Red diamond Shwe Shwe

All of our bags are made from recycled cargo strapping. The cargo strapping we use to make each Bundubag, is made from PET.

PET stands for polyethylene terephthalate, a plastic resin and a form of polyester. PET is the type of plastic labeled with the #1 code on or near the bottom of bottles and containers and is commonly used to carry soft drinks, water, juice, peanut butter, salad dressings, oil, cosmetics and household cleaners. Manufacturers use PET plastic to package products because of its strength, thermo-stability and transparency. Customers choose PET because it is inexpensive, lightweight, resealable, shatter-resistant and recyclable. After consumer recyclables have been collected and sorted by type at recycling centres , PET products are crushed , pressed into bales , shredded , and refined into PET flakes .

These flakes are then cleaned and bleached and transformed into the raw materials that innovative companies turn into new products. One of the products is cargo strapping, which is spun into long strips. One of our beach bags for examples, uses the equivalent of 6 to 8 pieces of 1.5L PET bottle , so more PET recycled bags means less waste in our daily life .

Bundubags were recently used in a photo shoot in Cape Town, South Africa. We love how our bags have been captured and the authentic, urban, vintage quality of the shots provides the perfect compliment to the bags. See More shots.

Our new range of beach bags are ready to be shipped across the world, destined for beaches from Bondai to Laguna. We hadn’t made up a blue & white or an all white bag before, and we are completely stoked. The white bags work with all of the vibrant Shwe Shwe fabrics we have in our range making it easily the most versatile and stylish.

Red diamond Shwe Shwe

‘Shweshwe.’ Say it again. ‘Shweshwe.’ Feels good on the tongue, doesn’t it? Sounds good, too.

And that’s what you hear when Xhosa ladies go by in their traditional dresses.

The formal name for shweshwe (also sometimes written shwe shwe) is ‘Indigo-dyed discharge printed fabric’. Shwe Shwe fabric is a 100% cotton fabric manufactured in the traditional way using copper rollers which have patterns etched on the surface, allowing the transfer of a weak discharge solution onto the fabric. The process has remained the same since the 19th century.

Historians claim that indigo cloth arrived in Africa nearly more than 2000 years ago, used as trade goods by the Arabs and Indians.

But it really took off in South Africa when German settlers introduced it to the Xhosa people in the mid-1800s.

Shweshwe is a stiff cotton fabric that initially came from India and was heavily starched to fight off the damp in the ships’ storage compartments as it crossed the ocean to the Eastern Cape.

Xhosa women took a look at these wondrous bolts of cloth, fell in love with the shweshwe fabric and made it their own.
More recently, Shwe Shwe fabric has been taken to new heights in terms of patterns and colours and we love these fabrics as the inner lining for each of our bags.

 We use recycled cargo strapping to make our bags, not just because it is eco conscious, but because it is stronger than steel, completely waterproof, lightweight, flexible and can be weaved. Using traditional African basket weaving skills, strips of colourful strapping are hand woven to create our innovative range handbags. For ordinary cargo strapping this means a new life. Now, instead of strapping large boxes and cargo containers, thousands of metres are queing up in our storeroom, eagerly awaiting their extreme make over into official Bundubags.

Once we have have our basic shaped hand bag they are hand stitched with nylon gut and finally lined with our exclusive range of vibrant Shwe Shwe fabric.

We are loving our new range of Messenger Bags. They are super funky and perfect for stashing your stuff whether you’re a student, skater, cyclist or surfer. Lightweight, waterproof and super strong, each bag also has a 5″ foam padded, adjustable shoulder strap for max comfort. The oversized, double magnetic clip flap will keep your gadgets and goods dry and safe. Each bag is lined with our exclusive range of Shwe Shwe print fabrics. Choose from a combination of weaves and fabric lining.

Everyday we are faced with choices we can make that will directly empower and uplift someone elses life. It doesn’t have to be huge, it just requires us to be more conscious when we make a purchase. We really can do our small bit to making the world just a little bit better. We didn’t set out on this mission to become just another bag company. We know there are a billion bags out there for you to choose from. Neither did we setout to create a charity. Pitty purchases are not our thing. Everyone knows the challenges that Africa faces, none more than the ladies that make Bundubags possible. We wanted to create a range of bags that captured the spirit and ingenious resourcefulness of the African people and at the same time enable them, especially women, to create sustainable lives for themselves and their communities.