Eleven recycled plastic bottles make a veganologie cross body bag. The material looks like leather but is in fact an alloy made of crushed plastic bottles, upcycled and repurposed.
Born in Kolkata, India and raised in Europe, 27-year-old Angana Maheswari found her calling during the Pandemic when she set up her veganologie venture. Maheshwari, a Dubai-based start-up, ships her bags all over the world from her Dubai-hub and plans to launch her line in India this monsoon.
She started looking for a cruelty-free bag when she came to her with the idea of a vegan product.
The idea was to create an environment-friendly product that would make a statement against fast fashion. Maheshwari told Business Today that the waste created by the leather industry and the amount of disposable fashion that it creates is connected to the environment problems created by the leather industry.
Maheshwari says her business is based on the premise of being cruelty-free, at a time when established fashion and accessory brands are reinventing themselves as animal-friendly. The bags are priced between Rs 4,000 and Rs 14,000 and are sold online. Her range includes handbags, wallets, and credit card cases from fully recycled, vegan materials.
She said that the material includes reclaimed fruit skins, a material I want to explore more in the future for my products.
Maheshwari defines her line of products as 100 per cent vegan, recycled, and sustainable. The base material is a recyclable zinc alloy. The brand has received important global recycled standards GRS and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals PETA certifications, affirming the brand's cruelty-free, authentically sustainable positioning.
The brand was launched immediately to a global audience. The bags manufacturing is fully recycled material, whether it is vegan leather or faux suede linings. For example, Veganologie's crossbody bags are made from 11 plastic bottles, wallets are made from 4 plastic bottles, and cardholders are made from 2 plastic bottles. The dust bags are made from 10 recycled plastic bottles, with each one made from recycled plastic bottles. The entire packaging of the company is 100 per cent recycled and fully recyclable, according to Maheshwari.