How long?

Really? It’s take you how long?

More than 2 years.  For more than two years I have been saying to people who have asked if I make backpacks “Yes, I have the idea in my head, I just can’t get it from my head to the sewing machine”.

Well hot diggedy dang, I finally got them sorted. And like buses, you wait two years for a backpack and then two come along at once.

There’s Jane, a small Backpack with a very neat fit into your back, with a boxed base and a tapering shape to the top zip.

And Marie is a medium sized backpack, but by adding sides and a base to this backpack, there’s a lot more room.

So whilst the Jane Small Backpack can happily accommodate a book, purse, phone, keys (there’s still a key clip and an inside patch pocket) and an iPad or other tablet, Marie the Medium Backpack can take all of that, a lunch box and instead of the iPad a MacBook or other small 13″ laptop.

And the benefit of spending SO much time talking to all you backpack fans out there is I’ve tried to incorporate items from your backpack wishlist.  And top of this list was a zip pocket on the back for your purse, so there is a little security.

I’ve made the straps an inch (2.5cm) wide, instead of the spindly thready things that are often used on small backpacks that cut into your shoulders.

And finally, I put a recycled jeans pocket on the front, just so this is unmistakably a Sallyann Bag, wearing its recycled heart on its sleeve.  They are all still lined with recycled jeans and the zip pocket on the back is lined with jeans too, so it is good and strong.

Sallyann’s Handmade Bags are not fast fashion. They have never been designed to be so, they will never be fast fashion. Fast fashion is all about throw away, here today, gone tomorrow disposable fashion.  Sallyann’s Handmade Bags are Slow Fashion, which is part of the Slow Movement. At the core of the Slow Movement is the philosophy of wanting to do well and to do good. Quality is the priority, not quantity; sustainability, not speed; ethically produced, not cheaply made. It is a celebration of the time, energy and care that has gone into every product.

I’m really proud of my slow fashion backpacks. They look a long time to arrive, but they are beautiful, sustainable, ethical, contain recycled jeans and they work. And will last.

I’m busy updating my website to accommodate these little beauties right now. For now, you can find the Jane Small Backpack here.  And the Marie Medium Backpack here.