Day Owl

5 products

ClimateCost Score: 8/9

Using our ClimateCost sustainability index scoring system, here are some highlights from the evaluation criteria we score on:

Ecology: In March 2010, Ian (Day Owl founder) met Marc Noel in Haiti for the first time. In Haiti, he saw a lot of waste and not a lot of jobs to go around for people like Marc Noel. He also learned that plastic bottles can be transformed into fabric. "If Haiti could turn trash into $ = good," he wrote in his notebook. These words continue to guide our project today. Day Owl operates in the company of our sister organization First Mile® and is a strategic partner with the not-for-profit organization WORK. Take a look at Day Owl's blog, and see their work in action.
Social Impact & Supply Chain: A Day Owl product begins when a waste collector in the First Mile® picks up a piece of plastic. These men and women are the last line of defense in saving waste from landfills and the ocean but are mostly ignored, especially by our counterparts who don’t like the “risk” associated with these communities. First Mile® estimates that over 100 million people globally make their living from what many people would consider trash. Day Owl invests in the humans in their supply chain that a lot of the rest of our industry ignores.
Recyclability: Plastic takes about 450 years to decompose, Day Owl advocates for an end to single-use plastics and calling on all companies that produce it to stop. That said, of the 8.3 billion tons of plastic ever produced, 6.3 billion tons have not been recycled—that leaves a massive mess. While it’s still here, Day Owl figures they'll turn it into something functional and beautiful, like their bags. Made from 100% recycled textiles, even their “new” bags aren’t new.
Keepability: These bags actually came about when their sister company, First Mile developed this recycled canvas material for Timberland to be used for tough boots. The fabric was so good that they decided to build a world-class backpack from the fabric integrated with exceptional design. Here is their founder, Ian, talking about the bag design on TV after release.
Circularity: What’s more sustainable than a recycled backpack? Reusing those that already exist. Day Owl takes ALL of our bags back with their free RECYCLE KIT (seriously, send them your old bag, and they'll find it a home, and give you a deal on a replacement!) Day Owl then refreshes them as needed and passes them—along with the stories you created wearing them—onto a new owner with their Secondhand Shop. It’s how we ensure the circle continues, your story lives on, and our super useful bags stay super useful.
Governance: Daw Owl is a certified B-Corp.

Day Owl is the first completely circular bag company.

Products are built from recycled landfill-bound materials and are repaired and refurbished to keep them in circulation for multiple owners. When they’re used up, they become input materials for new bags.

This work, and every solution to the environmental crisis, begins and ends with respecting people. It’s difficult and we're not perfect, but together, we’re working to cultivate a healthier planet and empower people. Together, we’re doing good.