2019 has been a wild ride at Pacsafe, full of travel, new innovations and working with friends. As 2020 is about to kick off, we thought we’d share some of our favorite moments along with the way, including some breakthrough releases and a renewal of our commitment to protect the planet we travel.
First, we were fortunate enough to win an ISPO gold award for our Pacsafe ECONYL Collection. Our biggest release ever in the history of the brand, this collection turns plastic waste into the best anti-theft brands. We teamed up with long-time partners REI and MEC to launch the bags which are made from reclaimed fishing nets and other discarded nylons.
An ISPO jury of judges awarded the Pacsafe ECONYL Venturesafe EXP45 gold at their Berlin show, because of its superior travel function, anti-theft technology and sustainable construction.
After the success of the collection, we’ll be rolling out yet more of our best-selling styles in ECONYL fabric for 2020. Stay tuned here!
On top of the Pacsafe ECONYL collection, we also launched our Metrosafe X collection – our first even full collection made from recycled plastic bottles. Over 50 Billion plastic bottles are made each year, with only 9% of them being recycled. Most end up in landfill, or the ocean. Recycled PET (or rPET) uses discarded bottles and turns them into fabric great for making anti-theft bags. It’s durable just like regular polyester while being lightweight and flexible.
The more rPET fabrics companies like Pacsafe use, the greater the demand for recycling those 50 Billion plastic bottles – removing them from the environment to make something useful.
Not only that, but using rPET also saves water and reduces carbon emissions during production compared with using virgin materials. We’ve already recycled 420,000 bottles so far, saved over a million liters of water and reduced carbon emissions by 26 tons. And, we’re just getting started!
It’s all a part of a commitment we made this year to eliminate all virgin plastic from our supply chain by 2025.
Our team also completed beach cleanups in our local area. We worked to get marine environments free of plastic and helping to keep the planet we travel beautiful. The Pacsafe Turtle Fund also continued to gift grants and products to groups like FFI, protecting marine turtles and their habitats the world over. These grants have made a meaningful difference in supporting the effort to preserve our spirit animal and logo. A wonderful creature which embodies the wise traveler who roams the world with her home on her back.
Working with FFI to help save marine turtles and their habitats was one super enriching experience for us in 2020.
On the product front, we also had the pleasure of continuing collaborations with Quiksilver and a brand new release with superfan Lewis Hilsenteger from Unbox Therapy.
ThePacsafe x Unbox Therapy release set out to create the world’s best gadget bags, taking our super popular Z400 briefcase and tailoring it even more for tech junkies. The release received over x views on Youtube and sold like wildfire.
One of the coolest things we did in 2019 was connect with you guys! Tens of thousands of likes, comments and reactions all meant we got to experience your travels. Hopefully, we added some peace of mind with our anti-theft bags along the way too.
Here’s a little look at the most engaged with posts onour Instagram…
Phew! What a year! And those are just the highlights!
We’re looking forward to ushering in a better future with you guys in 2020. One full of protecting what’s valuable – your gear, your experiences and our planet.
We hope you come along for the journey.
