About Backstitched Bags

   

Backstitched Bags started out as a venture to make my own bike packing gear out of retired and broken ski jackets and pants and has grown into a small business focused on using upcycled and scrap materials in innovative and creative ways . I am Bryce Gordon, I have been mountain biking for 20 years and sewing for a decasde. Six years ago I started making my own bikepacking bags out of old ski pants and jackets from Flylow. They got me through 1.5 trips down the Colorado Trail and countless big days. Over a couple of years the sewing and design improved exponentially and the desire to reuse materials and create unique upcycled pieces stayed the same. 

At Backstitched Bags I design pieces that range in material from 100% upcycled to 100% new materials which are manufacturer made with recycled raw components. The new materials are utilized in custom frame bags and other custom bike bags which require a large amount of durable and technical materials. The scraps and offcuts from these fabrics go into smaller products such as bottle bags, Anti-Bonk bags and field/dopp kits. These smaller items could be made up of 100% upcycled materials from the fabrics to the binding ribbon or they could be a combo of the offcuts and scraps from custom bags as well as upcycled materials. All sorts of retired and broken items can be deconstructed and upcycled from bike tubes to ski jackets, reserve parachutes to bulk grain bags.

When shopping at Backstiched the descriptions for different batches of products will say what sort of upcycled materials are used and how. All products with upcycled materials have a unique character, sometimes the upcycled material has a unique look due to wear, other times the patchwork off scraps gives a product a distinctly upcycled look. It is true that the amount of upcycled material in a product may slightly effect its lifespan or performance, such as waterproofness or tear strength, and I try and design and price products around these factors.