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- BAGGU is a bag company known for its signature ripstop nylon tote, which can hold 50 pounds of stuff, folds down to a fraction of its size, and is waterproof.
- Since it's so durable and comes in a variety of colors, you can use it to carry pretty much anything: groceries, laundry, supplies, or whatever else you want to transport with ease and style.
- Customers are obsessed with these versatile bags and often stock up on multiples of the Standard BAGGU.
If you've ever admired a stranger's colorful nylon tote at the grocery store, beach, or on the subway, chances are that it's a BAGGU. These reusable nylon bags have been quietly taking the streets by storm since 2007, and more than one million have been sold to date.
Though the maker of these eco-friendly shopping bags is 11 years old, with a team of close to 50 employees and retail locations sprinkling the coasts, it doesn't feel that way at all. BAGGU remains fresh, exciting, and more relevant than ever thanks to its simple yet effective bag design that encourages non-wasteful practices. Over the years, it has also made new types of bags such as canvas backpacks and leather purses and releases new prints eight times a year.
Like many successful startups, BAGGU was born out of a personal frustration that, as became quickly apparent, many other people faced. When Parsons School of Design grad Emily Sugihara couldn't find a good reusable bag to buy, she thought she and her mom were the people who could design a better one.
Sugihara says that growing up, she was always creative. She landed her first job as a fashion designer, but realized, "While working at a large company, you're really siloed from the customer and the way your decisions actually filter through to the end product and back. I wanted to be more hands-on." Starting BAGGU was the perfect opportunity to act on this desire.
According to Sugihara, the flagship product, the Standard BAGGU, was straightforward and easy to manufacture. She discovered the material ripstop nylon, which is durable and waterproof, and constructed the bag with strong stitching and few seams to decrease the chance of breakage. The Standard BAGGU measures 25.5 in. x 15.5 in. x 6 in. but folds flat into a 5 in. x 5 in. pouch, and can hold an impressive 50 pounds of stuff. It's also affordable ($10) and machine-washable, so for a low price you get many uses out of it.
Meanwhile, Big BAGGU ($14) measures 33 in. x 18 in. x 9 in. and is good for hauling loads of laundry or large grocery trips. The Baby BAGGU ($8) measures 18 in. x 10 in. x 4 in., the ideal mini size for a lunch or quick errands bag.
It's not only the utility of the bag that makes it so successful. When I asked Sugihara what three words best describe BAGGU, she said, "Simple, useful, and delightful."
This last point is essential to attracting and retaining fans. As of this writing, there are 35 Standard BAGGU styles available on its website, ranging from solid colors to quirky prints like Grapefruit and Chow Chow. She says, "Because it's really useful but also aesthetically elevated, it has a super broad range of use cases."
Whether you don't want to be saddled by the environmental waste and physical struggle of carrying multiple flimsy plastic grocery bags or need a weatherproof way to carry beach supplies, clothes, or even a pet, BAGGU can do the job. It expands easily to accommodate all your belongings, but unlike the canvas or cloth reusable bags sold at grocery stores, it packs down just as seamlessly to fit conveniently in your back pocket and stay out of your way. You won't be embarrassed to carry it around in public either, since it comes in a variety of colors and prints.
With eco-friendliness becoming more of a necessity (an exponentially increasing number of cities are implementing plastic bag bans) than a passing trend, you're only going to be seeing more and more of these eye-catching BAGGU bags.