Mono-Material Project
Product Design | Heimplanet 2024
The Mono-Minimal bag is based on the concepts of mono-material and design for disassembly in order to create a more sustainable backpack solution. This means the main structure of the backpack is made from a single type of material - polyester - to facilitate recycling. Any components that cannot be replaced with polyester must be easily detachable to allow for separation before the recycling process.
My role: I was responsible for implementing the mono-material concept for the bag, designing the bag, developing the fabric and developing the bag with our supplier.
Concept
Traditional backpacks are constructed from multiple materials that are sewn, glued, or welded together. Often, the fabric is coated with PU or TPU to make the bag waterproof, complicating recycling processes and making them expensive, energy-intensive, or sometimes even impossible. To address this issue, this backpack adopts the mono-materials concept and design for disassembly.
The main fabric, including the coating, is made entirely from polyester. All other woven materials in the backpack are also made from polyester to minimize the need for extensive sorting during recycling. EVA foam for back stability has been replaced by polyester 3D mesh.
The few components that cannot be made from polyester are designed to be removable or even reusable. However, even if they end up in the recycling process, they can be easily separated from the rest using current standards.
Design
In terms of style, the backpack features a simple and clean design, inspired by the classic archetypes of Eastpak and JanSport but reimagined in a modern, Heimplanet-like way with clear lines and a thoughtfully designed shape. Its size and shape are gender-neutral. The backpack includes a few easily accessible external pockets and a laptop compartment within the main compartment, offering a total capacity of 16 liters.
The backpack contains a small pocket inside, hanging from the top, perfect to keep essentials like money, headphones, or hygiene articles safely stored within the bag, ensuring they remain accessible yet protected.
The backpack features a hidden zipper designed for storing small items securely. This discreet zipper is seamlessly integrated into the side of the bag, providing easy access while maintaining the bag's sleek and clean appearance.
The back panel and the shoulder straps are equipped with polyester 3D mesh. Thanks to its three-dimensional structure, the mesh offers exceptional comfort and serves as an ideal alternative to EVA foam for a bag of this size. The metal web adjuster can be easily removed.
Fabric development
The backpack is made from an in-house newly developed fabric consisting of up to 100% recycled dope-dyed polyester with a polyester based lamination. This design simplifies the recycling process.
I created the pattern to address the minimum order quantity (MOQ) challenges that small brands often face. Our goal was to offer at least three color options for the bags, but recycled dope-dyed polyester requires a very high MOQ for the yarn beam. The solution was to design a pattern that combined different colours by using one base color (black) for the entire beam and adding other weft colours (burgundy and blue), enabling us to produce three color variations from a single beam.
