From Coffee Packaging to Bag

In my Tourists Guide to Porto I mentioned this shop called Garbags which I accidentally stumbled across, where they sell bags and other cute accessories all made from waste packaging. The products were amazing and the lady who worked in the shop told me all about the work that they do and I honestly blown away because I think that it’s such a great idea!

They have 2 shops in Portugal, in Lisbon and Porto. What happens is, is members of the public actually bring their waste to the shop and they get made into products or you can have custom pieces made with specific pieces of waste. All the pieces are handmade by a team of about 15 people in Lisbon.

They had little coin purses made from shampoo bottles, pencil cases made from tubes of toothpaste, rucksacks made from animal food packaging, laptop cases made from old advertising banners and the list is endless.

So if you didn’t know already, I signed up to not buy any new clothing for a year as a protest against fast fashion… however…. I did end up buying a bag from here. Whether or not you count this as new is personal opinion but I don’t because it’s not supporting the fast fashion industry and it’s made from recycled packaging.

I ended up buying this adorable lunch bag made out of coffee packaging! I love the pattern as it’s a pattern I saw a lot around Porto so it will always remind of the trip, and it’s such a handy sized bag that I keep all the essentials in and it will keep things dry as well as it’s waterproof. It was on sale for 35 euros which is decently priced in my opinion.

When I bought it. the cashier actually told me that all of the lunch bags were made by a women called Lina, and every person makes a different product. This is such a great example of a brand who are transparent because they are able to tell their customers exactly who makes the products. In some ways it actually makes the bag feel a lot more personal.

I am constantly on the lookout for more sustainable clothing and accessories brands so to find this one that is also affordable is amazing! I have noticed that many slow fashion brands can be extremely expensive and way out of my price range but I understand that they increase the pricing because they pay their workers fairly and sometimes the materials can cost more.

The great thing about Garbags is that they don’t have to pay much for their materials because people bring them in! Therefore they’re saving money and helping save some waste from going into landfill. I imagine that the only materials they buy are the bias binding and the straps for some of the bags and fastenings.

For those who can’t just pop down to Porto or Lisbon to visit the shop, they do have a website:

I would seriously recommend any of their products if you are in need of any new accessories, they’re so unique and they’re not contributing to fast fashion!

(this is not an AD by the way, all opinions are my own and I have not been asked by the company to do this post)

This has definitely inspired me to think about what things I could make out of waste… maybe some earrings or something??? We shall see…

Would you ever buy something made out of waste?

3 thoughts on “From Coffee Packaging to Bag

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