Car Seatbelts Turned Into Fancy Bags & Other Products: Jaggery Bags & Its Brilliant Business Model

India has lakhs of little startups. Some of these startups make it big, while others don't. Some other startups make it big thanks to the ingenuity of the idea on which it is based. Jaggery Bags seems like the perfect example for this type of business.

The Indian car market is among the biggest in the world. As a result of this, thousands of cars involuntarily end up at the scrapyards based on the outskirts of metropolitan cities. Some of these cars have either met with accidents and some others are scrapped just because of its age.

Most of the parts of a car are recycled or upcycled. It is common to think that glass can be melted to form new glass and the same can be done with plastics and metal as well. However, it is uncommon to think of a way to upcycle seatbelts and cargo belts. That is exactly what sets Gautam Malik apart.

Gautam Malik is the founder of Jaggery Bags. Being inspired by the eco-friendly materials and sustainability of the town of Auroville near Pondicherry, Gautam at a later stage in his life ended up running a successful business by upcycling old car seatbelts.

It is a simple idea indeed. The dirty, old car seatbelts come in from different parts of the country. They are cleaned, then measured and various products are made from it. The eco-friendly bags made from old car seatbelts are then dyed in various colours before being put up for sale.

So far, Jaggery Bags has upcycled nearly 4,000 metres of car seatbelts and nearly 1,000 metres of cargo belts. They have been turned into various products like organisers, travel kits, laptop sleeves, passport jackets, pouches, messenger bags, etc. The brand has also received recognition from international markets for its brilliantly-designed products.

Thoughts On Car Seatbelts Turned Into Bags, Wallets, Totes, Etc

Sometimes, all it takes is one great idea for everything to change. This business model of turning old seatbelts into bags is one such idea. The seatbelts get a new, albeit stylish lease of life through these fancy products.