We at Leafling Bags for quality backpacks/bags with conscious and sustainable production and legal and transparent processes.
Local and fair manufacturing
All the Leafling Bags products are made in Hungary in Budapest county in our studio. We are a small team of two. We do all our work in house from sewing to customer service to social media and web design.
EU-made fabrics
From 2019 on we are working hard on minimizing our carbon footprint with switching to fabrics produced as close to us as possible - even if it makes fabrics more pricey. The latest Cork collection is made cork leather produced in Portugal. Our Cordura waterproof fabric is manufactured in Gremany and we purchase it form a Budapes based retailer. Our cotton and corduroy fabrics are purchased from a small retaler based in Slovakia. Our hardware and lining fabrics are purchased from a Budapest based wholesaller.
More sustainable materials
In 2019 we started working with cork leather. What is cork leather? When we think about cork we usually think of it in wine bottles or bulletin boards. However in recent years cork leather is also present in fashion. As a textile, it stands out thanks to its high-durability and a unique look, but there more to it, such as being waterproof, stain resistant, and easy to maintain. All the thing we are looking for in an every day backpack.
Our cork fabric suppliers is based in Portugal. Actually, the half of global cork comes from there. Cork leather is made of the bark of the cork trees harvested every nine years. This also means that no trees are harmed during the process of harvesting. Harvesting actually prolongs the lifespan of cork oak trees up to 300 years, not to mention harvested cork oak absorbs 3-5 times more carbon dioxide than the unharvested one. So by using cork leather, you are actually helping to decrease the air pollution.
Minimal packaging
I know it is super trendy for small business to provide fancy packahing and upon receiving our bags it might be surprising how small a package can be: we ship with Fedex for a few years now and use their Fedex Box option when shipping a maximum of 2 items. No extra space means no extra air shipped, which also means that they can count with the dimensions of our boxes and can maximize the capacity during air / ocean freights. The boxes are super strong and are made of paper only - we do add a small plastic wrapping, but unfirtunately we are unable to find compostable packaging within the EU so far but we keep looking.
Transparency
We could hide the details of our products from our competitors - but it would mean to hide the details from our community and customers, who actually deserve it. We not only say grand speeches about transparency, but do it you can get a glips of our behind the scenes work on our social media pretty much on weakly bases.
Repairs
We do repair our bags, even if the warranty runs out. We do repair our bags for a fair price in every case: a fair fee for our customers and a fair fee for our working hours of deconstructing and rebuilding a bags.
No overproduction
We do not have huge warehouses and seasonal deadstocks - though we do not work for order only. We always have a small stock from our actual bags, which is needed to have a smooth and easy shipping at online orders while giving us the possibility to have stockists, too - and when the stocks are getting really low one colour, we cut that colour in that type only.