aim to produce a flawless product and we are working flat out to correct small defects in the material structure. Unevenness can be touched up at home with a damp microfiber cloth.

All GOT BAGs are made from an extremely robust 600D recycled polyester yarn woven from 100% ocean impact plastic. All fabrics are waterproofed on the inside with PU or TPU and additionally water- and dirt-repellent on the outside thanks to a PU coating or DWR (Durable Water Repellency) finish. All materials used are PVC- and PFC-free. We process our fabric into products using two different techniques:

All ROLLTOPS and WEEKENDERs are custom-made from a TPU- and PU-coated material using high-frequency welding. This welding process creates seams that are waterproof and have the same tear resistance as the fabric. This makes the entire product extremely robust, and all seams are waterproof. The fabric has a water column rating of over 20,000 mm. The contents are therefore protected from rain and other weather conditions – provided the opening is tightly rolled and closed. Our ROLLTOP 2.0 and ROLLTOP LITE 2.0 have been laboratory tested and are IP54 certified: protected against dust and water spray from all directions. Click here for the certificate .

All other products, such as daypacks and hip bags, are sewn using specialized sewing machines. The material is PU-coated on the back and treated with a DWR (Durable Water Repellency) finish on the front. The water column rating is at least 1,500 mm. Thanks to the DWR treatment, our products in this line are permanently water-repellent. Rain is repelled by the PU coating, but in heavy weather, it could penetrate through the seams. Light rain, short showers, or splashes, however, generally do not damage the inside of the products.

In order not to put too much strain on the coating of the products, the backpacks must not be cleaned in the washing machine. Instead, it is best to simply wipe or rub them with warm water and neutral soap, a soft sponge or a microfibre cloth.

All textiles should be washed and cleaned according to the care instructions found inside the product. Products that are not properly cleaned are excluded from the two-year warranty.

The ROLLTOP backpack, which made our brand famous, is produced in China. We made this decision because of the country's expertise in textile manufacturing and China's geographical proximity to the recycling and cleaning operations in Indonesia. Furthermore, producers located there possess the specific know-how to treat textiles with a PVC- and PVC-free coating or impregnation, making our products water- and weather-resistant. Production takes place in Quanzhou, in Fujian Province. We now also produce other products in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Since the prices for yarn fluctuate greatly and depend on the quantity purchased, we can only make very rough statements here. We also do not use any new yarn and therefore have few comparative values. However, we expect it to be around double to triple the price compared to regular polyester thread of the same size. At this point it is important to emphasize that conventional PET yarns are a highly competitive mass market, but yarns made from elaborately recycled material are still a niche market, so that the price differences are still so serious.

In addition, we always have to calculate with a fluctuating quality of the yarn and thus a higher failure rate. We deliberately refrain from using additives such as new plastics or chemical additives that change the mechanical properties of the recycled plastic.

The PET content of Ocean Impact Plastics collected for our products is processed and recycled by companies certified according to the Global Recycle Standard (GRS) . The GRS is a voluntary, international product standard that confirms that all recycled materials meet the specifications of the non-profit organization Textile Exchange and that all production steps comply with its strict social and environmental requirements.

The people working for GOT BAG in Indonesia are paid according to the amount of plastic waste they collect. To ensure their safety at work, we provide on-site training and work clothes. We are currently working on assigning ID numbers so that we can not only work with them long-term but also offer additional benefits such as insurance and school fees.

When selecting our partners in our supply chain, we pay attention to relevant certifications and standards such as BSCI, SMETA, GRS, Oeko-Tex, Fair Wear, Bluesign, ISO or TÜV.

All our suppliers are committed to complying with our Code of Conduct. This code ensures that none of our partners engage in child labor, forced labor, or discrimination.

To ensure compliance with our standards, we employ a staff member in China who regularly visits our suppliers on-site. We also regularly travel to our clean-up sites ourselves to inspect them. You can read our Code of Conduct here .

We keep the CO2 footprint of our transports as small as possible: We transport the pellets made of Ocean Impact Plastic by ship from Indonesia to China for further processing. We are still dependent on truck transport there, but we are examining more environmentally friendly alternatives. The finished goods are transported from China to Germany and the USA by ship.

We prefer to use ship and train connections that have the lowest emissions in terms of loading volume. But that takes a relatively long time. And since international logistics has been characterized by extreme conditions since the beginning of the pandemic, we are often unable to meet delivery times. In order not to be sold out for months, we have therefore transported some products by truck or air freight to Europe or the USA. Their share was always less than five percent of our procurement volume and most recently less than one percent. Through process improvement, we plan to do without it completely again soon. We also use courier services for product samples that we need during product development on site in Germany - we try to reduce this need to a minimum through digital processes.

We offer a two-year warranty on every GOT BAG order. The RE:SHELL Cabin comes with a five-year warranty.

We guarantee that your GOT BAG can be used for two years without any functional limitations. Should you discover a defect during this period, you can make a warranty claim, provided it is covered. Please submit a claim request to have your claim reviewed.

Everyone who purchased a GOT BAG from our online shop within the last two years. If you did not purchase your product from our online shop, please contact your point of sale directly.

Please log in to the complaints portal. Our Customer Happiness Team will check whether a warranty claim exists and then contact you with all further steps.

We ship exclusively to the listed countries using DHL GoGreen. Please understand that we are currently unable to ship to countries not listed. We charge a shipping fee for deliveries within the EU, which covers all costs. Depending on the country and order value, we also offer free shipping.

Shipping costs Germany (DHL GoGreen) and Austria (DPD):
Free shipping on orders over €100.
Orders under €100: €2.99 shipping costs

Shipping costs to Belgium, the Netherlands (excluding non-European territories), Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein:
Free shipping on orders over €150.
Orders under €150: €4.99 shipping costs

Shipping costs France (excluding non-European territories & islands), Italy (excluding Livigno):
Free shipping on orders over €100.
Orders under €100: €4.99 shipping costs

Shipping costs Switzerland*:
Free shipping on orders over CHF 150.
Orders under CHF 150: CHF 6.90 shipping costs

Shipping costs to Ireland, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia:
9.99 EUR shipping costs

Denmark (excluding Greenland & Faroe Islands), Sweden, Finland (excluding islands), Spain (excluding islands), Portugal (excluding islands), Greece (excluding islands): €14.99 shipping costs

Shipping costs to Norway*: 19.99 EUR

*For deliveries of goods outside the European Union, additional import duties (VAT, customs duties) and fees (customs clearance, import processing) may apply. We are not responsible for any additional import duties or fees.

We ship our products worldwide with DHL GoGreen, carbon-neutrally, in reusable and recyclable packaging made from recycled materials (excluding Austria and Switzerland). Thanks to our partner 8Returns, we also process returns carbon-neutrally. This means that we offset all transport-related CO2 emissions generated during shipping with CO2 credits. This also applies to returns. These credits support climate protection projects around the world. For more information about this and DHL GoGreen, please click here .

You can easily register your return directly through our returns portal using your order number. The purchase price, minus the return shipping fee, will be refunded to you as soon as the return is received. The return period ends 14 days after receipt of the goods.
If you have redeemed a GIFT CARD for an order, the purchase amount will also be refunded by reactivating your GIFT CARD.
A cash payout from a GIFT CARD is not possible.

If you have purchased a bundle (e.g., MOON BAG SMALL and MOON BAG LARGE in a set) and wish to return one or more bags from it, please note the following regulations:

Partial return of a bundle: If you only return part of a bundle, the bundle discount for the retained BAG will be forfeited, and you will have to pay the difference to the original individual price. This ensures that our bundle offers are used fairly and prevents abuse.

Complete return of a bundle: If you return the entire bundle, you will of course receive a full refund of the bundle price plus the original shipping costs.

The return fee is a small charge starting at €3.99 that helps us cover the costs of processing your return. You can easily return your order from within Germany and other European countries; the return fee will be automatically deducted from your refund. The fee amount varies depending on the country.

Return fee Germany and Austria: 3.99 EUR

Return fee Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and France (excluding islands): EUR 3.99

Return fee Italy (excluding Livigno), Switzerland and Ireland: EUR 4.99

Return fee for the rest of Europe (excluding islands): EUR 4.99

Once you have placed your order in our shop , it will be automatically forwarded to our shipping partners. However, if you inform us directly via hello@got-bag.com that you wish to cancel your order, we will do our best to process or cancel it.

If you want to change your shipping or billing address later, please send us a message to hello@got-bag.com . We will then change the address for you.

You are welcome to have your order sent to a Packstation. Only the packaging of the WEEKENDER and RE:SHELL CABIN is a bit too big for this. In order to avoid delays, we would therefore ask you to only order these products to a private address. In individual cases, of course, it can also happen with our product shipments that the corresponding compartment is not free and they are sent back to us. Of course, we will then send you the goods you have ordered again.

As soon as we have handed over your order to our shipping partners, you will receive an email with the tracking data for your order. Normally this takes about 2-3 working days from the moment the order is confirmed. You can find more detailed information on shipping times and availability on the respective product page in our online shop.

You can choose the payment method individually when making your purchase in our shop. When paying by invoice via KLARNA, please make sure to use the account details on your KLARNA invoice. You will receive these separately after purchase.